50 – Moved into HDB flat at Clementi West
At the age of four, my family moved out of Grandma’s home at Kim Keat Road into a Singapore Improvement Trust unit at Lorong Limau. These SIT flats, the first public housing in Singapore were built by the British colonial government. We, a family of six lived in a tiny flat with no electricity or modern conveniences. Twelve families shared a common tap. And that’s how I grew up until I went into The Salvation Army Training College.
The successor to SIT is the HDB (Housing and Development Board) These flats are located in Housing Estates which are self-contained satellite towns with schools, supermarkets, clinics, hawkers’ centres or food courts, community centres, sports and recreational centres – a far cry from the simple SIT flats where I grew up. The majority of Singaporeans, around 85% live in such flats.
As mentioned in earlier chapters, our International Leaders had indicated that they would like us to serve overseas. Certainly we would have to leave our two older children, Gladys and Stephen behind.
Singapore citizens are entitled to the privilege of purchasing their own flats and payment be made in instalments over a period of years using CPF (Central Provident Fund) The Command had applied to International Headquarters to join the scheme but this was turned down. (Officers today are on CPF. This came into effect in 1995)
After discussing with our two older children, now in their teens, we decided to register for a flat. We pooled all our resources and managed to pay the deposit. By the time we were called for balloting, we were offered one with three bedrooms at Clementi West, Block 728 Clementi West Street 2. What excitement to have our own home! The price of the flat at that time was about S$32,000.00 to be paid over a period of ten years. It was a venture of faith on our part.
In 1980, we moved into this new flat on the 9th floor. The lifts stopped only at the 6th and 11th floors. Stephen a teen ager helped me move most of our possessions. For obvious reasons we made minimal renovation, bought linoleum to cover the rough cement floor, paid for some of the stuff from our jumble store at Headquarters. There was no RSI in those days.
Major Moira Wright, the Social Secretary had received farewell orders to go to Hong Kong as the General Secretary and she sold us her personal furniture and furnishings. We were pleased as we got them cheaply. Central Home League members led by Captain Ruth Pascoe presented us with a folding kitchen table with formica top at our house warming. Command Headquarters gave us a rental allowance of $200.00 per month. From this amount I paid $15.00 per month for a HDB parking lot for the General Secretary’s official vehicle.
Our two older children were very good and co-operative. Stephen worked at Yaohan during school vacation to earn his own pocket money. Gladys taught piano to pay for her own piano fees. We had paid for her music lessons up to Grade 8. She then enrolled with the London Royal College of Music and worked for her licentiate. She insisted on being personally responsible for the course which normally would have taken three years, but she did it in one. She has been a piano teacher ever since.
There was another reason for us to move out of Army quarters at Clemenceau Avenue. The Army was short of accommodation for officers. Captain and Mrs. Roy Bungay needed somewhere to live on their return to the Command to be the Education Officer at the Training College and Command Youth Officer. So the timing was just right for us to move out of 207 Clemenceau Avenue.
I left home every morning at 6.30 a.m. to avoid paying for the ERP charges. Most of the time, my wife worked at home to look after our handicapped daughter. She would be in Headquarters at least once a week and stayed the whole day and leave with me in the evenings after Songsters and Women’s Fellowship returning home by 10.00 p.m. We employed a Malay woman to look after Poh Chin on the days when my wife’ needed to be out. I would then send this lady home.
We left for overseas service in January 1983 and Gladys and Stephen continued living in the flat. The responsibility of servicing the debt fell on Gladys until she got married in 1984 and moved to their own unit at Jurong East. When Stephen completed his national service and was gainfully employed he took over the responsibility of paying for the rest of instalments for the family flat.
In 1985, he married Dolly. Some time later we signed off the flat to them as we were still serving overseas. Later they upgraded to a bigger one in Choa Chu Kang.
Their intention was to have a three tier generation family sharing the same premises. However, my wife and I have chosen to live independently. We rent a Salvation Army apartment in Praisehaven at Upper Bukit Timah as the two older children and their families live on the western side of Singapore – Gladys seven kilometres away at Jurong East and Stephen six kilometres at Verde Villa. The Lord has wonderfully provided for Poh Chin our youngest child a place at the Peacehaven Nursing Home where she receives tender loving care. We are grateful for the subsidies given by the Government and the Army towards her maintenance fees.
The Lord has been good to us in making provision for our all our needs. “Trust in the Lord and do good: dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:3-4
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