Life Stories - Part 7

It’s just after 6 am when you cross the lights on Bras Basah Road near St Joseph’s Institution, an old David Bowie song playing in your head as you take long, determined strides.

You’re in Primary Six, and partnered with a Secondary Four kid on a Saturday flag day for your school. His strategy is simple – start really early, hit the places that the other kids wouldn’t think of, avoid Orchard Road (where most people are intent on spending money on themselves rather than on giving to charity) and go where two hard-working, earnest youngsters are most likely to be rewarded for their efforts with generous donations.

Within the next hour, you cover two wet markets, amazed at how many red-coloured bills are stuffed into your collection tin by matronly women doing their weekly grocery run. A quick lunch of boiled vegetables and rice at an uncle’s home nearby is the only break that you really take throughout the day, pounding the pavement around the Bugis and Rochor districts.

By evening, you’re thoroughly exhausted and back at school, waiting intently as the collections are counted. You beam with pride as they announce that you’ve collected the most of all the teams, beating the runner up pair by a convincing margin.

That Secondary Four kid goes on to become a top government lawyer, having taught you some of the most valuables lessons in life.

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