Lighting a candle

Sunday mornings at Bukit Brown is generally a no go for me as I am in church. But I felt compelled to go after the 930 am service today (25th March 2012) , skipping choir practice and telling myself that this would be the rare exception. Part of the motivation was the idea of lighting a candle at this the last tour before our QM (Qing Ming) recess.

Finding a tour mid-stream is a bit of a needle in a haystack, and the few phone numbers I had were not connecting: But another friend of Bukit Brown knew some other numbers and soon I was at the "Naked Angel" tomb.

The usual suspects were waxing lyrical and the participants spell bound: Irena (reporting for the  Economist) was whirring a video camera: I sketched.

There were two more stops then the party was over.
Sort of.
But it never is at Bukit Brown, is it!

Raymond Goh had a tip off from one of the tomb keepers.  Mr Chua, aged 90, had pointed out the place where mass graves were dug. He was 9 and it left a deep impression. He was warned repeatedly by the family elders not to play there because it was "dirty" (i.e. with dark spiritual forces)  He had witnessed as a 9 year old, during the second word war 1942-1945, the use of a mass grave for civilian bodies. Some 3,000 of them. He was sure of the location and had marked for us with a strip of plastic. Raymond drove us (Ai Lin, Claire Leow, Keng Keat and me). As Raymond got to the spot and parked the car we could see our destination. It was across the valley, beyond the stream, just next to a clump of bright green ferns, pegged and flagged for us.

We had to go down into the valley and cross the stream via the culvert. Much of the approach was boggy, ponded, soggy, wet, squelchy. We had to circumnavigate through the trees on drier ground. We got there and I sketched. A pair of green pigeons did a flypass for us.

It looks smack in the middle of the planned 8 lane highway. It may possibly be bridged over. But the bridge will need support and the support my be supported by 3000 bodies???

This sketch map attempts to portray the location of the boggy mass grave Block 2 division 6, in relation to stream and to steps next to tomb 153.

A group member wanted to visit Great Great Grand Father. Some one had located the tomb for her. Raymond managed to bring us there. It was a poignant pause and a quiet contemplative moment as there was reconnected to Great Great Grand Father.  I was privileged to witness the family reunification.

In the end I did not get to light any candles, but my growing portfolio of sketches continue to bring tribute and honor to the  heritage habitat and history of Bukit Brown Heritage Park.