“To Master, To Grow, To Serve,” those words, the motto of Methodist Girls’ School repeated at each Founder’s Day event, and ingrained in my head was the story of how Sophia Blackmore started the school with 9 Indian girls in 1887. I joined Methodist Girls’ School (MGS), then located at 11, Mt. Sophia, in mid-1963.
I was a 7-year-old Burmese girl who could not speak a word of English, transported from the rural setting in the northernmost part of Myanmar to this bustling foreign country, Singapore. The Myanmar government had assigned my father to open a Trade Office in Singapore, and the family, including us three siblings aged 7,5, and 3, were relocated there.
I started in Primary 2A. The first time I took Oral Arithmetic, I practically got zero as I did not understand what the teacher was saying. I was confused, and school was not a happy time for me. Next term, I got better, and my position in class improved. I was promoted 3B,4B,5B every year and then finally back to 6A. I remember my name not being called from the register while I was sitting in class 6B and when I asked the teacher why she smiled and told me that it meant I belonged to 6A. A late bloomer concerning study, I was neither ambitious nor competitive.
PE and sports days were happy times for me. In every class, Being the shortest, I was always chosen to be the leader of the Red Team-Jackson. I was good at running, and some of my taller classmates would often race with me. I even represented the school at one of the interschool Track and Field Meets.
Unless the stall was closed at recess, I ate noodles almost daily. I was a small brown-skinned girl among all my fair Chinese schoolmates queuing for soup after choosing from a huge heap of bowls of different noodles. We queued first for the meat; one fish ball, two slices of fish cake, and two pieces of char siew followed by the soup. My second choice was always Nasi Lemak.
One of my regrets was that I should have taken Chinese. I took Malay as my second language when it was initiated in Primary 3 whereas Chinese was taught since kindergarten. During Chinese lessons, we would sit in the library or sit quietly in class. Sometimes I would help my friend look up the words of the Chinese characters in her dictionary.
We returned home to Myanmar after six years. Many years later, I had a pleasant surprise when I saw familiar buildings, including my old MGS premises, on a CNA documentary on Old School.
Forty-nine years later, in 2017, I had a chance to re-visit Singapore; Kim, my classmate and neighbour with whom I had kept in touch all these years, took me to see the old MGS site. I got to reminisce down memory lane.
I had always considered myself an ‘old girl’ of MGS, even though I left MGS in 1968 when I was in Secondary 1. My foundation in English built by MGS was an advantage throughout my high school years as I received distinctions in English and throughout my medical studies and my career.
I obtained my medical degree plus a post-grad Diploma and a Master of Medical Science degree in Medical Microbiology. I served my country as a Public Health Microbiologist, representing my country in many International Conferences and Seminars. I helped set up the first HIV Lab and Molecular Lab in the Department of Health and established my country’s National Influenza Center. I aided in diagnosing the first AIDS patient, the first Avian Influenza case, and the first H1N1 victim who came back from Singapore. I retired after serving my country for 33 years.
I mastered, I grew, and I served.
Dr. Khin Yi Oo had her schooling at Methodist Girls’ School in Singapore from 1963 to 1968. Her name at MGS was Elizabeth Yi. She graduated as a Medical Doctor in her home country, Myanmar. She specialized in Medical Microbiology and worked as a Public Health Microbiologist for 33 years before her retirement. She now works part-time as Lab Advisor at an NGO and is still serving the people.
