hor me Life’s value “MAKE the best of each day, look on the positive side, and learn from the ugly things in life.” So advises Anne (Ladage) Bruggen-Cate, who has lived both the beautiful and ugly sides-of life — from the rat- infested hell holes of java to the gardens of Holland and the tranquil picturesque beauty of the North Shore. Anne holds no hatred, bur simply says: “War is war!” Anne had a happy child- hood and was educated in Amsterdam, Holland, and became an assistant pharma- cist. After a four-year engage- ment in Amsterdam, she was married to a young man by proxy in 1935 — Anne in Amsterdam, the groom in Indonesia. Later she joined him in Indonesia where their son was born. Early in 738 they separat- ed and Anne worked for a year in a pharmacy in Indonesia, supporting and caring for her son. The same year she met and married Emile Ladage and her life changed. She and her son, Robert, moved to the Ladage farm and life went along smootlily for four years until the start of the Second World War and the Japanese invasion. Japanese soldiers came and destroyed homes in the area, bur bypassed the Ladage home. They were allowed to stay on their farm for another 14% years because Emile had been born in. Indonesia. Dutch soldiers gathered at their farm and stayed for a couple of days or so. A few months later she and her husband were sent to sepa- rate Japanese concentration camps. . . Emile was taken from the farm first and sent to work in a milk factory. Then Anne - and Robert were sent to 2 Japanese concentration camp on Java where they stayed for two years. - Because Robert was under 10 years old, he was allowed to stay with her. _ Daylight hours were bad enough, but it was especially frightening during the long night hours to have hungry rats crawling around between the sleeping women and chil- en. Bathing facilities were non-existent. The nearby river was used both as their bath and their toilet, with no : privacy, and in full view of the encampment guards. They ate mostly rice with a bit of fish sometimes, and once in a while a bit of fruit. If lucky, they sometimes got a frog to boil up. Everyone got very thin. Their food portions were a bit smaller cach meal — the intention was to starve the prisoners to death instead of shooting them. Anne recalls: “One day a chicken was stolen from the head basket ofa local woman as she walked outside of the camp fence.” It caused a laugh among the women in camp, but had they been caught, they would have been punished. Women called up for pun- ishment soon learned to take a child with them because their punishment then would not be so severe. Fighting would often break out in the camp and the soldiers would separate the women. “We worked, long back- breaking hours in the veg- etable gardens and in the river, pushing large boulders -- onto the river bank, while constantly keeping an eye on- my young son.” One day, little Robert picked up a poisonous snake. The prisoners were not allowed to eat any of the vegetables they grew. Catching frogs was forbid- den, but occasionally they would catch one when a par- ticular guard was on duty, as they knew he would not report it. . ‘ When the war ended in: 1945, Anne and the other captives walked the long, exhausting distance from their Camp Three, located in the middle of Java, to their homes at the east end of Java. THE search és on for five outstanding non- professional Canadian caregivers. The 1999 Allianz Canada Caregiver of the Year Awards will recognize one caregiver from each of four regions with a $1,000 award. One caregiv- er will receive the national award of $10,000. Nomination criteria and requirements for entitlement can be obtained from Allianz Canada, Awards Program, 10 York Mills Rd., Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, M2P 2G5 and from the Allianz Canada RELUCTANT EXECUTOR? Acting as or appointing an executor but concerned __ + with the administrative effort and complexity? ElderCare professional assistance may be a solution. -.. To learn more about ElderCore : Professional Services, contact R.A. Witzel, ca. #3 Montizambert Wynd, West Vancouver, BC Tol: (604)921-4046 © Fax: (604)921-4048 ANNE Bruggen-Cate, who moved _with her late hus- th shore news SENIORS band to West Van in '74, survived imprisonment in a Japanese concentration camp during the war years. It was freedom for Anne and little Robert, but not so for her husband. Shortly after the war ended, a revolution broke out and her husband was thrown in jail. Anne remembers clearly -the November day in 1945 during a one-day cease-fire, when some English army people showed up and took er and Robert to Singapore. They stayed in free camps. operated by the English, enjoyed food and beverages, danced, sang, and laughed. Web site at . Canadians are asked to nominate non-professional caregivers they consider as exceptional. Nominations should be mailed to the above-men- tioned address and post- marked no later than Ang. 31. Nominations are to include a testimonial of 350 Anne recalls; “I will never forget how delicious the bread with cheese tasted; I couldn’t get enough of it.” Her husband was freed from the Java jail that December and joined her in Singapore. Better days were ahead. In March 1946, Anne, Emile and Robert boarded an English ship for Holland. For five years, Anne worked in a pharmacy in Holland, before the family came to Canada in 1951, arriving in Ottawa and staying for six years. ‘Award open for caregivers words or less, describing the circumstances of both caregiv- er and care recipient. Judging is by an independent commit- tee. : Recipients will ~—_ be announced on Thursday, Nov. 4 Allianz Canada is a nation- al insurance company, the tenth largest in the country. Caring you can count on. wa . Our complete family support service can provide any tevel or range of care for your loved one... Bid Personal support, homemaking or nursing services. Eas wecare’ Home Health Services 980-6350 102 - 145 West 15th St, North Vancouver . peace of mind bas a bome address” _| Reading about the climate and beauty of B.C.’s West Coast, they decided the North Shore was where they wanted to live. So in *57 thev moved to North Vancouver. Anne and Emile worked as a team with National Life Insurance Company. They moved to West Vancouver in 1974, and four years later Emile died, Time passed and Anne met another wonderful man, Ben Bruggen-Cate in 1984. They were married in °87. Sadly, he died in 1990. Having studied body reflexology years ago, Anne has never really given it up. She still knits, crochets, enjoys yoga, tai chi and walks a lor. Only recently has she given up square dancing at the West Van Seniors’ Centre. - Anne cannot emphasize enough that she does not hold any hatred towards the Japanese. “War is wai in any coun- try,” she says. “I found the civilian Japanese to be won- derful people then, and now.” This gentle, courageous lady deserves all the happi- ness and kindness that life has to offer — life that many of us just take for granted. —Vikki Finkbeiner ts a North Vancouver writer. If you know of someone who might make an interesting brofile, send your idea to Vikki ¢/o North Shore News. 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