1941 NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE WHEN I WAS 5

My first near death experience was when I was around 5 or 6. Yes, it is hard to believe that I survived that at such a young age! It was an experience that I kept a secret. I didn’t begin to process the trauma until a few years after the event. How do I start to tell you the story?

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was around 5 years old. I would say he was a little bit naughty. He was not home in time for dinner. It was a rule that all the children in the family knew. First, finish your homework. Then, do your household chores. Only then can you go out and play. Be home before the sun sets because that is dinner time. It was also a rule that I was not to go to the beach without asking my parents for permission. At that time, we lived only 400m from the beach. For a little boy who runs everywhere, it was not very far at all.

When I got to the beach that day, there were quite a lot of people. Children were playing and swimming at the beach. It was always a favourite place for people to go to in the late afternoon. As the sun goes down, it is not hot. There is a nice refreshing sea breeze. I was very happily playing in the water and ‘swimming the beach! I thought I should get home. The tide had come in and as a result, I was stuck on a narrow sandbar. I began to panic as to how I was going to get home. There was a lot of water between the sandbar and the beach. I would have to ‘swim’. I was 5 years old kid and not a strong swimmer. In my wisdom, I found a log that I could float on. I thought it could take me to the beach. However, it started floating out to sea. I held onto that piece of wood to stay afloat. I struggled to breathe and tried very hard to swim to shore. But I just could not do it.

Suddenly, in the distance, I saw a man wearing white emerge from the bushes at the beach. I shouted loudly for help. He must have heard me and he must have realized a little boy was in danger in the sea. Without hesitation, he swam towards me and pulled the piece of wood that I was floating on towards the shore. I was crying, and I couldn’t see his face clearly. He told me to go home quickly. Strangely enough, my tiny shorts were still where I had left them before running to the sea! I remember saying loudly “Thank you, Uncle. Thank you, Uncle.” many times and running home like an arrow!

I arrived home. My elder sister Nyuk Ching caught me coming home late. She told me that I had missed dinner time. She kept asking where I had been. I was shivering and cold from my ordeal but also afraid of getting into trouble. I was lucky. Mum and Dad had already gone to bed, so my sister served me dinner. I remember being very grateful that she gave me my dinner and didn’t get me into trouble.

The next day, nothing was said. I didn’t get in trouble. That was the important thing. However, I also couldn’t tell anyone about the hero uncle who came to save me. I kept that incident to myself for many years. It wasn’t due to the traumatic experience. Rather, it was because I did not get permission to go for a swim!

I kept thinking about the near-death experience. I would have drowned and died. Luckily, the Uncle came to help me in time! As a young boy I didn’t ever think that I nearly died! So how to explain to siblings and friends?

Years later, I related the incident to some of my elders. They said, with a smile, that I had been lucky. I had met a divine hand that saved my life. But somehow, I realized that perhaps none of them believed such a tale from such a young kid!

I have wondered about my Hero Uncle. I remember saying thank you to him many times but never seeing his face clearly. I wonder what story he had told his family when he came home dripping wet. He changed my life, and I will always be thankful to my hero Uncle.

For everyone that reads this, please share my story, and warn children not to swim without supervision. My late mother used to say 欺山莫欺水 – “you can bully the mountain but you can’t bully water” . Do you know how this relates to my story? Have you heard this Chinese phrase before?

In 2022, while in KB, I asked to return to this beach to have a look. The entrance to the beach is so nice now. I am glad that I have written this story to share.

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