Growing Up In Kampong Potong Pasir is Josephine Chia’s 12th book. The old village was built over in 1982 but the new public housing estate retains its original name, Potong Pasir.
Her nickname was shortened to Ah Phine because the kampong (village) consisted of mostly illiterate population and none could pronounce her English name Josephine properly. They usually called her Ah Phine.
Ah Phine’s memoir offers insights into her life. She included some ground breaking events like when she made her decision to attend school. She was born in 1951 and it was uncommon for girls to receive education. She persuaded her mother to send her to school.
Poverty was the biggest obstacle but Ah Phine and her mother did extra work to earn money to pay for school, textbooks, uniform, socks and shoes.
There are ten chapters, excluding the prologue and epilogue. Each chapter is an anecdote of significant importance in the growing up years of young Josephine.
I enjoyed reading this book.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars.
Reference
Chia, Josephine. (2018). Growing Up In Kampong Potong Pasir. Ethos Books: Singapore.
