My Great Grandmother

MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER Ah Tai Lai

Introduction
My great grandmother, Ah Tai Lai was born in Taiping, Malaysia 1928. Sadly for her, she was surrounded by discouraging comments and bad mindsets at the time. She was a female in a poor family. Her family didn’t like her because of her gender. During those days people thought that women were useless beings and the purpose of their existence was to breed and do housework. So both her parents didn’t really support her to go to school.

Early life
After finishing intermediate at the age of 13, world war 2 in Malaysia began. The Japanese attacked Malaysia on December the 8th 1941 every female and non eligible aged boys hid in the forest for cover. Having to eat kumara breakfast, lunch and dinner, also having to rub mud on her face so that it’s not appealing for Japanese soldiers to rape. They stay in the forest for 69 days. On February 15th 1942 the Japanese retreated so Malaysia won the war.

Midlife
After a couple of years she got married to my great grandfather. She was a second wife, the first wife is in a mental health hospital to help treat epilepsy. The first wife had 4 kids so she had 4 step children. After a few years in harmony and giving birth to another 4 kids, My great grandfather suddenly died of high blood pressure on August 31 in 1962. Digging through his drawer my great grandmother only found a 200 hundred dollar bill. Shaking in fear she took the 200 hundred dollar bill and started panicking on how she was going to feed 8 kids with it. After searching for jobs for a while because she doesn’t have much knowledge she finally found a job. It was a laundry job. All of my great grandmother's children started working to earn money so that they could lift the weight off my great grandmother's shoulders.|

Mid late life

The legacy of the Lai family lives on because of her hard work, dedication and unconditional love towards not only her own children but her step children as well. She is one of the most important family members of our family. Everyone in the family appreciates her for her determination, hard work, ability to adapt in extremely bad circumstances and for her contribution to this family. She is also a very humble person, because of her past life she likes saving money. If we were to give her birthday money she wouldn’t spend a penny of it. She would just either give it back or store it in her closet which probably has hundreds of dollars in it.

Conclusion
Ah Tai Lai died on 2nd September 2020 at Taiping. Before going to an old folks home she used to live with one of her granddaughters. She took care of my great grandmother and we are grateful for her. At the age of 92 she had a bad stroke. She didn’t recover from her stroke so she was sent into an old folk’s home so she can be looked after. Sadly, my great grandmother passed away after the stroke.

I was really lucky to spend time with her during my last visit to Malaysia in 2019. I would always remember her courage and caring nature. Another significant memory of her is that she always wears sunglasses to protect her weak eyes from the sun. I am living a comfortable life because of her hard work. Rest in peace, we will always remember you - Ethan Lai.

Reference

: CJ (dad)

: Joanne (mum)

: grandpa


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