Happy 60th Birthday, Mak!

Hi All,

This post is specially dedicated to my mom, Noorriah Binte Sulong, in celebration of her 60th birthday today on February 26th.

Needless to say, my mom was the reason I began my Ubin journey. If it were not for her constant rewinds and replaying of her kampong tales, I clearly would not have been to where I am today. My mom is a source of great inspiration for me and the strongest pillar of support in my life. As the saying goes, our mothers are our first friends and our best-est friends; and my mom is no exception.

Today I would like to share with you some of the stories that my mom had when she spent a third of her life growing up on Pulau Ubin.

My mom posing by the croton plants found at the front of her house. The trunk of the pokok gawa that I used to help me find 818K, can be seen clearly in the background.

My mom was the 7th of the 12 children of Sulong Yunos and Jariah Salim; and was actually the first one to be born on Pulau Ubin. All of her elder siblings were born in Pulau Tekong before they began to start a new life together as a family on Pulau Ubin, following my late-grandfather's dreams and ambitions of having a stable life working as an oil sprayer on Ubin to combat and control the spread of malaria and dengue on Ubin.

My mom grew up in an amazing environment that I would never get to enjoy. When she was a kid, she would play with so many things that brought about simple pleasures. One of her favourite games that she played was five stones - and she still continues to show off her skills in front of me every once in a while, too.

When it was time for her to enrol into primary school, she was sent to the former Sekolah Melayu Pulau Ubin (Pulau Ubin Malay School) which at that time had already moved uphill from its first initial location on the beaches of Kampong Surau. The school was just a mere 10-minutes walk from her home and she would always describe to me in full detail of her journey to and from school.

She made lots of friends in school and even till this day, thankfully after I set up a Facebook profile for her, she managed to reconnect with her long lost friends and catch up with them as though they were still the same old kids who didn't age at all. Of course, what she sees in her lifetime is a complete contrast to mine.

My mom standing outside her house, just look at how spotless the surroundings of 818K was!

She shared with me that there weren't many trees around and Sungei Awang Minyak was super clear, clean and spacious as the residents would help to maintain the amount of mangrove trees sprouting around - so that they could prevent having their sampans and ciaos accidentally damaged from the roots below. There were also a couple more houses before reaching the school; which she could still recall vividly on who lived within them - with one of the houses actually built on the mangroves itself, using the roots of the mangrove trees as a support for their house.

My mom had a great time in those six years of primary school, but following her PSLE - she was unable to pursue her education any further. In fact back then, for any kampong folks who managed to get to PSLE, it was already considered a huge academic achievement for them given the financial constraints that most people had in kampongs. Nonetheless, to pay tribute to my mom's academic pursuit to the best of her ability, I have also begun to pursue mine. I have recently applied for a local university and am currently awaiting their reply by the time of this post. Here's hoping that I may get in, God Willing!

After PSLE, she spent her teenage years helping her mother with the house chores at home, such as gathering firewood in the forests so that they could prepare for their next meal and also through other chores such as cleaning and sweeping the kampong grounds. Which was why just as I mentioned in my post, "My Mom Has Returned Home", she resorted into cleaning the debris, dead fall and leaves away from the remnants of 818K as though by instinct; and slowly enough her actions inspired me to organise kampong clean-ups to help other Ubin residents too.

 My mom standing within the prayer room of her former home.

My mom cleared the debris away to reestablish the path leading into 818K.

She would also help her father as well. My mom and her elder sister would spend an entire morning in his betel-nut tree plantation which was claimed to be the size of a soccer field, with columns of betel-nut trees as far as the eyes could see. At night, my mom would sit by my late-grandfather and recite the Quran together with him and her other siblings.

Soon enough, she was ready to enter the workforce and she managed to get a job at the Singapore Red Cross Home for Handicapped Children at Changi, which is currently now the Changi Sailing Club. Every early morning, she would ride a boat from the jetty and make their way directly to work. It was through her job of taking care of the handicapped children, that she became this loving, family-oriented woman who was very much adored by not just the staff there but more importantly, to the children there as well. Till this day, she ponders on how the children that were under her care have turned out to be.

It was also there at her workplace that she met my dad. My dad was not from Pulau Ubin, instead he was born and raised in Kampong Silat Gayong which is present day located somewhere around the Geylang region. My dad was a very hardworking person, considering that he first started working from as young as 13 years-old as a gardener and cleaner, in the hopes and dreams of helping his family break free from extreme poverty. It was when he got a job as a gardener at the Red Cross Home for Handicapped Children that he also met the love of his life. It was very sweet listening about it about all of his efforts in trying to court my mom - from secretly stealing looks while pruning the trees and acting silly around her at work while they were on lunch breaks.

When my mom turned 20, she got married to my dad and in fact in just a few weeks' time from the time this post was written, they are going to be celebrating 40 years of happy and beautiful marriage. In December of 1979, my parents had their first child, my eldest brother and he also spent a majority of his infant and toddler years growing up under the care of my late-grandmother on Ubin while my mom began to work a new job in the factories following an industrial boom and demand in Singapore back then. There's currently lots of Merdeka Generation Package ads that talk about it nowadays, so yeah this was my mom's contributions to the formation of our nation, too.

My mom cradling my eldest brother while holding a pretty purple umbrella.

And even though she has already started a family and bought a new rental flat in Bedok, she made it a habit to constantly return to Ubin and pay a visit to my late-grandmother, especially more so following my late-grandfather's death in 1981. It was later in 1989 that my mom and her siblings have brought my late-grandmother back to the mainland so that they need not worry about her safety and well-being. It was also on that day that my mom would see her own kampong house still standing strong and beautifully for the very last time.

Fast forward to today, I am extremely happy to know how awesome my mom is and how much cooler it was for her to be living in a kampong house on Pulau Ubin. It's also through her that I also have a part of Ubin within me; Ubin blood as I'd call it. Pulau Ubin had played an important role in shaping the way my mom is and I'm confident that it was also why I act this way too. Whatever good that I am doing for Ubin and its people, all boils down to the actions and character of one person - my mom.

My mom mentioned that her wish was to be able to once again live on Pulau Ubin; quoting that she "would want to spend the remaining of her years" back on the island that gave her so many wonderful and vivid memories. It just goes to show that Ubin had always been in her heart since and the same applies to me from now till my last breath, too.

My mom by the mouth of Sungei Ubin

Happy 60th Birthday, Mak!

May Pulau Ubin thrive again, with its people in its heart.

Support us in making our kampongs beautiful again! Join me for our 3rd Kampong Cleanup on March 30th, 2019! More details will be out soon.

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