Icebreaker January 2020

I was born at the start of the Second World War in a small village in Malaya across the Gulf of Thailand from Viet Nam. We lived in a bamboo hut at the edge of the jungle. The Japanese drove the British out of Malaya. I could not say if life was worse during the war years because we had always been poor both under the British or the Japanese.

No one tried to change our way of life which was the belief and worship of one God. We learned to recite the Koran without knowing what it meant. We were always told that it was alright to be poor, because in the After Life we will get our reward and eternal happiness. This philosophy gave us comfort even though we live in abject poverty. The first 6 years of my life was spent following my mother around and paying attention to what she taught the neighborhood children to read the Koran. I thus learned to recite the Koran too without knowing what it meant.

When I was 7 I was sent to the Malay School and I must admit looking back I learned a lot. I like arithmetic and geography.

After 4 years of schooling it was time to move on to an English School. There I learned even more. I liked reading books. This was in a town far away from home which I had to leave for the first time. It was the first time in my life I did not have my mother around and also it was the first time I saw electric light and heard stories on the Radio. Life was changing for me even though at a tender age of 11 I had to work to pay my living as it cost money to live in a town with electricity. After 4 years I had to move again to another school where I stayed in a hostel and did not have to work as was given a monthly grant by the government.

Eventually after a total 14 years in school I won a scholarship to study far away from home. I went to England and it was really a dream come true. I spent a total of 5 years in England.

One of my favorite pastimes was reading.

I have two all-time favourite authors:

One:  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: he wrote the Little Prince. In this story The Little Prince met the Fox and they became friends. When it was time to bid adieu the fox was very sad having to say goodbye.

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

In French:

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

Then secondly; Kahlil Gibran the famous Lebanese author and poet, he gave us The Prophet a story of a man who went to live among the people of Orphalese. After spending some years among his friends it was time for him to leave for his own country to be among his own people.

On the day that he was leaving the people came to the town square to bid him adieu. The seeress named AlMitra asked him to speak to them about different wisdoms and the one about children went like this.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not

even in your dreams.

A word of wisdom to think about:

We should all be reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, status, or power, or fame – but rather how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

Now back to reality: I joined Toastmasters in 2006 which was 14 years ago and I earned my DTM after 6 years but I was never satisfied with what I have achieved and I still carried on my Toastmasters activities and doing speeches.

I have this dream of being a competent public speaker and being famous.