The Quiet Land · the early country

Kanowit — The Early Country

The country I came from, drawn from memory.

ONE

Primary One

A single plain wooden schoolhouse on stilts with shuttered windows and plank steps; behind it the sisters convent and tall wooded hills; two girls sit side by side on earth steps in the foreground

Primary One. A single plain wooden building on stilts. Behind it the sisters’ convent, and tall hills with trees. Green all around. I sat on some steps in the ground with the most stupid girl in class and told her, we are alike, we both have a scar above our lips. I was actually telling her, we are both alike, stupid. My siblings were top students. I was not. Mediocre.

TWO

Assembly

A mission school on a steep green hill backed by jungle; teachers on a terrace above; the school drawn up in rows on the field below

St Francis Xavier, sitting on a green hill. The principal and the teachers stood above, in front of the school. We stood below on the field, in rows, by class. That was the shape of every morning.

THREE

The Field Below

The school on its hill seen from the field below, where children play basketball on a packed-earth court

The same hill, later in the day. The court was packed earth. We played basketball on the field below the school.

FOUR

The Rattan Cane

An old classroom with rows of wooden desks and children with their heads down; a teacher stands at the front holding a long rattan cane at his side; one girl stands beside her desk with her hand held out

Test papers were passed down, and with them we got caning. We held out one hand and the teacher slashed down hard on it with a rattan cane. Rattan canes were used. Every school had them. We kids, boys and girls, awaited the teacher with fear.

FIVE

The Swings

Two wooden posts and a beam, chains holding plank seats; one girl seated, one standing on her swing; the river and a school beyond

Two sturdy wooden posts driven deep into the ground, a beam on top, and from it chains holding wooden planks for seats. We sat on them, or stood, pushing the swings with our bodies. It was on the green field by the Kanowit river, with a school across the water. Tessa sat. I stood.

SIX

The Wharf and the Water

A long tree trunk leading out to a plank wharf on logs; children swimming near the bank; jungle on the far shore

The wharf was a long tree trunk you walked out on, and then wooden planks laid across more logs. We swam here. There was land across the river — my brothers swam across it.

SEVEN

The Motor Launch

A wooden motor launch like a small houseboat moves along the river; a girl stands at the bow and another at the stern

The motor launches were made of wood, like a mini house boat — the front bow sharp, the back bow rounded. Tessa and I often stood either in front or at the back, and watched the trees go by.

EIGHT

Two Rows of Concrete Shops

A street between two rows of concrete shophouses with a planted strip of grass and low bushes running down the middle; in the near left a coffee shop with a marble table, an old man eating, a small girl watching

The shops were two rows of concrete. I was around eight. I stood at a coffee shop and watched Yu Tek Pek, an old man, eating his breakfast.

NINE

Yu Tek Pek’s Breakfast

Inside a long coffee shop with the front wide open; tiled floor, ceiling fan, empty tables; an old man eating while a girl watches

A long rectangular room with the front portion completely open. It is still the same today. Early morning, few visitors, the chairs all empty. I watched his coffee steaming. He cracked the eggs, poured soy sauce over them, and ate. I stood there salivating.

TEN

The Shop at the End of the Row

A jungle village under blue sky; the end shop stands open, its wall lined with jars of sweets; an old man dozes while a girl darts at the counter

A jungle village — blue skies and green trees behind everything. This was the end shop of a row of six, full of candy and goodies, all in bottles. The old man sat on a chair, dozing. Tessa and I stood out of sight at the side of the shop while Celine darted in and stole some packets.

ELEVEN

The Wet Market

A crowded market shed with cement tables piled with greens and fruit; a butcher works beneath a rail of hanging cuts; shoppers fill the aisle

At the end of the main street, past the two rows of shops, was the wet market. Cement tables, and butcher Law selling his meat, his pork. Other vendors with vegetables and fruit. The butcher forms a good portion of my childhood memories.

TWELVE

The Church

An old unpainted wooden church with two tall spires and a triangular gable between them, standing near the river with jungle hills behind; children slide down the grassy hill in front on sheets of cardboard

One of the oldest churches in Sarawak. The architecture was like an old medieval church — two tall spires, a triangular roof in the middle, made of unpainted wood, old with age. Near the Kanowit river, the usual jungle green, hills, trees. We children played outside, making slides with cardboard, sliding down the hills.

THIRTEEN

Washing the Fear Away

Two panels: on the left a shop emptied of goods, dark inside, with a covered body on a low bed and candles at the head, and a girl standing at the open doorway; on the right the same girl bent over a basin washing her face while a woman laughs in the doorway

Celine asked if we wanted to see the body of a classmate’s grandfather, laying in state. I stood at the door and looked inside. The big shop with goods was emptied out. Inside, on a bed, was the dead body. I took a look and ran back to school. Celine told me if I washed my face, I could wash the fears away. After school I went home and washed and washed my face. My mother laughed at me. It did not wash the fears away.

FOURTEEN

The Promise

A dark room at night, stars at the window; a candle and a holy picture on a small table; a girl kneels with hands joined and head bowed

Age eleven. Every night I knelt at a table in prayer and begged God to help me pass my examinations. I promised that if I passed, I would become a nun. It was what led me to become a nun.

The road goes on. The river flows on.