XN000022-1993-04-12 — Page 3

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MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1993

LONGEST SERVING WOMAN VOLUNTEER TELLS HER STORY

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MS ROSIE SIN SOU-PING CERTAINLY HAS A SPECIAL PLACE FOR CIVIL AID SERVICES (CAS) IN HER HEART.

FOR IT PLAYED CUPID BETWEEN HER AND THE MAN SHE LATER MARRIED.

FOR IT WAS WHERE SHE SCHOOLED HER KIDS TO GOOD ORDER.

FOR IT IS THE PLACE WHERE SHE BUILT HER LANDSCAPE OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES.

THE FAMILY HAS A COMBINED SERVICE OF 80 YEARS IN CAS. FOR THE VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY BODY, IT IS A RECORD.

BUT THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE GOES ON UNABATED:

"I WILL NEVER GIVE UP. I HAVE GROWN UP WITH CAS, MS SIN MANIFESTED.

IT ALL STARTED HALF A CENTURY AGO, IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

BOMBS RAINED DOWN BY THE TONS.

MS SIN, THEN A LITTLE GIRL, AND HER PANICKY PARENTS WERE SCAMPERING THROUGH THE STREETS IN HAPPY VALLEY, SEEKING FOR A REFUGE.

A RESOLUTE AIR-RAID PRECAUTIONS CORPS MEMBER STOPPED THEM AND SHEPHERD THEM TO THE SAFETY OF A NEARBY AIR-RAID TUNNEL.

AND MS

SIN LOOKS TO THIS CORPS MEMBER WHOM SHE SINCE HERO- WORSHIPPED AS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF PUBLIC SERVICE.

WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, SHE BEGAN TO FALL IN LOVE WITH MARCHES, WAR MOVIES AND DISCIPLINARY SERVICES.

BUT THERE WAS YET TO HAVE ANY POLICEWOMAN AROUND IN TOWN.

AN OPPORTUNITY CAME IN 1952. A WARTIME-ORIENTED CIVIL DEFENCE UNIT

CAS - WAS SET UP, WITH MOST OF ITS MEMBERS BEING DRAWN FROM FORMER ARP MEMBERS.

MS SIN BECAME ONE OF THE FIRST TWO WOMAN VOLUNTEERS. TO SHE IS THE LONGEST-SERVING WOMAN VOLUNTEER IN THE CAS.

DATE,

FORTY YEARS HAVE LAPSED. CAS HAS GROWN VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY SERVICE ORGANISATION.

INTO

A BROAD-BASED

STROLLED DOWN THE MEMORY LANE, MS SIN HAS STORIES TO TELL. SOME OF THE EPISODES BROKE HER

MANY

HEART.

"I REMEMBER IN APRIL LAST YEAR, WHEN I SERVED DEPARTURE CENTRE, A VIETNAMESE WOMAN POISONED HER TWO TRIED TO END HER LIFE.

UNFORGETTABLE

IN KAI TAK CHILDREN AND

/"WE WERE