I will like to start off by sharing an event which took place almost 50 years ago but one which is so significant that I can still remember it so vividly. That was the day that I left my village of Tebakang for Kuching, the capital of Sarawak which was situated about 40 miles away to begin my primary school education. It was a rainy day and the road was flooded. There I was sitting behind a pickup truck with some of my belongings, barely 7 years old. My parents did not accompany for the trip and I remember telling myself that I should be brave and I must not cry. But in my heart I was feeling very sad to leave my parents especially my mother and very scared to leave my familiar village.
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This is Tebakang Bazaar where I had many happy memories of my childhood.
In Kuching, I joined my elder sister Mary who was a teacher there as well as my older brother Andrew who was already staying there. We rented two rooms, one room for the males and other room for the females. The two rooms were shared with others who were also from Tebakang in order to split the rent. There were about 4-5 persons sharing each room. I did not know it then, but we were living in poverty or very close to poverty.
Life In Kuching
In Kuching I had a lot of adjustments to make. I missed my friends in the village and the activities that we did together. What I missed the most was my daily swim in the river, playing and fooling around with children my age. Daily I yearn to swim in the river and I would begged my sister to bring me swimming in a river. My sister finally brought me to a swimming pool and I was so excited. I jumped in the pool and swam vigorously only to bump my head hard on the other side of the pool. I had forgotten that I was not swimming in a river, and a pool has 4 walls to contain the water.
I also had a hard time making friends both at school and in my neighborhood. In my village of Tebakang, we all spoke Hakka, a Chinese dialect. But in Kuching, Hokkien another Chinese dialect is widely spoken. Therefore it very hard initially for me to make friends both at school and at my neighborhood.
At school, I also had a lot of catching up to do. The majority of my classmates are from Kuching itself and almost all of them had attended 1 to 3 years of preschool before going to Primary 1. Therefore they possessed some basic knowledge of words and arithmetic. On the other hand I did not attend any pre-school (there was none in Tebakang then) and I only know how to write CHARLES SIAW which I was told was my name and I did not even know the alphabets individually.
My Past Will Not Defined Me
Therefore when I first started school, there were a lot of challenges and obstacles that I had to overcome. Both my parents had never been to school, and so I was the first generation that had the opportunity to go to school. I had observed the hardship my family had gone through and it was instilled in me quite early in my life that education was the only way that I could to change my life. The hardship that I experienced growing up made me even more determined to study hard and to be successful in life. Eventually I managed to get a scholarship which enabled me study at a local university. I would later get my Masters Of Business Administration (MBA) from a university at United Kingdom.
I was able to build a much better and brighter future for myself despite my difficult past. So whatever past that you have, know that you have the power to rise above life situation and build a better life for yourself. Do not be defeated by your past. Nobody said that it would be easy. But if you learnt from your past, continue move forward in the face in the face of challenges and obstacles, you will surely be able to build a better future.
My past too have defined me in many ways. The challenges that I had to go through made me more resourceful, resilience, stronger and even more determined to succeed in what I was doing. This molded my character and these qualities as well as attitudes can never be taken away from me. Although, I now live in the city of Kuching, I am still a village boy at heart. It is said that you can take man out of the village but you can never the village out of the man. And this village boy is still looking for adventures thorough what he does and his travels, trying his best to live his life to the fullest potential.
I am sure that a lot of you have similar experiences or stories. I hope that you too can share them here in order to inspire others so that they too will not allow their past to defeat them but instead will let their past define them.
Will You Rally Around Me?
I have been at Steemit for slightly more than 1 year and throughout that time I had an incredible time and met with so many supportive and helpful. I have also been working very hard, coming out with a post each day which I hope will inspire and motivate others. But yesterday, something terrible happened. My post Are You Searching? (An Original Poem) was flagged by Bernie Sanders and his gang for no apparent reason. As a result my earnings for the post dropped drastically. Then I discovered that he has been flagging those who used voting bots. A lot of innocent Steemians who produce quality content were also flagged.
This flagging war is not good for Steemit but as a minnow, I am not in a position to fight back alone. However I will not be bullied by him. I will continue to post daily because I know what I write is of value to the community here, even though there is a risk that he may flag me again, thus reducing my earnings. I hope that you will rally around me and vote for my post which has been flagged by Bernie and his gang. Would you also mind to re-steem this post? With your support, we as a community can show Bernie that the harm he intends to inflict on this community can be neutralized. Thank you so much and I look forward to writing my next article for tomorrow. I will not be deterred.
Follow me and stay positive.
Do check out my previous posts.
Are You Searching? (An Original Poem)
Positive Reflections: What Minor Changes Can You Make That Can Have Major Impact In Your Life?
7 Fundamental Truths That Will Change Your Life Part 2
7 Fundamental Truths That Will Change Your Life Part 1
European Thursday: The Captivating Beauty Of Lake Baikal, Siberia
Spreading positivity one post at a time.
Charles
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