{"id":42862,"date":"2018-02-12T19:43:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T00:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging21.finca.org\/uncategorized-en-ca\/a-love-story"},"modified":"2024-11-04T02:07:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T07:07:29","slug":"a-love-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finca.org\/en-ca\/a-love-story","title":{"rendered":"Teng Kin Khok: A Love Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teng Kin Khok lived a life filled with challenges. Born in China, she began working at age 10, endured war, started two thriving small businesses, and navigated life in four countries, often on her own.<\/p>\n

She also raised two daughters, whose love, respect and admiration for her is obvious. Upon Teng\u2019s death at age 99, Seng and Hean, chose to remember their mother through a memorial gift<\/a> to FINCA. \u201cWe were so inspired by our mother: by her independence, compassion and graciousness, especially having overcome so many adversities,\u201d said Hean. \u201cWe wanted to do a good deed on her behalf. I received a FINCA newsletter and immediately I saw my mother\u2019s story reflected in the women<\/a> FINCA works with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardworking from an Early Age<\/h2>\n

Teng was born in 1918 in China. When she was 10, her father became addicted to opium and could no longer support the family. Teng and her sisters were sent to work. Teng went to Hong Kong to work as a house servant. Every penny she and her sisters made was sent home to help feed the family and educate their younger brother.<\/p>\n

Teng was treated poorly by her employers in Hong Kong. So, although she was illiterate, she struck out on her own, moving to Malaya (present-day Malaysia) to work in a factory. Soon afterwards, the Japanese Army occupied the country, bringing fear, hardship, and starvation. The city was repeatedly bombed. Teng was alone amid the chaos and violence.<\/p>\n

Still, she managed to gather enough money to start her own small business, selling fruit, snacks, iced drinks, and snow cones from a stall across the street from a movie house. Malaysia is very hot, so her snacks were in high demand. \u201cAnd she came up with innovative ideas to improve her sales,\u201d says daughter Seng. \u201cWhen you cut up watermelon, there is no guarantee that it will be sweet. My mother created a sugar solution to dip the watermelon in so that hers were always the best.\u201d Teng also made toys with yarn and bamboo sticks. Her toys were the most brightly coloured, which attracted many children to the stand, helping her business to flourish.<\/p>\n

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