Inspiring Stories

He drives a low-key Hyundai.

It is a “good-enough” vehicle that gets him from his five-room HDB flat in Choa Chu Kang to his workplace at Keppel Road, where he serves up bowls of his famous bak kut teh.

It is hard to imagine that this man is Mr Frankie Gwee, the owner of the renowned Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha and arguably one of Singapore’s best-known hawkers, one who has appeared in several reports for the food he serves and his philanthropy.

In 2006, he was one of 12 Singapore hawkers awarded the title of Singapore Street Food Masters by Makansutra.

In the same year, he was visited by Hong Kong’s former chief executive Donald Tsang, who came to try his famous bak kut teh.

While Mr Gwee may stinge on his transport and does not believe in having an ostentatious home, he thinks nothing about donating S$30,000 to anyone who he feels needs help.

Not that he is publicity-hungry. He was initially reluctant to reveal more details about his charity work and personal life when The New Paper on Sunday caught up with him.

“Often, I prefer to slip in and out (when he is doing charity work), but after (the Donald Tsang) story, it’s hard.”

He laughs, then adds: “Plus, with this face, it’s hard to pretend not to be me.”

The credit goes to the customers who patronise Ya Hua, he maintains.

“It’s their money, really. I’m only representing (them).”

He adds in a more sober tone: “When we die, we can’t take our wealth along with us.

“But most importantly, I felt that this is my calling, a mission. God gave me a second chance in life.”

The turning point in his life came in a horrific accident that nearly killed him.

That evening in 1987 was also the first day of the Hungry Ghost Month.

He was juggling two jobs – as an office boy in a Chinese trading firm in the day and, from 6pm, as a stall assistant at a bak kut teh stall in River Valley Road.

That night, he was off work and on the way to visit his girlfriend.

He recalls: “It was so surreal. I woke up that morning and was telling my girlfriend – who is now my wife – that it had been a while since I last saw a doctor.

“It was like a premonition.”

Mr Gwee adds: “The night was fine, there was no rain, the road was clear. It was like someone covered my eyes when I was riding the motorcycle.”

After waking up from a 10-day coma, Mr Gwee realised that he was blind in his right eye, his nose had collapsed and his face was horrifyingly disfigured. His spine was also broken.

He says: “I was devastated. For a while, I didn’t even know if I wanted to go on living.”

It turned out that Mr Gwee had crashed through a steel road divider on Queensway.

He says with a shudder: “Even now, when I occasionally drive past the road, it gives me the shivers.”

After operations and plastic surgery spanning over three years, he slowly found the strength to move on with the love and support of his family members.

He has five brothers and nine sisters.

“But it was my girlfriend’s unwavering support and love that truly kept me going,” he adds.

In a TV interview in June, his wife, Madam Lim Poh Choon, 47, said: “I felt that I was partly responsible because he was on the way to meet me.

“I didn’t feel it was right to abandon him.”

The couple have two children, a 22-year-old son who is doing his national service after his polytechnic studies, and a daughter, 18, who is in poly.

Not just affected by his physical injuries, Mr Gwee recounts how he had to pick up the pieces of his shattered confidence.

He says: “I was so hideous-looking that adults shunned me and kids cried in fear when they saw me.

“I felt so humiliated and I had no self-esteem.”

Another thing that bothered him then was he just could not find a job.

“No one wanted to hire me, but I could not blame anyone. On top of that, I stopped school at Primary 2.”

What he had was an insurance payout of $40,000, his family and a girlfriend whom he married two years after his accident.

One day, when he was out with his sister, they met a customer, who used to frequent the bak kut teh stall that they worked for.

Mr Gwee recollects: “The customer asked us, with our skills, why we didn’t run our own business.”

So the Gwee siblings decided to pool their resources and scouted for cheap shop space.

In 1991, on Mr Gwee’s 28th birthday, they opened Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha at Block 27.

He says: “My family members picked this date specially to mark the second phase in my life.”

After the cluster of flats in Outram Park went under the en-bloc scheme, the Gwees moved to Keppel Road in 2001, also on his birthday.

He will turn 49 this Wednesday.

“Each day I can wake up healthy and happy is a day earned.”

This mentality explains too why it is not unusual to see Mr Gwee, who works the 6pm-to-4am shift, making the rounds like any of his employees – whether it is ladling out soup, refilling customers’ empty bowls, taking orders or clearing the tables.

On the charity front, Mr Gwee says he will continue with his mission to bring hope and relief to the needy.

He has been actively involved in building a school in Chiang Rai, Thailand, “bit by bit because if you do everything all at once, it would not be as meaningful”.

This includes giving out bursaries and offering university scholarships.

He is also helping the villagers in Cambodia to rebuild an orphanage.

“The living conditions are poor and bad, and it gets worse between June and December, when there’s lots of rain,” says Mr Gwee.

Each time he visits, which is once or twice a year, he spends about US$1,000 (S$1,250) on necessities such as rice, instant noodles and bottles of water, and books and stationery for the children.

He also chips in with repairs and runs errands. He also cleans up the place.

Mr Gwee maintains: “Doing charity work is not just about giving money.”

One of the best rewards, he adds, is to be greeted by a line of young orphans waving the Singapore flag and singing our National Anthem.

Mr Gwee says: “It always touches my heart to watch and hear them, to know that they want us to feel their appreciation.”

He reckons he has come a long way from the hideous-looking man who made children cry in fear.

“I have learnt one thing – looks are not important. It’s your heart that matters most,” he says.

This article was first published in The New Paper.

To the rest of the family, he will remain nameless and faceless.

And they will never get to thank him personally for answering their prayers for a miracle.

Only the recipient of the miracle, little Bryan Liu, has the privilege of knowing what his saviour looks like.

In a 20-minute, face-to-face meeting at 3.30pm at the National University Hospital (NUH) on Sunday, the six-year-old boy got to thank the man who gave him a kidney.

Bryan’s mother, Madam Serene Ng, 38, said that her son later told her about the meeting.

Madam Ng told The New Paper: “He said, ‘Thank you for giving me your kidney. Kor kor (big brother in Hokkien), thank you very much.’

“He also asked the donor how many siblings he has and how old he is. The donor told him that he has two siblings and he is 27 years old.

“But Bryan didn’t ask for the donor’s name. He called him kor kor instead.”

Madam Ng said the donor, who was accompanied by a transplant coordinator, had requested to meet Bryan.

But adults who are related to Bryan were not allowed at the meeting.

Did not see face

She added: “I didn’t get to see his face. I only saw his back when he went in on a wheelchair. I saw an average-size guy with short hair.”

But for the rest of their lives, the Lius will always remember this stranger as Bryan’s guardian angel for his selfless act of giving the boy a second shot at a normal life.

Born with one kidney

Bryan was born on Christmas Eve, 2005, one kidney short.

And his single kidney was small and had abnormal tissues. By the time he was two, it had become useless.

Madam Ng gave him one of her kidneys, but it, too, failed and was removed in September 2009.

After that, Bryan had to undergo 10 hours of dialysis at home daily to stay alive while waiting for that elusive kidney transplant.

Day after day since then, the Lius waited for the call that could give their boy a new lease on life.

After almost three years, which must have seemed like an eternity to the family, the phone rang one day in May this year.

It was from the transplant office, and a female voice said: “We have found a donor.”

No five words sounded sweeter, and on Saturday, Bryan received a new kidney at the National University Hospital (NUH).

What is rare about Bryan’s kidney is that it came from an altruistic living donor – someone who’s not related to the family.

Bryan’s father, Mr Victor Liu, 50, a telco group manager , said: “We were told that we are not supposed to meet the donor as he’s an altruistic donor who is unrelated to us.”

Added Madam Ng: “There’s protocol to follow.”

Mr Liu said: “I can’t find words in my vocabulary to express my gratitude. He’s a kind soul who made this miracle happen. He went all out just to save my son.”

Recovery

Like Bryan, the donor is recovering from the kidney transplant procedure.
Click here to find out more!

Mr Liu said: “We got word from the doctor that he is doing well. In fact, he’s asking how Bryan is doing.”

The family got the okay from the NUH’s transplant office to pass the mystery donor a hamper through the office on Sunday morning.

Bryan and his twin sister, Charmaine, also made a card for him.

Said Mr Liu: “We put it into the hamper. It is a personalised ‘get well’ hamper which we did up ourselves with tonics and ‘get well’ food.

“We wish him speedy recovery, for him to have good health and may all good things come to him in time.”

On top of the hamper, the Lius placed a plush toy bear with wings, and on its wrapper, they wrote: “To Bryan’s Guardian Angel”.

Said Mr Liu: “We will always have the donor in our hearts. The liveliness of Bryan will remind us of this kind soul.”

The happy ending had its roots two years ago when The New Paper first wrote about Bryan.

His plight moved 25 readers to pledge to give their kidneys.

It is unclear whether Bryan’s angel is one of them.

Madam Ng wonders if the donor is the same person who had sent an e-mail to the Facebook page “A Kidney for Bryan, A Gift of Life” a relative had set up after the TNP report.

In the e-mail, he indicated his intention to donate his kidney to Bryan.

Madam Ng referred him to the NUH transplant office and heard no more about him.
Click here to find out more!

Whoever Bryan’s angel is, he had to go through a barrage of blood tests, psychiatric assessments and interviews with the transplant ethics committee to determine if he is a suitable donor.

Professor A. Vathsala, who heads the Adult Renal Transplantation Programme at NUH, said a donor faces two different types of risks.

The most immediate is bleeding around the time of the operation or a blood clot of the legs, which can travel to the lungs.

“This is a real risk and the donor must be informed before the surgery,” he said.

For the long term, the donor will have only one kidney for the rest of his life.

If properly screened and found to be healthy before donation, most donors will have normal renal function.

Follow-ups

But they need yearly follow-ups to check on their kidney function and protein in the urine as well as other health concerns.

In Bryan’s donor’s case, Prof Vathsala said the donor was counselled on these risks on several occasions and was given a longer cooling-off period than normal.

“He must be an emotionally strong individual as his only reward in donating would be in knowing that he had donated a kidney to save someone’s life,” he said.

“He may never have the opportunity to see Bryan have the benefits of the transplant as is often the case for biologically-related donors.

“It is a credit to him that he understood these risks, has acknowledged that he will not gain financially from the donation and has still gone ahead with the altruistic donation.”

Cautious optimism

Mr Liu is aware of the battery of tests the donor had to undergo because he paid for the tests.

He said: “He had gone through the test so many times. After the validity period was over and the process was still not complete, he had to repeat them.”

Even after getting the long-awaited call from the transplant office, the Lius tempered their joy with cautious optimism.

Mr Liu said: “We kept our fingers crossed that the donor would be there till the end of the process.

“At that time, we were unsure whether it would go through. There were so many hurdles and he’s a young guy.”

The family is no stranger to false dawns – potential donors had expressed interest, but couldn’t follow through to the end.

“Anyone could be discouraged along the way. Anything can happen along the way,” said Mr Liu.

Even when Bryan’s angel was going into the operating theatre, he could still change his mind, he said.

“At that point, he can say no and the whole thing can be called off,” he said.

But the donor kept to his word and the family’s prayers were answered.

Said Mr Liu: “This person is truly admirably remarkable. Now, Bryan has a new lease on life. We will do all we can to keep him that way.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.

When it comes to giving back to society, Ms Krishnavani Veerappan believes it has to be a family affair.

For the past 10 years, she has roped in her son Sainiran Thanapal and daughter Santhiya as volunteers for the Singapore Indian Development Association’s reading programme, Project Read.

On July 7, Ms Veerappan received a gold award for her 10-year volunteer service while Santhiya, 15, received an award for her five years as a volunteer with the self-help group. They were part of the 81 volunteers who were honoured at SINDA’s Volunteers’ Tea held at Nanyang Polytechnic Auditorium on July 7.

The event, which is held every two years, was attended by Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean, chairman and life trustee of SINDA’s Board of Trustees, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and Minister for Manpower Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and SINDA adviser Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, life trustees S. Dhanabalan and S. Chandra Das and SINDA’s president, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC Indranee Rajah.

In his speech Mr Teo noted that SINDA had more than 1,300 volunteers, with more than half being long-term volunteers.

“There were also 300 new volunteers, an encouraging sign that more people are coming on board to help out in this worthy cause,” he said.

Ms Veerappan told tabla! that she and her children get plenty of support for their volunteer work from her husband.

She added that her boss encourages her too. “My chief executive tells the team that we have to give back to society and I think it is important that all of us do, no matter what age we are. Volunteering is a passion and I hope more people will come on board and give some of their time to it,” said the training co-ordinator.

Santhiya added that she gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction from volunteering.

“Especially when I see improvements in the child I am reading to. It is a good feeling,” she said.

Another volunteer who was motivated by a family member to give back to society was 12-year-old Swarna Kalyanaraman (left). The NPS International student said that her father Kalyan Raman pushed her into spending some time on weekends reading to other children.

“He thought it would give me an opportunity to share my knowledge with other children and develop some leadership skills,” she said.

Swarna is one of the youngest volunteers to join the Eunos Community Centre’s Reading Circle in 2011 and currently is part of the Kaki Bukit Reading Circle.

Mr Raman, a management consultant, told tabla! that he learnt about the reading circles which are a part of Project Read from SINDA’s chief executive officer T. Raja Segar.

He explained that his older daughter, who was in the local school system, had plenty of opportunities to do community work and he wanted something similar for Swarna. Hence the push, albeit a strong one, into the reading programme.

“I think it is good exposure for Swarna to learn how to be a leader, be in a situation where she can gain confidence,” he said.

As for Swarna, the initial apprehension has passed and now she looks forward to her weekends where she spends a few hours reading to groups of children at the Kaki Bukit Reading Circle.

“I am having a lot more fun,” she said.

This article was first published in Asiaone

The picture above may look unremarkable if you do not know who took it and why.

It was taken by Mr William Hiu, 58, who is visually impaired.

And it shows an object which most of those walking past may not notice at all – a dustbin.

But to Mr Hiu, it is something important.

“There was this time when the cleaners moved this dustbin at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and I became totally lost,” he said with a laugh.

The dustbin tells him where exactly he is; when he reaches it, he knows he has to turn left to continue walking to his workplace at the polytechnic.

There is also a picture of railings taken by Mr Hiu. Again, it may seem insignificant to the uninitiated, but to Mr Hiu, these metal structures help him keep on track while he jogs at a park connector.

To raise awareness of how visually impaired persons (VIPs, as they are called) live their lives, five of them from the Dialogue In The Dark project at Ngee Ann Polytechnic are embarking on a photo journey, attempting to tell what the blind “see” in their lives.

With the help of ex-Lianhe Zaobao photojournalist Bob Lee, 36, the VIPs went through a photography crash course before they began snapping away.

Although Mr Lee has been conducting photography workshops for the last seven years, teaching a class of visually impaired students is something foreign to him.

“It felt as if I am the student when I am teaching this class, because teaching photography to the VIPs is something totally new to me,” he said.

But photography is not something totally new to Mr Hiu.

Before his eyesight started to fail due to retinitis pigmentosa – a condition in which the retina fails gradually – about two decades ago, he had dabbled in photography.

‘Various genres’

He said: “Back then, I joined photo societies and shot various genres, such as portraiture and food. “But when I learnt about my failing eyesight, I gave up hope in everything.”

He was so depressed that he threw away the single-lens reflex camera he used to own, as he refused to accept his disability.

Fast forward to today and Mr Hiu is a much more cheerful person, and he hopes to tell the world how the blind live in this visual world.

The participants of the project point their cameras in the general direction of the object they want to shoot and snap away.

Another participant in the project is Mr Jason Setok.

For the 33-year-old, it is all about reliving his first date with his girlfriend after losing his eyesight to glaucoma about six years ago.

So he and his girlfriend, who is also visually impaired, went on the Singapore River Cruise, and he took a series of photos of the Singapore skyline.

He said: “On my first date, we walked around the Marina Bay area and the usual touristy sites.

“If I could ever regain my eyesight, the first thing I want to see would be my girlfriend and this place where it all started.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.

Mr Jason Setok, who is visually handicapped, taking photographs while he was on a Singapore River Cruise. Mr Setok, who lost his sight to glaucoma, is one of the participants of Dialogue In The Dark

Mr William Hiu, who is visually handicapped, taking photographs. He is one of the participants of the Dialogue In The Dark project at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The participants of the project point their cameras in the general direction of the object they want to shoot and snap away. Before taking the photographs, they went through a photography crash course conducted by Bob Lee, a former photojournalist with Lianhe Zaobao.

Mr William Hiu (in white) taking some pointers from ex-Lianhe Zaobao photojournalist Bob Lee.