Ho Yuen Hoe

Ho Yuen Hoe , later in life but rarely known by her Dharma name, Venerable Jing Run , was a Buddhist nun affectionately known as Singapores grand dame of charity in recognition of her lifelong devotion in helping the old and needy. She was the abbess of Lin Chee Cheng Sia Temple and the founder in 1969 of the Man Fut Tong Nursing Home, the first Buddhist nursing home. Venerable Ho was relatively unknown to the public until 1996, when she was featured in a television programme The Extraordinary People at the age of 88. As a result, the public came to know more about her work and her nursing home. In 2001, she received the Public Service Award from the President of Singapore in recognition of her contribution to the country. Until her hospitalisation in November 2005 she was actively involved in charity work. Venerable Ho died onJanuary 2006, a month before what would have been her 98th160birthday.

Ho Yuen Hoe was born onFebruary 1908, to a family of silk weavers in Guangzhou, China, the second of three children. Her family was poor, and she was sold when she was five years old. Barely two years later, the spinster who had purchased her died, and Ho was sold by the womans nephew, to become a maid. After a few years she was sold again. In her late teens, a group of snakeheads persuaded her and several other girls to emigrate to Singapore, ostensibly to work on a rubber plantation, but the job did not materialise. At the age of 21, alone and penniless, she married the owner of a grocery business. When the business failed, they left for Hong Kong, hoping for better fortune. Ho became a hairdresser in nearby Macau, but after discovering that her husband had another wife and children she decided to return to Singapore alone, vowing never to remarry. At about that same time, she became a vegetarian.

Source: Wikipedia