Down and out in bangkok

[Rinrada]

Well it is Easter time and all that...

Joe Maier is still hard at it doing a great job with the HDF over in K.T.(long time no see)and although I prefer to worry about the price of a beer it makes you think...

(with thanks to Bob Wilde)

Thailand Lifestyle: A Poverty Story  

This story, a true one, is drawn from Father Joe Maier, who runs the Human Development Foundation/Center in the Klong Toey slums of Bangkok, recounted recently. It tells just one true story, but it can stand for many.

'Gif' (not her real name) is a six-year-old Thai girl. Until recently, she lived with her mother in a rented slum room.

Television was out of the question. But Gif's mother usually managed to stay until Gif had fallen asleep before she left the room on her way to a place in Bangkok where she would try to make some money - in a way that was dangerous. Sometimes Gif's mother bore bruises when she returned home.

Gif's mother took drugs too; anything to retreat if only temporarily from a life which offered little hope. But what's important is that Gif's mother loved Gif and tried her best to care for her even if she could not do as much as she, as any mother, would wish to do.

The neighbors noticed. A six-year-old girl - left alone in a wooden shack at night - what if she played with a lighter or matches and set fire to the area?

Gif's mother knew the writing was on the wall. She'd tried her best to keep Gif but it wasn't going to work.

Gif's mother planned one last trip. She dressed Gif up prettily, and journeyed back with her to her home town. There she let Gif play on the back of the buffalo she had played on as a child. And Gif's grandparents had a brief chance to see the granddaughter they had never seen. Gif's grandfather had still not managed to tell his wife that the land they owned had been sold and leased back to him so that he could pay grandmother's recent hospital bills. Life was grim but his pleasure in seeing Gif and his daughter was intense.

Soon it was time to go back to Bangkok and Klong Toey. Gif's mother turned up at the Human Development Foundation and handed Gif over. Gif's mother had done her best but now had come the time when poverty and hopelessness had brought her to the point when she had to ask for help for Gif.

Gif missed her mother for a day or so, but then stopped talking about her. She has adjusted to living with other kids in the pre-kindergarten school and is bright and cheery. Does she think of her mum? Who can know a child's mind?

Gif will be looked after and given the basics - shelter, elementary schooling and care. HDF will see to that, with help from kind donors.

For Gif's mother, the outlook may well be grim. What she has to do to live is a tenuous and dangerous activity, and one which we in courtesy to her need not dwell on. The important thing about Gif's mother is that she did her best to care for Gif, and when she couldn't, made the sacrifice of giving up her child so that child might have a chance.

The poverty-stricken have, more than anything, run out of alternatives.

Can we help?

Yes. There are many Gifs who need help, a chance for the future.

You can help by supporting our efforts with your donations. They go straight towards helping children who need that one thing in life we all need - a chance of a future.

Bob Wilde is a freelance writer, teacher, translator, proofreader and report editor who has been living in and associated with Thailand for some 27 years. He welcomes comments on his articles and all aspects of living in the Kingdom.

[bangkokman]

cry me a river...life if tough...what else is new

thai's rak thai's...so let thai's help thai's i say

lets see how they like the taste of nativism and zenaphobia