Santa Singh and Balwant Kaur Scholarship

A message from Pretam Kaur:

“My father Santa Singh and my mother Balwant Kaur were born in British India in Punjab. They were illiterate, starving poor, and came to British Malaya before 1940 as coolie labour. I was born in Malaya in early 1945 when bombs were falling. In 1951, my mother wanted to send to me to English school like my two older brothers. The Sikh community opposed my parents and shamed and ostracized them. The Punjabi school, run in the temple, was considered sufficient for girls; English schools were meant only for boys.

My parents fought the entire community and sent me to English school with love and devotion. My parents supported my education even when there was no money. In 1965, I went to university, my brothers didn’t.

My parents’ gift of education changed my life in ways neither they nor I could have imagined. The scholarships for Indigenous women come from my parents to you, colonised and impoverished as they were, to connect with the oldest culture, and join with your dreaming.”