34
G. C. EMERSON
to time until he moved permanently into Camp in March 1942. During the occupation, his title was 'Representative of Internees'.
An interesting point arose which today we might label "women's liberation". Throughout internment only one woman was ever elected to a Council. An American woman who was repatriated in June 1942, wrote:
In the minds of the men, women just did not count in camp. As for expecting women to contribute to the work or thought for the camp, nil! In the community elections I was the only woman nominated for the council, and was speedily defeated. The biggest problem throughout internment concerned food. There simply was never enough, and what there was, was very poor. The rice frequently contained dust, mud, rat and cockroach excreta, cigarette ends and even, on occasion, dead rats. Food was delivered daily to Camp by a ration truck and distributed to the various kitchens in camp. Usually two meals a day were served, at 11.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., preceded by rice congee at 8.00 a.m. The meals usually consisted of rice and a stew poured on top, made from whatever meat (usually water-buffalo meat), fish and/or vegetables were provided.
In August 1944, following American air raids on Hong Kong, all electricity stopped, and thus cold storage failed. The internees thereupon received a number of partridges and pheasants from the city. There were only enough for about one bird for seventeen people, but as always a little was better than nothing and imagine eating even one bite of a pheasant after months of the terrible rice and stew diet!
Had the internees been forced to exist for three and a half years on the food provided by the Japanese, almost undoubtedly there would have been many deaths directly attributable to starvation. Luckily there were other sources of food --- parcels from friends or relatives in the city, Red Cross parcels, a Canteen, gardens, and the Black Market.
Only a very small percentage of internees, perhaps 10%, ever received parcels from the city. One woman, however, had a rich Swiss friend who sent her duffle bags full of all kinds of tins. She received so much cooking oil that she traded it for "very pretty
34
G. C. EMERSON
to time until he moved permanently into Camp in March 1942. During the occupation, his title was 'Representative of Internees'.
An interesting point arose which today we might label "women's liberation". Throughout internment only one woman was ever elected to a Council. An American woman who was repatriated in June 1942, wrote:
In the minds of the men, women just did not count in camp. As for expecting women to contribute to the work or thought for the camp, nil! In the community elections I was the only woman nominated for the council, and was speedily defeated. The biggest problem throughout internment concerned food. There simply was never enough, and what there was, was very poor. The rice frequently contained dust, mud, rat and cockroach excreta, cigarette ends and even, on occasion, dead rats. Food was delivered daily to Camp by a ration truck and distributed to the various kitchens in camp. Usually two meals a day were served, at 11.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., preceded by rice congee at 8.00 a.m. The meals usually consisted of rice and a stew poured on top, made from whatever meat (usually water-buffalo meat), fish and/or vegetables were provided.
In August 1944, following American air raids on Hong Kong, all electricity stopped, and thus cold storage failed. The internees thereupon received a number of partridges and pheasants from the city. There were only enough for about one bird for seventeen people, but as always a little was better than nothing and imagine eating even one bite of a pheasant after months of the terrible rice and stew diet!
Had the internees been forced to exist for three and a half years on the food provided by the Japanese, almost undoubtedly there would have been many deaths directly attributable to starvation. Luckily there were other sources of food --- parcels from friends or relatives in the city, Red Cross parcels, a Canteen, gardens, and the Black Market.
Only a very small percentage of internees, perhaps 10%, ever received parcels from the city. One woman, however, had a rich Swiss friend who sent her duffle bags full of all kinds of tins. She received so much cooking oil that she traded it for "very pretty
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