Koh German In Rice Fields

[george]

Koh German in rice fields

Over span of 15 years, village ladies trek to Germany and find love, husbands

SUPAN BURI: -- Family parties are the norm all over Thailand during Songkran, but they usually do not include groups of Thais and Germans celebrating together in front of their homes, which sit amid emerald rice fields.

Led by a male chef, the women busily cook and serve their families, who drink and chat for days. All of the Thais are cousins and many of them are married to German men.

They live on Koh German (German Island) - 10 kilometres from Doembang Nangbuad district in Suphan Buri - where big homes cluster on the banks of an irrigation canal, giving the illusion of an island and, hence, the name.

Before the Germans arrived, the village was called Koh Nongpho.

About 100 Thai households in the area have some German connection.

The party is especially lively one Songkran night on Koh German. "Tonight, they hired likei [Thai folk performers] to perform for one of their cousins who recently was lucky enough to get a German husband in Berlin," a grocer near Koh German says.

"I heard that girl had asked a 'spirit' to help her find a husband during her three-month trip to Berlin. She promised to hire a likei for the spirit if she found success," another villager chimes in.

Jampoon (not her real name) travelled to Germany 15 years ago - one of the first in women in the village to do so.

Little did she know that she was starting a pilgrimage that would see many of her cousins and others follow.

When she first went to Germany, Jampoon says her family had fallen on hard times. Although she lived in a "rice bowl" province, she only earned a tiny amount of money - not nearly enough for a family to live on.

"So, we went for the future," she said, referring to her time in Germany. "All the money we sent back for our children's education helped them get good jobs," she said.

Jampoon, who is back in Thailand from Germany visiting her family, said she met a German man and settled down there. She had two children from a previous marriage to a Thai man, who died.

Her German husband died six months ago and left her millions of baht from his retirement savings.

Lek, 43, is another in the family who snared a German husband. She said she remarried 14 years after her Thai husband died. She has one son from that marriage.

"I found the one who loves me," she said. "He drives a truck in Europe. I brought him to Thailand this year," she says before turning to translate in German for her husband. The man gives her a loving smile and a kiss.

Other women followed, leaving the village for Germany and finding German husbands.

But many of their neighbours think there is more to the women's trips than they let on.

"They think we sell sex in Germany. It is not true. Many Thais in Germany might do it but not family's members," said Jampoon, 57.

"We work hard there. I had a cleaning job there for years, eight hours a day to earn ?7 an hour. It is not a good living in Europe but it is a lot of money in Thailand," she said.

Another villager, Sompong Darathong, was once interviewed by a local newspaper, which ran a story that made "readers think we sell sex and we can help send Thai girls to Germany," she says.

While there are many cases in the village of women starting families and long relationships with German men, there are also some cases of women from the village going to Germany to work in the sex trade.

"Nobody is going to tell you they go to sell sex. But nobody knows what they are doing there," one sceptical villager says.

"Some followed their relatives to Germany and met men. Some started working at bars in Phuket and met men they developed a relationship," said Saeng, a mother of five children, who once unsuccessfully tried to go to Germany.

"Others got involved in matchmaking, sending photos and then marrying," she added.

"Some clever girls would ask their husbands buy them farm land, houses and grocery shops in Thailand under their names," she says pointing to one neighbour's house.

Some women pay Germans to marry them to obtain visas and become sex workers in the country. Others get tourist visas, live in Berlin for three months selling sex and make as much money as possible during their brief stay.

"These groups are mostly young women who have a middleman find customers there. Some are charged as much as Bt200,000 for the trip. But it's worth it. They can earn much more than that. After coming back, they would go again after their pockets were empty," Saeng says.

"How can we blame them when the situation here is like this?" she added.

"Living here, you cannot become rich even though you own a 100-rai rice farm. Even if you can grow rice three times a year, all the income is consumed by fertiliser, machine and pesticide costs.

"And living poor is not different from a dog's life. Unless you have money, shit smells good if you say it does," Saeng said.

Saeng explains that many girls in the village dream of having German husbands. That includes widows and women who have "wrong" Thai husbands.

Jampoon says she will stay in Germany for at most two more years. She has lived there for 15 years, and plans to move back to Suphan Buri after she retires. Her cousin Lek has no plans to come back to Thailand.

"Living there is not as easy as many think and not everyone gets lucky. I am one of the few," Lek says.

--The Nation 2004-04-18

[ASIC]

Personally, I wouldn't want to live there.

ASIC

[Goat Roper]

I wonder how Jampoon(not her real name) got the money and the where with all to travel to Germany in the first place coming from the rice bowl and all the hard times; Strange or odd maybe is a better term. Good for her!

[Simbo]

Just don't mention the war