Doris Ang and Leyenne

Doris Ang:

I am born into a family of 12 as the youngest child. My father was the eldest among his 9 siblings. My grandfather owns many hectares of land and we are always down in the plantations having lots of fun. I remember harvesting durians with my father too.

During our growing up years, we will always help out in the various business that our father owns, such as helping with the dishes, washing and cleaning in the restaurant. We always look forward to helping out as our father will reward us with 1 cent each and we always save up to buy ourselves fancy snacks from the Mamak stall.

Growing up, I learnt to embrace changes. From the life of the youngest daughter of a Towkay, we went through huge changes after my father passed away from a hereditary kidney condition. His various businesses were usurped by his business partners and we were left with nothing.

I was grateful to my father that he forced most of my siblings and myself to complete our studies  and that we were not afraid of hard work since young. We also learnt to save our money from the days that we helped out in the past. We worked hard and with our perseverance, we helped to build up our family again.

I want to tell all my beloved grandchildren, nieces and nephews to embrace changes. Change is painful, but nothing is as painful as staying stuck in somewhere that you don’t belong and wallowing in self-pity.

Leyenne:

My family lives in a very nice house. We are a family of five.

My mama always says that we need to be passionate about the things that we do or learn. I love playing my piano and cello.

I want to be a pilot when I grow up. I want to be the best that I can be.

But mama says it might be better to pilot a drone in future. So, I’m thinking about the changes.

I need to learn about changes, accept changes to embrace the future.