Life in the 40's....St. Gabriel's School and me

Life in the 40’s............. St. Gabriel’s School and me
By Lintang Bob Yong
I attended St Gabriel’s, a missionary school back then in 1946, where all the students came from poor families in the nearby vicinity of the school. Our school was a “borrowed-school” which means we had to attend classes in the afternoon, after the regular school (Pudu English School) finished their classes in the morning.
The school was founded by an Australian priest, whose name was Rev. TE Currie on April’s Fool Day, 1946. Till today, many of the old students who are now successful in their own rights have fond memories of our founder headmaster, who passed away more than 25 years ago in his home country.
Being a non-government aided school then; there were no spectacular academic achievements for the students to shout about. But there were many unforgettable activities that I can still vividly recall. I am very proud to talk about them with great enthusiasm whenever I had the chance to reminisce.
We attended classes with our shirts off, yes half-naked. Our headmaster reckoned, with the hot climate of our country, it would help us to cool down and therefore we were able to concentrate more in our studies. Looking back, I must admit this had worked!
Every day we were fed with a tea spoon of palm oil because the headmaster felt that we were too skinny and under-nourished. Most of us were in fact looked more like the African children that we often see on TV. Our parents were poor folks, feeding from hands to mouth. As far as I know, the palm oil had done us good as many of my class mates who are now in the late 60’s and early 70’s, are still strong and kicking.
Before the end of each school term, we were to weigh ourselves naked and stand in front of our headmaster. Even though some of us had yet to reach puberty, we were too shy to face him. So we would try all tricks to stay away from this ordeal. As we grew older, we learned that the reason for him to do this was to allow him to examine us physically at close range so that he could detect skin diseases that required medical attention. We were too young to know about hygiene and our parents were too busy to look after us.
We had our headmaster and the teachers to thank for their untiring efforts in educating us, showering us with loving tender care and passionately looking after our welfare and health.
Till to date, I believe that my well being was moulded by Rev. TE Currie who had taught us to learn scripture and read the Bible. We were even required to attend classes on physiology conducted by him. “With God nothing is impossible” which by the way was our school motto then.
In remembrance of my headmaster and school, I have adopted this school motto to my blog.