This is the story of Sri Lankan couple Bemen and Rupa Singham and their family. The book, narrated alternately by Bemen and Rupa, is a gripping account of the events that fashioned their lives and the challenges they overcame through their determination and the strength of an unfailing Christian faith.
In recalling his early life in Burma, Bemen takes us through the traumatic flight to India after the Japanese invasion in WWII, and the accident that severely injured his right hand. Rupa begins her account by taking us through her ancestors’ story, her early schooldays in Colombo, boarding school in Jaffna, and beginning a life’s career in teaching after her graduation from Madras University.
Bemen and Rupa meet and marry in 1955 and begin to raise a family. The education of their three children, Jeyaseelan, Dharmasalan and Jeyadevi becomes their priority, even while Bemen’s work takes the family to live in Malaysia and later in Canada. The family finally settles in Melbourne in 1988.
This is a story of courage, faith and devotion to family. It is a great narrative of a life of purpose, high morals and hard work which are, in the words of its authors, “more fulfilling than a life of abundance and excesses.”