Author: Ryan Liu Yongxing
My Maternal Grandfather, Mr Ten Yan Fong was not someone I was particularly fond of during my younger adolescent years. There were lots of unhappiness faced by my cousins as we were grown up together under my Maternal Grandmother’s care. There were many fond memories of her, thus it would be natural for one to assume relationship between myself, my cousins and grandfather did not get better.
Yet he lived a long ripe age of 93 years old. He led an active daily and simple lifestyle. He was physically strong and had survived many hospitalisations. Dengue fever, pneumonia at age of 70s. Fast forward, conveniently right under his home was an active ageing centre, formally known as Seniors activity centre. It was also a charity service centre which I worked at back in 2014, Thye Hua Kwan Seniors Activity Centre @ Ang Mo Kio 645. Through my work, I got to know more about his lifestyle that he led. It was also during that period, I found reconciliation with him. He showed me his photos of his younger self, his work when he was still fit and running. He also shared some interesting stories of how he survived the Japanese Occupation during World War 2, his ancestral Hakka origins and many more.
Before he passed on, he gifted his “black and white coloured” photo album. He passed not long after. Since then, I joined the Hakka Clan Association and was always interested in passing on traditions, life stories about all grandparents who also happened to be of Hakka dialect ethnic group. I was using the language more often and have taught some to my 5-year daughter with the similar hope that someday she might go on a self-exploratory journey to discover her origins.