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History Of The Elim Gospel Hall, Ipoh (1913 - 2003) - Part 04a - The Start Of The Orphanage
It was also in early 1915 that another interesting and exciting chapter in the history of Elim Gospel Hall unfolded. This was the beginning of the Elim orphanage work when Mr. and Mrs. Wilson took in six orphan Chinese girls from Singapore. These six little girls aged eight to ten years old, helpless and alone, nameless and without any personal records had by chance encountered a godly missionary lady named Bessie McClay on the waterfront of Canton (Guangzhou today) harbour in China in 1914. They had been sold by their families to unscrupulous agents who were waiting to ship them to Singapore, to be sold into slavery or bonded servitude to rich families, which was a common practice among the Chinese in those early hard times. Incredibly this kind woman was able to pay for them and rescued them. Miss McClay brought them across the sea to Singapore. Initially they were housed at the Church Zenana Mission Society (CZMS). Miss McClay gave them names: Kwai Fong (married, in Myanmar), Kwai Leong (in U.K. and worked for an English family), Kwai Yung (succumbed after an ear operation), Kwai Mei (retired nursing sister in Batu Pahat), Kwai Heng (married, in Kuala Lumpur) and Kwai Fah (retired nurse; migrated with husband Sung Chiew Hoay to Australia). This adoption was a spur of the moment decision so Bessie McClay decided to go back to Ireland to solicit for support and finance for her orphanage work. Unfortunately she perished when the ship she was on, the Lusitania, was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans. Once again the girls were left alone without a benefactor. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson heard about their plight and agreed to take them in, so they were transported to Ipoh and came to live with the Wilsons and their family. They took on the surname “Wai” after Wilson. This was the beginning of the orphanage which came to be called the Elim Home.
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