How a kampung tragedy sparked off a Singapore lifeguard’s journey

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Of all the memories and experiences that George Lee had in the past 64 years of his life, one continues to haunt him till today: seeing a young boy drown in his old kampung’s pond.  

The boy was merely a few years younger than he was when he witnessed the tragic accident in the village, formerly located along Lorong Ah Soo. George was only 10 back then, with no knowledge of how to rescue the boy who’d somehow fallen into the pond that day — a reservoir of water deep enough to be well above a child’s height. 

Eventually, two older villagers jumped in and managed to grab hold of the boy and dragged him to dry land. He was already unconscious by that time, and he could have stirred back to life if someone, anyone, knew how to conduct immediate mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Alas, no one did. Instead of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), what the drowned boy got was a village shaman praying, chanting, and dancing over him — a futile effort to appeal to the supernatural to aid in his revival. The boy died, but from that tragedy, it gave birth to George’s resolution to learn and impart lifesaving skills.

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