A different side of Thailand

[Nakmuay887]

This post lacks complaints about the country and bar girls so if that's your thing may as well stop reading. 

 

Here's a side of the country many of you may have not seen in depth or experienced so I thought I'd give an update. It's coming up on 7 months that I've been up north coaching and helping out where I'm needed. 

 

My time is split between a migrant boarding school for Karen children displaced from Myanmar as well as coaching full-time at a boxing school, 

 

Even though it's 2020 fighting still remains one of the most lucrative job opportunities for many of Thailands young men. But, only if they have the heart, desire, toughness and work ethic. this can open a lot of doors for them that they may otherwise not have. 

 

Most of these children don't have any family and the ones that do have often been abandoned for various reasons and now live at one of these two schools. All of the children in these photos are of Karen nationality. A very hearty and tough group of people in SEA. They speak Thai, Karen, and most of them have a small grasp on English now after several months with me. 

 

I would say they fight on average 3-4x a month each which is a lot even for their age. We have managed to setup bank accounts for most of them by this point where the money they earn from boxing goes into their savings account. They receive a portion of it as pocket money and learn how to save and budget the remainder. 

 

This has allowed us to help them albeit very small scale in a way that they can travel, box and afford school supplies without outside funding of any type. Several have 5-7 thousand baht in their accounts now and they had never had money of any type before. 

 

A few of them have real futures In Muay Thai. Potential world champions at the highest level if they keep up with the work rate. The goal for the others is to have them learn enough life skills and education to have a chance at something of a real life once they are cut lose from the school. The stadiums in Bangkok are where the real pay days come from and promoters have already started scouting two of these boys which is quite the feat considering their ages. 

 

 

I'll be leaving Thailand in March for 3 months until my work permit starts up in May. So I'll be parked in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos during that period. Slowly working on some pilot projects I would like to get off the ground for them when I return. 

 

I've got to spend some time in Karen only villages in some pretty obscure regions of this country and the culture is quite interesting, some similarities but many differences from traditional Thai or Thai/Chinese. They are a very durable, hard working and proud people, with a real desire to learn. They have a lot less interaction with foreigners as their villages are often long distances from anywhere a foreigner may venture out to. They carry a bigger curiosity of me being Canadian than say a Thai of the same age simply I was the first "farang" many of them have ever interacted with or met. 

 

It's not been easy up here and I've learned to live with less. Air conditioning and hot water is definitely a thing of the past for me but I'm truly blessed to be right where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing. 

[Nakmuay887]

[stouricks]

Have you any more photos please?

[Nakmuay887]

1 minute ago, stouricks said:

Have you any more photos please?

Haha sorry. Went a bit overboard 

[shy coconut]

Nice post, good to see an alternative perspective on life in Thailand.

 

I doubt you need any encouragement from me, but keep it up, it looks like

you are making good use of your passion and the kids are benefitting from

a positive role model.????

[Nakmuay887]

20 minutes ago, shy coconut said:

Nice post, good to see an alternative perspective on life in Thailand.

 

I doubt you need any encouragement from me, but keep it up, it looks like

you are making good use of your passion and the kids are benefitting from

a positive role model.????

Cheers, I appreciate that, thank you 

[UbonThani]

Great pics, love muay thai. Best fight sport easy.

[UbonThani]

Where is that river?

[Nakmuay887]

4 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Where is that river?

That's in Mae Usu (Tak province) the other side of the river is Myanmar (burma) its the border between the countries.

 

Moei river is the name. It's quite beautiful in this area as there's nothing around for miles each direction. 

[Nakmuay887]

5 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Where is that river?

They catch a lot of fish and clams in it and Karen people prepare fish really well. Different than I've had in any other part of SEA 

[Berkshire]

1 hour ago, Nakmuay887 said:

Here's a side of the country many of you may have not seen in depth or experienced so I thought I'd give an update. It's coming up on 7 months that I've been up north coaching and helping out where I'm needed. 

You're an inspiration.  Rock on.

[Odysseus123]

Great photos and a wonderful story...

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, Nakmuay887 said:

Air conditioning and hot water is definitely a thing of the past for me

Good on you for what you are doing, but nil AC and hot water was normal on Thai beaches in the 90s, when I was staying on them.

Even my wife's family house in the village had neither just 10 years ago.

 

Good to see someone cares enough to do something about a bad situation.

[Lacessit]

Good for you. I am somewhat surprised you didn't crash the TV website with the number of photos.

Many children in Thailand lack male role models, or have the wrong ones. More power to your arm.

[gunderhill]

"Children" ? fighting? to be  honest I'm appalled.

[canthai55]

Kudos on your work at making a difference.

World needs many more people like yourself.

[Orton Rd]

This is child abuse that almost always results in brain damage, helping family and he loves it is not a valid excuse, it's disgusting

[ratcatcher]

6 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

"Children" ? fighting? to be  honest I'm appalled.

These kids have spirit. It's part of the culture and is a world recognized sport. This guy is making a difference. Good for him.

Maybe they should be here? ------>  

You could always write a letter of protest to the P.M. and the BBC.

[UbonThani]

7 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

This is child abuse that almost always results in brain damage, helping family and he loves it is not a valid excuse, it's disgusting

Complete lefty bs. Boxing causes brain damage not muay thai. MT is mostly kicking to legs and body.

[UbonThani]

3 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

These kids have spirit. It's part of the culture and is a world recognized sport. This guy is making a difference. Good for him.

Maybe they should be here? ------>  

You could always write a letter of protest to the P.M. and the BBC.

Western lefties are just morons. They should stay home and never go anywhere as co2 is bad anyway.

[timendres]

Great post. Thank you for taking the time to share all of that.

[Nakmuay887]

5 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

This is child abuse that almost always results in brain damage, helping family and he loves it is not a valid excuse, it's disgusting

I'd love to see some statistics that back that up considering there are 8 targets in Thai boxing and most fights end with body shots and low kicks. 

 

It's safer than hockey, football, mixed martial arts, rugby and boxing. Simply because you don't agree with something doesn't make it fact. Don't start lecturing me about something that you know nothing about. 

 

Thai boxing has been around for hundreds of years before me and hundreds of years after me and is as ingrained in this culture as much as Buddhism itself in many areas. I didn't pluck these kids from their homes and turn them into prize fighters for my own enjoyment. 

 

Would you prefer they do nothing with their lives and become yet another con artist, drug dealer or drug user (like most of their relatives)? 

 

Educate yourself man. 

[UbonThani]

2 minutes ago, Nakmuay887 said:

I'd love to see some statistics that back that up considering there are 8 targets in Thai boxing and most fights end with body shots and low kicks. 

 

It's safer than hockey, football, mixed martial arts, rugby and boxing. Simply because you don't agree with something doesn't make it fact. Don't start lecturing me about something that you know nothing about. 

 

Thai boxing has been around for hundreds of years before me and hundreds of years after me and is as ingrained in this culture as much as Buddhism itself in many areas. I didn't pluck these kids from their homes and turn them into prize fighters for my own enjoyment. 

 

Would you prefer they do nothing with their lives and become yet another con artist, drug dealer or drug user (like most of their relatives)? 

 

Educate yourself man. 

Great post. The mt scoring system favours kicks over punches. That's why Thais dominate over farangs.

 

These western "do gooders" should stay in their mum's basement where they belong.

[Orton Rd]

8 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Complete lefty bs. Boxing causes brain damage not muay thai. MT is mostly kicking to legs and body.

The last thing I am is a lefty, 13 year old boy died after being hit in the head in 2018, time to wake up mate

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2019/10/thailands-child-fighters-191003161502628.html

[UbonThani]

1 minute ago, Orton Rd said:

The last thing I am is a lefty, 13 year old boy died after being hit in the head in 2018, time to wake up mate

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2019/10/thailands-child-fighters-191003161502628.html

People die in rugby every year champ. You want to ban it?

 

Time for you to wake up.

[UbonThani]

France had 4 rugby deaths in one year.

[Orton Rd]

Just as much child abuse as sexual abuse, stupidity on the roads and other nonsense is NOT and excuse for this cruelty

 

 

[Nakmuay887]

2 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

The last thing I am is a lefty, 13 year old boy died after being hit in the head in 2018, time to wake up mate

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2019/10/thailands-child-fighters-191003161502628.html

This is one case out of the tens of millions of fights that occur in Thailand and Myanmar each year. 

 

How many people die from American football, hockey and rugby each year? How many people die on motorcycles or from substance abuse in Thailand? These are far bigger problems than children boxing. 

 

Your opinion is one of concern which I appreciate but you are going about this in the wrong way. 

 

To throw a single news article onto a post and call it the gospel truth is laughable. I've been around this sport and country my entire life. Thai boxing does far more good for Thailand than it does bad. 

 

 

[UbonThani]

1 minute ago, Orton Rd said:

Just as much child abuse as sexual abuse, stupidity on the roads and other nonsense is NOT and excuse for this cruelty

 

 

Yet swimming, running and cycling kills far more.

 

According to you we should ban them too.

 

Thailand doesn't need farangs preaching nonsense and cherry picking <deleted>.

[Nakmuay887]

1 minute ago, Orton Rd said:

Just as much child abuse as sexual abuse, stupidity on the roads and other nonsense is NOT and excuse for this cruelty

 

 

Stop cherry picking articles. Go experience it yourself. Or better yet, come up and spend a month with me here and watch what we do. I guarantee your opinion will not be the same as it is now. 

 

What do you think is more dangerous? That two of these said boys box and now receive an education and some money, or the fact that their mom dropped them off to live in an actual garbage dump outside of Mae Sot before I found them? Both of which have been offered spots at great camps in Issan and Bangkok. They will be clothed, fed, educated and earn money. Or... I can drop them back off at the garbage dump because it's gotta be much safer right?