THE STAR (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) 04 February 07 Mum: Snake cursed my child (Clara Chooi)
Ipoh: Twenty-five years ago, a pregnant mother found a snake in her vegetable farm and beat it to death.
And when she delivered Woon Kim Lan in Serdang, she was reminded of that killing.
Kim Lan was not like any other child; she possessed extraordinarily flexible limbs.
And the way she would flick her tongue out regularly like a snake does led people to nickname her “Snake Girl.”
Today, Kim Lan sits tied to a chair all day at the Ipoh Handicap Children’s Welfare Home at Jalan Haji Eusoff here.
This has been her abode over the past two years.
If her hands are untied, she would instinctively remove her clothes as to her, the clothing restricts her “movements.”
The home’s chairman Cheong Kok Leong, said doctors have described Kim Lan’s condition as “soft bones” but her mother remains unconvinced – believing that it was due to the curse of the snake she had killed.
He said Kim Lan, one of the 71 residents of the home set up in 1999 to give voluntary care to the mentally and physically challenged, would hiss and stick her tongue out at people and curl her hands and feet into unusual positions.
Mum: Snake cursed my child