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History Of The Elim Gospel Hall, Ipoh (1913 - 2003) - Part 04c - The Start Of The Orphanage Continued
Elim Home subsequently took in more boarders, both boys and girls. Some of them were not orphans but came from very poor or destitute homes with single or widowed parents. Among these was Miss Voon Nyook Yoon who came in 1918. She grew up in the Home and later became an associate worker with the missionaries from 1924-1933. She assisted Mrs. Wilson and other missionaries and did a lot of visitation to rubber estates and tin mines to spread the gospel. In December 1933 she left the Home when she married Tan Gim Ann and they settled down in Malacca where they continued to serve the Lord. (‘Auntie Tan’ as she was affectionately called, went home to be with the Lord from Ipoh in 1996.)
Miss Ding Tuan Sing moved from Sitiawan to Ipoh to replace Auntie Tan as a full time worker when she left for Malacca. Other boarders were Mak Choon Hau (nursing matron), Chooi Wai Ying (Chooi Yew Hong’s sister), Mrs. Yu Choong (Shuk Lan, in UK today), and Mrs. Ong Cheng Siang (Ong Hock Huat’s mother).
As the children grew up and the numbers increased, it became necessary that the boys be housed separately. In the beginning there were about six to ten boys staying together in the Home, so a Boys’ Home was built in 1925 adjacent to the Elim Gospel Hall. It was enlarged again in 1926 to accommodate as many as thirty boys. This building was demolished in 1986 to make way for the building of the new triple storey Chinese Elim Gospel Hall. Some of the boy boarders were Chooi Fook Chon followed by his cousin Chooi Yew Hong (hospital assistant, Ipoh), Low Ah Yu (businessman, Ipoh), Timothy Chew (Singapore), Wai Thin Loke (Johor), his brother Wai Thin Fook (salesman, Ipoh), Ng Chong Choy (Sabah), Choo Theam Yong (Registrar for RIMV, Penang), Fred Philip (Penang), Koo Chong Kong (Chief Police Officer, Perak), his brother Koo Sze Kong (photographer), Tan Shen Kai (well-known blind masseur, Ipoh and organist for Chinese assembly) and Yu Choong (UK).
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