Nurses as Tenants

After my father passed away my mother rented out two rooms to different people for several years. They were short term tenants. Some stayed for two years, some stayed longer. My mother used to remark that by dint of hardwork they were able to save enough money to buy their little place to start their life.

Indeed she was right about them. Most of them did well in their lives and on looking back to those difficult years I would say we were very blessed to have tenants like them, who did not cause any trouble like owing us in rental, or damaging our property. They indeed were very outstanding people. Many of them educated their children well  and lived very good lives.

We had one group of nurses (pink uniform with white apron)  who stayed with us after their training until they got married. It was interesting to see how the young men come to do some courting. By the time these young men came to take them out for movies from our house, they were already on the verge of engagement, so no one was too worried about their dating. After a few months, they brought us wedding invitation cards and gave notice that they were moving out. My mother would be very sad to see them going off.

Our house was within walking distance from the Lau King Howe Hospital, so it was really convenient. Also my mother like to have them because they were Foochows, polite, kind and very tidy. They did their own cooking , using their own stove, and they were quick in paying their rents.

My mother would plant lots of vegetables, so they also enjoyed fresh vegetables, especially if they were on night duty and would not be able to buy fresh food.

One of the nurses married her radiographer boyfriend, Mr. Sia, and they later moved away to work in Miri.

Nurses get transferred by the government and very often, they lose touch with people because of their heavy work load. Some really lost touch with us, but some remain best of friends with my mother.

My mother began to understand the meaning of night shift and how difficult it was to be a nurse.

They gave my mother, a widow, a lot of comfort.