Leaving Someone You Love in the Hands of God (Last Part) - Only God is In Control

What can a parent or parents do when their loved ones are in pain overseas and when they are not with them there? The stark reality confronted us. We just had to leave the heartbreaking situation to God. We could only pray for God to take control of every situation or to intervene, and remained calm in the Lord. How can we help? There is no way, simply no way when you have no close relatives, no close friends, etc. to offer help or to mitigate such a dreaded event thousands of miles away. We could only advise Sarah to talk her heart out to Student Services Manager, Marion and on our part by calling Marion who was very sympathetic and attentive to the problem. She herself has experienced these heartbreaks with her son studying in Sydney.

Iynee could not follow Sarah and I over to Perth in January 2006. She had to take care of Samantha and also had to fulfill her work commitments. So, off we went, Sarah and I to begin a new phase of life for her. We also agreed that Iynee would fly over to Perth in mid-February 2006 to check on how Sarah was coping. It must have been God's plan, for we had simply not anticipated Sarah in such a "trying" situation. We were simply first timers/green horns. Perhaps, it would not have happened if Sarah had stayed in Currie Hall, that was what I thought. But, the fact was we had applied late to Taylor's College; there would definitely not be any room available for her - only 20 single rooms, 10 for each sex, and she would have been placed on the waiting list.

A parent would always feel the pain of missing his/her child when he/she was sent overseas for study. Would a child know how to take care of himself/herself, be disciplined to manage the new-found freedom and also many other things in life (eye-openers) awaiting him/her abroad - in a city with a more liberal, open and easy-going way of life? Would the child be apprehensive to being away in an unfamiliar place, with no loved ones or close friends around her? This would really depend on whether the child is mature enough, disciplined and well grounded to manage all the temptations, etc. awaiting him/her. A great "eye-opener" to them, and could be good and bad. Maybe they could manage better, if he/she is, over 18 years of age or after NS training. Could Singaporean parents, those who are more closely knitted to their families feel comfortable to send their children far away, and feeling very worried for them all the time while they are away. Not so. It is not just the cost of the education but the overly-protective love of Asian parent(s) for their child! This, I felt is more with our Asian culture where our children would stay as long as they like with their parents and for the parents similarly with them. Parents would simply love to have their children around and hopefully, also their grandchildren to be always around with them; maybe some would not. Besides the affordability issue of an overseas education, it is always a struggle for parents/child to come to a reconciliation of both parties' hearts and mind, whenever the topic of overseas education cropped up. I suggest parents listen and not dictate to the child, seek as much information from professional agencies and close friends with children who are toying with the idea of studying abroad, and a must, pray to God for the right decision to be made. This was why we allowed 16-year old Sarah to make her decision as we felt she has always been a strong and mature child. She was looking forward to it, and there were no negative thoughts, signs, dreams, etc. against her/our decision for her to go to Perth.

Coming back, we prayed and kept trusting in God that all would be well. A week later, she called again, cried and while doing so, her handphone was taken over by Ms M, who made a very, very heartless, cruel remark that Sarah be sent back to Singapore. Was this the kind of love to be shown to a young girl just past 16 years of age by a homestay provider? The handphone bill that night came up to almost S$150 and as a result, M1, the telco service provider had to check with Iynee (all our handphones are under her account), on whether Sarah's handphone had been misplaced and fallen into someone else's hands. Thanks to M1 for being alert.

Iynee flew off to Perth a week after the 2nd crying incident. And guess what, Ms M called her Criterion Hotel room (she found out from Sarah of her arrival and stay at the hotel) that very evening when she checked in, and repeated what she had said earlier, to bring Sarah back to Singapore. On the next day, she went to Taylors College to see Marion and to check out on Sarah. It was agreed that a move to another homestay be effected over the weekend.

I shall not elaborate on the details of Sarah moving out from Ms M's homestay, which again happened to be just another very difficult episode where Iynee, Sarah and Sharon (my PA, Philip's daughter who happened to be studying in Perth too) were threatened by Ms M ridiculously beyond reason, with a law suit and trying to call in the police for tresspassing onto her house, when the weekly rental was still being paid to Ms M. Thank God, He was there for Sarah. The year 2006 was a long year of trial and testing for Sarah and for both of us. She/we did come out of it, much stronger and with even more faith in God, and in a way, Samantha had much to thank Sarah for, as her move to Perth this year had been so much smoother and pleasant, benefiting from the experiences Sarah went through. Samantha is now staying in Currie Hall and has yet to experience any of the difficulties Sarah had gone through last year. Praise God! Who knows what will have happened if we had sent her to Trinity College in Melbourne, her originally desired destination for foundation studies.

We just simply praised God that 2006 was a year that we had trusted God so much, and God had also provided Paul, a Singaporean whom we met with a business at Criterion Hotel, and later became our very close friends and a very great help (an angel to us) to my family and Sarah. It was also the start of ourselves walking even closer with God. Thanks, Paul. We will always be grateful to you and we pray that God will bless you and Lily all the days of your life.

If any parent(s) or their child has the intention of studying in Australia especially in Perth, and feel that we could be of some help to them/their child in this matter, please let us know and we will most willingly share our experiences and the challenges, and offer further help, if necessary and if we can.

To God be the glory.