Children’s Day 2026 - For the Children Who Once Filled Our Kampongs With Life

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Today, we dedicate this Children’s Day post to all the little ones who once lived, played, and breathed in the old Bedok kampongs and their surrounding villages. There was truly something different - something magical - about being a child in our kampong from the 50's through the 70's. Childhood was not an age; it was an adventure.

For Ron Ho, the kampong was freedom itself - roaming the beach, digging for shells, hunting for crabs and prawns at low tide, and “attacking” fruit trees that definitely belonged to someone else. Those were, as he often says, the best years of his growing‑up life.

For Saadiah Ahmad, the memories still spark joy. She learnt to ride a bicycle along sandy lanes, caught banana‑tree worms to feed the family’s monkey, followed her mother to the beach to collect cockles, crabs and seaweed for homemade agar‑agar. She remembers catching tiny fish at the big drain near the army camp and watching mudskippers dance at the mouth of Sungei Bedok.

For Marc Roch, childhood meant watching soldiers from 3SIR march past his home in wonder, swimming in the river, cycling through every lane the kampong allowed, and exploring the reclaimed land - even climbing the abandoned conveyor‑belt machines that dotted the area.

For Daniel Koh, the sea outside his house at Padang Terbakar was simply his swimming pool - a playground without walls. Moreover with fires igniting from time to time at the dry lalang fields, it was oddly strange yet fascinating for him to watch firefighters battling the fires (hence its name ‘padang terbakar’!)

For little Winnie Goh, joy was as simple as peddling around the garden of her home at Jalan Haji Salam, sunlight on her shoulders and the kampong breeze in her hair.

And for Marhamah Sapandi, nothing beats celebrating her 7th birthday at 35M Jalan Greja -surrounded by neighbours, friends, and relatives. That one afternoon, captured in the photograph we share here, sealed her childhood memories forever. A small party, a simple home, a circle of familiar faces - yet a world of happiness.

“Kampong life built my character, my love for simplicity, and my respect for the sea,” Ron Ho declares - and we agree wholeheartedly.

Happy Children’s Day to the child in every one of us.



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