Sibu Tales : Ringworm

School teachers were always very caring during my secondary school days.

But then there were different kinds of teachers too. Some were stricter than others, while others just did not say much. But at least we found them very helpful in getting us to learn, to be afraid of our principal (whether it was Mr. Wiltshire or Mr. Lau).

Candle Bush or rungin to cure ringworm 

One particular ailment of our swimming team was ringworm. Besides in those days many of the students were also suffering from other skin diseases, although ringworm was most talked about.

It was embarrassing for any teacher to raise the issue of ring worm. The Biology teacher taught us about how ring worm was spread, and we all looked down at our feet.

Some students had very bad dandruff problems and the Home Science teacher would bring the girls to her room to have a special talk.

But the worst problem was still ringworm.

One day, an old teacher got all our boys in the swimming and basketball teams together and told them that it was quite easy to pound a poultice from the rungin leaves.

I never knew if the boys ever listened to him.

But we girls were always scared of getting ringworms, so we would never swim in the Bukit Lima swimming pool whenever our boys or other schools practised. We would swim , if I remember correctly on Thursday, when only girls were allowed.

Can we really get ringworm through swimming?