Lily was the 3rd of 11 siblings, who originated in Iraq but came to Singapore in 1903.
With the situation in Singapore worsening under Japanese occupation, Lily and Nassim urgently fled in 1942 - along with their 3 children and 100+ members of the Jewish community. Amazingly, Lily was 7 months pregnant at the time, with her daughter Sonia.
They secretly boarded a cargo boat for Java (titled "Ho Sunk"(!)) which later shipwrecked near Palambang. They were miraculously saved by Dutch sailors using life boats. While waiting for rescue, all possessions were looted but most importantly they were safely delivered to the shores of Kolkata where Sonia was born 2 months later.
Arriving as typical war refugees with clothing only, they were the grateful recipients of temporary housing and generous rations of coconut milk and rice which sustained them until Nassim was able to find work.
Becky - "This story was shared with me, many times by my grandmother Lily. She mostly emphasized that their daily sustenance came from local, poor people with pure kindness at their center.
This embedded in me tremendous gratitude for the Indian people and the land on which my mother spent the first four years of her life."