Madam Halimah's father was a watchman. He died when she was 8 leaving her mother to raise her and 4 older siblings.
Home was a one-room flat in Hindoo Road....
SHE STUDIED AT Singapore Chinese Girls' School and Tanjong Katong Girls' School.
She would wake up early before sunrise to help her mother first before going to school. Her mother initially sold nasi padang from a push cart plying Shenton Way before getting a hawker license.
Madam Halimah had to juggle school work with washing dishes and wiping tables. Oftentimes school fees went unpaid.
Still SHE TOOK A LEAP OF FAITH and enrolled in the University of Singapore to READ LAW, not knowing where her university fees would come from.
At the last minute she secured a $1,000 annual bursary from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. Her brother, who had just started work as a prison officer, contributed $50 a month.
She also worked as a library clerk during term breaks to finance her expenses.
Madam Halimah GRADUATED IN 1978.
She joined NTUC as a legal officer because she wanted to REPRESENT WORKERS and "FIGHT FOR A JUST CAUSE".
In a career that spanned a long 33 years, she rose to head NTUC's legal services unit and its women's development secretariat.
Madam Halimah is the FIRST SINGAPOREAN on the governing body of the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION from 1999 to 2011.
She was NTUC's assistant secretary-general from 1999 to 2007 before becoming deputy secretary-general until 2011.
She earned her master's in law from NUS in 2001.
Photo: Halimah Yacob in 1997 when she was director of NTUC's Legal Services unit.
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