Not long ago, my cousin gave me a paper bag of dabai. Dabai sold in Sibu in the olden days was packed in newspaper bags, either conical or rectangle bags.
I was touched by his gift, but more so by the paper bag used to wrap the dabai. He had requested for paper bags for the dabai he bought.
After my father passed away my sisters and I were diligent in making newspaper bags like this and sold them to a friendly grocer. The money earned was for our pocket money and school text books. Every year in December my mum would be very flustered because she might not have enough money for us to buy our text books. But thanks be to God, we scraped enough to get buy.
We carried on making paper bags for many years while my mother planted vegetables in our back yard. sometimes we had excess vegetables and she would exchange them in the market for cabbage, and other imported vegetables. We reared our own ducks and chickens.
for years we were cash strapped but eventually with my mother's careful and strategic planning and when my youngest sibling was 18 years old, she was able to develp one piece of land to improve the financial stability of our family. What my late grandfather bought from a landowner, deemed soggy and wet rubber land became part of Sibu urban development. It was timely and my mother was able to educate the younger children, even sending them overseas.
Making of paper bags would always be a cheerful family memory. It was good for us to learn resilience and self reliance. But more importantly it is very important to have a mother with a strong will to survive. We have a great mother!!
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