Mondaywrap16june2014

Always Free

ISSUE NO.2

MONDAY WRAP Western Province Chinese Association June 16 2014

3 Naval Warships from the People’s Republic of China are due in Cape Town on Tuesday 17th June 2014 for a 4 day visit. All welcome to greet their arrival at the Waterfront quayside at 9.15 am.

Contact Robert Wong for more details on: 079 718 8888 Last year you voted the current committee in for 2 years, so this year’s AGM is mainly an informative update.

WPCA AGM be held Sunday 22 June 2014 3.00 pm at Chinese Community Centre The agenda will include updates but there won’t be any elections this year.

This will be straight after the WPC Sports Association’s AGM, so some people will be able to make a single day of it!

Graham Lai Lam, Maureen Kai, Shunny and Paul

Yummy and Maureen were in Canada in April for the marriage of Shunny and Paul McPhee If you want any news in this weekly wrap, please email your photos and news items to: rwong@colorfuzion.co.za

Speech by Jonathan Manley on Law Ming Sing Manley Today we are here to bid farewell to someone that meant something to a good number of us. It is not easy to say goodbye, as there is a sense of loss and sadness, but in life, this is the cycle. We are born, we grow up, we grow old, and then we depart, leaving those behind on whose lives we have made some sort of impact. Each of us will have specific memories of him that we’ll have forever, and may have informed some of our opinions or perceptions on life and how we live it.

We have been saying goodbye to Ming Sing now for some time, as slowly his life has ebbed from his body. Due to the strokes, he changed bit by bit, until in the end, he was capable of doing very little at all, and spent most of the time in bed, sleeping between meals. A very different man from the man he had been. Today we’re going to be saying goodbye to him as a complete person, and remember him the way he’d like to be remembered.

I used to visit him and my gran often, and spend long hours having meals, and playing chess – and getting to know him better. He had a tough childhood in China. He born into a well-off household and his father sold silk at the time. My grandfather recounted that his father’s own brother though had poisoned some meat, and killed his father. As a young boy, one can only imagine how traumatic such a turn of events could be, and he was treated very poorly after that as his father’s other wives mistreated my granddads mother. He was not properly schooled either after his father was killed, or his education was sporadic. So he was cruelly treated as a boy, and left China at 16 under and a cousin’s papers, as was done at the time.

He then went on to have more harsh experiences when he got to South Africa, where he was basically manual labour to his uncle and aunt. This is where he became physically strong through having to carry 200 pound bags of malt up a ladder to be brewed into beer. When he was old enough, he left them and managed to get work where he could earn money and save. Lana and him had a brief courtship of 6 months most of which was from letters and correspondence. These were different times, where things were made to last, and their marriage endured for over 67 years. They have lived through exciting times in this country, and have been through both the good times and the bad together. No doubt she will miss his presence, as he was such a big part of her life and purpose. Once married, him and my gran moved to Cape Town, where they ran grocery stores, and had 3 sons, Frank, Ken and Chappie. Ming Sing decided that the way to make enough money to support their family was by opening a restaurant, and he managed to open the Dragon Inn restaurant in Mouille Point which later moved to the Foreshore.With the restaurant he came into his own, and he was really proud of the restaurant and remembered it fondly.

After 15 years, he sold the restaurant and had a long retirement in Milnerton, where he loved working in the garden, landscaping, doing repairs and maintenance on his flat, playing mahjong with friends, where he was known to be a “foxy player”; cooking and making exotic foods (Charsiu and Chinese sausage) in his home made oven, working parttime at Ding Ho – where he would weigh off kg bags of rice – my gran would probably say –once again slave labour as we never used to pay him for doing this work.

His early life was very harsh, and very tough, and coming to this country was a big opportunity to start over, or so it must have seemed, and then he was again in a bad situation. However, through his perseverance and determination he was able to build a life for himself, even though, as he would often say, he had no education.

He saw the value education could bring and ensured that there were the resources to educate his two sons.

Once he became his own man, he very much lived by some basic principles that were high up on his values. He contributed strongly to his brothers and sisters families in China, regularly sending over money to help them during the war, and afterwards, when they were in need. He saw this as his duty and had to abide by this.

He also strongly believed in his Chinese heritage, and tried to retain a lot of that here in South Africa. He took his family back to China on several occasions to try to keep the links and bonds with the family open there. He was also actively involved in the Chinese Association in Cape Town. These were also times during apartheid when race was the main identifier for a person.

He also valued hard work and effort, and through his determination managed to build up his wealth through his hard work. He worked hard looking after his garden and flats, and put in large amounts of effort. He also exercised well into his eighties, doing all sorts of fitness and strength things.

Without trying to paint a picture of a perfect person, we can remember that none of us are perfect. He was very human in the way he lived – there were times when things would go wrong too, when people’s feelings would be hurt, and when things did not turn out the way they were supposed to. There were many of these times, and he along with others suffered for it. As much as there were personalities at play, there were differences in values, and differences in culture, and so we live and we learn from these things.

As we say goodbye, pieces of our departed live on within our collective memories. We are all gathered here today to pay our respects to someone that meant something to us, or someone that we had respect for. I thank God for Ming Sing’s life as someone that lived his life to the full. That managed to beat the odds, and find success for himself in a new country, and make a life for himself and for his family.

In the future, perhaps we can recall moments of our interactions with him, or encounters with him. Things that can help change the way we deal with other people. To remember how different his upbringing was to those around him, when we’re dealing with others – remember that we often don’t know others’ life history, and what they’re basing their decisions on. That those with different cultures often see things differently to us, and that in their minds they can be right.

In our own lives, let us remember how important communication with our loved ones is. Let’s not assume that they value the same things we do, and let us remember to respect one another for who they are and not for who we expect them to be. Let us love them and show them love for who they are. Let us learn to trust those that we love, and give them the benefit of the doubt.

In our own lives, let us remember Ming Sing’s strength and perseverance, that someone who was kicked down many times in his early life was still able to make a success. Let us remember how strong a presence he would be and how he was not afraid to put in hard work.

Let us remember to be grateful for what we have and for what we’ve worked hard for, rather than dwell on what might have been. Let us live in such a way that we do not carry regrets with us. Let us also strive to be successful, in whatever sense that may be.

Let us remember for our own lives, Ming Sing’s sense of duty to his family, that even though he was continents apart from them, he ensured that the ties were maintained and that the family remained connected.

Let us remember forgiveness for our own lives, and not let the scars of bitterness and resentment carry through with us. Let us learn to forgive others, and accept others for who they are. Let us not carry the burden of always being right, but rather have the grace to accept and move on. To forgive and forget – and let go.

Let us learn to learn from one another – not only when someone has moved on, but every day by learning to see the value in one another. The good points in one another, and not see those as a threat to us, but rather an area where we can all develop and grow with each other. Although Yeh Yeh is no longer with us, he will be fondly remembered and missed by us.

What is a wrap? ~ Rap - to talk., have conversation. ~ A piece of thin, flat bread that can contain anything eaten as a sandwich. ~ Signaling the end (ie of the week) ~ Under Wraps - secret.

Wrap thank yous from: Arthur SONG, Sam LEE PAN, Alice CHONG