One Boy's Success Story - The Conclusion

Top on a visit to the Million Year Stone Park a year ago

When we left off yesterday I had - more or less - given my word that I'd attend the graduation ceremony for one of my sponsored students, Top, if I were in the country at the time.  If you don't care to go through the first part, I'd been sponsoring his schooling and visiting with him and his family for more than a handful of years, and seen him become a self-confident and upstanding young man - quite a change from the boy I'd originally met, who spent most of his time apparently fascinated with the ground directly in front of his well-worn shoes.  It had been a heartwarming transformation, and I'd been lucky to be along for the ride.

As can be the case when you're trying to arrange events with school kids - especially teenagers - it's a little like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree. This year's outing with Top turned out to be a solo affair, and at the time he still didn't seem to know the particulars on his graduation ceremony that was around two weeks away.  We said our goodbyes with the whole thing still up in the air, and although I hadn't really said goodbye I figured "well, that's that".

Top helps at check-out with the family's supplies

This might be a good spot to mention that the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project is, by its own charter, structured to only provide assistance to minors up to (and through, naturally) the school year during which they'll turn 18. Top was somewhat of an oddball case, and I'd like to make it clear that for PSKSP to remain on the "up and up" the funds, contact and details for the extra year Top needed to finish trade school was handled by a trusted friend, although the regular folks were right there in an unofficial capacity to cheer him on.

Graduation gifts aren't normally given by one Thai to another, but I wanted to do something to commemorate his achievement "Western Style", so at the end of our grocery run last month I stopped Top at a watch shop and told him what my thoughts were, giving him a price range that was generous but not ostentatious and asked him to pick out something he'd like.  He'd dealt with my oddball Western ways for years so wasn't all that surprised, and picked out the watch below.

After taking the groceries and supplies back to his family's home we visited a few minutes before saying our goodbyes. As you may already know, the Thai aren't as a rule people who'll stand at the train station and weep, waving farewell with their hankies as their friends or loved ones pull off into the distance, but we all knew that there were no set plans to meet again - particularly under the PSKSP umbrella - but we had each other's cell numbers and emails. I reminded him that I'd gladly attend his graduation, but that he'd need to let me (or preferably my interpreting friend) know where and when it was, as I'd be leaving town in just a few more days. He assured me he would, and our day was finished.

I left Pattaya and went on with my holiday, and when I hadn't heard anything for a couple of weeks I'd figured the ceremony was to take place after he knew I'd be flying home and, somewhat sadly, guessed I wouldn't make it.

Then one morning in Bangkok after my morning walk among the locals I was reading the paper in my room when my cell phone rang. It was Tom, my go-between. "Top just called me. His graduation is at 3:00 this afternoon here in Pattaya. Do you think you can make it?"  Noting it was 20 minutes past 10 I replied "I can try, but I'm not all that optimistic about finding a ride there on such short notice." "Are you close to the BTS?" he asked - and then the light came on. "Yes!" I exclaimed "The bus! I can get a bus!" "OK," he continued "Call me when you get to Pattaya, and we'll go from there."

Top's graduation bouquet

I quickly showered, put on the single set of semi-dressy clothes I bring along each trip - usually taking them home unworn - took the BTS to the Ekamai station and walked the block to the Eastern bus terminal.

Evidently fate was along with me, because when I arrived at the window to buy a ticket for the bus that would get me there in time to make the ceremony there was one seat left. It left in 10 minutes, and I clambered aboard and spent the next two hours with the toilet door knocking into my left knee as people went in and out.

Arriving at the Pattaya bus depot at 2:20/14:20 I was cutting things close. I hailed a licensed bandit in a taxi and paid a dear price to get to the charity office, where my friend Tom was waiting for me.  I jumped into his car and we arrived at the hotel where the ceremony was to be ten minutes before it was to begin.

As it turned out, the ceremony itself was a private affair for students and faculty only, so we waited  outside with Top's mother, sister, younger brother and a close friend of Top's among a crowd of similar folks, all waiting for the graduates to come filing out.  As I mentioned, gifts aren't the norm there, but flowers and stuffed animals are, so I bought a bouquet for him, just as his sister and mother and friend had done. Smaller than the ones they'd purchased, but I didn't want to feel like I was showing off. Just me, I guess.

The first few times it happened I'd felt self-conscious when realizing I was the only (or one of a very few) Caucasians at an event or gathering, but I've grown to appreciate it for what it actually is, I guess - a privileged inclusion - and now I enjoy the "how do you fit in here?" looks I still sometimes get, as odd as that may sound to some. On this occasion I stayed somewhat on the fringe of things to avoid the possibility of Top having to explain that I'd paid for his schooling since his family could not, but the words of gratitude from his sister and mother were recognition enough.

By 3:20 we began to see the robes of students already recognized in groups emerging from the hall, most stopping to pick up a saucer with a cup of coffee and a cookie on it before descending the steps to meet the people waiting to congratulate them. Top was in one of the last groups, evidently, because it was nearly 3:45 before I spotted him filing out with a groups of other boys, all smiling and laughing.

A very pleased Top poses with his family

There weren't the extended clinging hugs and tears you might see at a graduation here in the USA, but there were smiles of acknowledgement and nods of respect exchanged for the flowers and congratulatory remarks between family, friends and graduates. It was restrained, but joyous - if that makes any sense. I stood back and watched with great satisfaction that I'd had a minor part in it for Top. After all, I wasn't the one who had to drag him out of bed to get him to school or stay on his case to finish his homework; I was merely the benefactor. Still, it was a great feeling.

Facebook - the same around the world! Students lined up to have their photo taken here...

For Top it was one of life's defining moments, and he stood holding onto the folder containing his diploma as though it were a life preserver, and, in some ways it might well be just that. 14 years of schooling through a rough childhood and adolescence was quite an accomplishment for this boy - now a man - who had actually learned a marketable skill, as well as hope for a good life ahead for himself, and, hopefully, his wife and children, if that's the path he chooses.

Top and his friends pose for one of their friends to take a picture

By now many of the groups were finished posing for photos and had begun to stake out spots to share the buffet dinner that was part of their graduation package, and Top was (casually) glancing about to spot his friends while we were still hold him in place to visit. I figured it was about time for me to cut him loose, so through Tom I told him "School wasn't ever easy for me, either, so I understand a little bit about how difficult it's been for you to stick with this."

I waited for the translation, and could see the look change slightly on his face. Not quite a smile, but a tightening of the lips.  "I just want you to know that I think you've done a great job, and I'm proud of you," as out of reflex I reached out and took his hand to shake it. He looked me straight in the eye, covered my hand with his and said (in English, something I'd rarely heard before from him) "Thank you.  Thank you so very much."

I was still standing there looking surprised when he smiled, and repeated what he'd said, shaking my hand again with both of his. "You're welcome, Top. Keep in touch and let me know how you do from here, will you?"  When that was translated for him he smiled again and nodded, glancing over at his friends.

"Go... have fun," I encouraged him, motioning for him to go over to them, and that needed no translation. He turned on his heel, waved goodbye and ran off to join them, his gown flapping in the afternoon breeze behind him.

Will I ever hear from him again?  Who knows - and that wasn't the point to begin with. There are plenty more who also need this simple step up, and I hope I can be there to help a few more before I need a nurse to take care of me.  Yes, it was a little sad to see the regularity of it come to a conclusion, but what a feeling to think that the ripples from this one pebble may spread across generations.

Sitting on the bus back to Bangkok a couple of hours later I saw the homes of people who labored - and would continue to labor - beneath the weight of poverty, and thought to myself "You've done a good thing."

As I've said before: we can't save the world, but we can save little pieces of it.  If you love and care about Thailand as I do, please consider joining in and saving one small bit of it yourself.  The website is the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project.  You won't regret it.

To paraphrase the 80's song: "The future's so bright, he ought to wear shades".

Graduation Day: One Boy's Success Story

Top's file photo from late 2007 or early 2008

[Long posts tend to make my eyes glaze over, too, but today's story has a true happy ending, so I'll break it into two parts. Bear with me here.]

Those of you who've read posts here the past few years have seen stories about the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project, a small but highly effective U.K. charity I've had the privilege of being involved with for a number of years now.  Today and tomorrow I'm going to share a true story to show that it works... it really does.

The nickname for the somewhat dour-faced boy at the top is Top, and this is a truncated version of the years I've had the opportunity to help him build a foundation for his future.  Back in the beginning he rarely smiled; if I could catch him smiling at all the first couple of years I visited I counted myself lucky.

At the very start of 2008 on my first visit to speak with the folks on the ground for the PSKSP (being the skeptic I can sometimes be) it soon became clear this was an honest, transparent group and not merely a black hole to throw funds into as many are. More on that another time.

Top with the other contest winners

That initial investigative visit I was asked to judge a student photo contest. Around 30 kids had been given disposable cameras (the cameras and processing paid for by the visiting treasurer himself as a treat for the kids) and they had been told there would be an "international writer and photographer" doing the judging. Since I'm a writer from the USA,  do take a lot of pictures and happened to be handy I was handed a bag of processing envelopes and invited to "have at it". Two days later I was taken to the school for the awards presentation. The boy in the center of the photo above is Top, although I didn't know it at the time.

Right after the presentations I'd I overheard the teacher of this short, quiet and painfully shy "winner" tell my host that if there was nobody she knew of to sponsor Top that his schooling was finished, as his sister, who was barely an adult herself and was raising him alone, couldn't afford to get him through his final years. Their mother had left them on their own some years before when times had gotten tough, and I've never heard much about the father other than he'd taken off when both of the kids were small. Top was being raised by a sister who worked hard but was just unable to keep up. They had a roof over their heads, but it was "iffy", at best.

Top stood silently with his head down, saying nothing - but I knew he'd heard his teacher; if he'd been a turtle I suspect he'd have pulled completely into his shell. I'd already agreed that trip to school fees for one more student than I'd budgeted for, but what do you say to a child in a case like this? "Sorry, kid... you'll just have to make ends meet however you can in life - I need those three extra Starbuck Mochas a month"? I doubt many of you could. I couldn't.

I can be selfish, but actually standing there and hearing that about a child who was within reach of some sort of hope I just couldn't turn away. Through the translator I told the teacher "He'll be paid for. Please plan on him attending and keep him on the registration role." As part of the whole "saving face" thing we've already covered Top was to be told about this later in private by his teacher instead of in front of the group, but I left there that day with hope for his future.

Move forward a couple of years now. I'd made a handful of visits for lunchtime outings and shopping trips with the sponsored students and seen them all doing their best with their renewed chance at life. Some better than others, but if you're squatting on land in one of Pattaya's slum areas (there are, I believe, 13 of them) and living in a 15 square meter "building" that's been hobbled together from materials your parents found in the dump, without electricity and potable water in far too many cases, I daresay you'd find it challenging to keep up with school, too.

The first time I'd really seen Top smile. He'd just bought groceries for his sister and himself with his "shopping" funds, and was feeling good about providing something for his family.

Trust is something that must be earned, and it was gratifying to see Top and the others begin to recognize and accept me as someone who genuinely cared how they and their families were doing and weren't merely a flash in the pan. Although his English was still as weak as my Thai, Top began to smile when we were out doing things, and that felt good.

Top laughs after throwing a gutter ball on an outing with all "my" students - the first time any of them had ever been inside a bowling alley

In school Top was making an effort, but he was still struggling to keep up with academics in class. It wasn't any real surprise: without going into private family details he wasn't living in anything close to what you'd call a normal, healthy family environment, and it showed in his achievements at school. Also, it was easier for him to learn something more "real" and less academic. Everyone's different.

When an opportunity for learning a trade became available he was steered into learning to be an electrician; an honorable trade in any country. He worked hard, and did well, despite his home life, which had taken a turn for the better after his mother came back into the picture and helped turn them into more of a real family again.

Top stands behind classmates in an electronics class, late 2008

Each trip I'd make to Thailand I'd make a point of seeing each available student, and it was gratifying to watch them walk out of the school building and see their faces light up when they recognized me and knew their day had just taken a decided turn away from the ordinary.

The kids got to choose where they had lunch, and while Top originally chose Thai food (some of them are still stuck on KFC), once he'd gotten wind of "Sizzler" he seemed to have somehow found a second stomach each trip to accommodate the variety of things he wanted to try.

There was almost always a shopping trip involved if time allowed - if it didn't it was arranged after I'd left town - and Top, like the others, was always so proud to be able to contribute to his family's food store. Not being the cook at home very often he'd compare labels and select things he'd seen his sister buy. Rice is an obvious staple, and while he'd pick the brand they normally bought he could be caught sometimes looking wistfully at a higher grade (and naturally higher priced) type and would smile when told he ought to get that instead. 20 to 30Kg was a normal amount.

As often as possible the students were also encouraged to select some sort of treat for themselves, too, and one time Top picked a football that he carried out of the store like it was his first born.

Move forward another couple of years - to the middle of 2012, when - through a series of fortunate events - Top's family had been graced with some improvements.  They now lived in an actual structure, his mother had officially returned to the fold as a contributing member and things were better all around, although still on a month-to-month survival scale.

While loading the dozen-plus bags of groceries into their home that day Top's mother called to me after I'd said my "see you next year" farewell and was headed to the car to leave.  Shuffling through the front doorway she approached me and wrapped a long, heavy pink and white knit scarf around my neck. It was 100F but I smiled and thanked her, wondering where she'd gotten it. I was told she'd known I was coming in a month or so and had knitted it for me herself.

"His graduation is next year," she said with a proud smile, via our interpreter "Will you come for the ceremony?" Not wanting to take anything away from his efforts I didn't want to say I wasn't so sure about that, so I just said "If I'm in the country, I'll be there!"  That, I hoped, would save face all around, and we said our goodbyes - me sweating beneath the scarf wrapped around my neck.

A month ago that offer was called in, and that story will follow tomorrow.

A Follow-up To Yesterday's Party Post

Yesterday I posted my annual appeal for donations to the Pattaya Street Kids Project fund for the Hauy Phong Orphanage Christmas party, but I neglected to include the clip. I had it uploading from another machine in the other room while I was writing it, and just forgot. Sorry. Sometimes I really think I belong in a care home of some sort.  If I live long enough that'll probably happen.

Here are some of the kids at the "slum kids" party I was able to attend one year. Those of you who have children, nieces, nephews or grandchildren know that getting pictures of them while they're at play is, at best, a hit and miss adventure. More like trying to nail Jello to a tree, frankly. It was taken during one of the snack times - a break in the more active festivities.

"Making Seasons Bright" For Others, Too...

The younger kids playing "pass the animal". If you're holding it when the music stops, you're out ... but you get a treat as a consolation prize, anyway.

The eve of the new year is usually a good time to reflect back over the year just ending, and most of us, despite the normal ups and downs of life, have a great deal to be thankful for: a roof over our heads, more often then not too much food to eat, plenty of clothing to wear in any weather, and a long list of other creature comforts.  My wish is that everyone reading this continue to be graced with the same for the rest of their lives. Millions don't share those comforts, as you all know.

I don't like being told what to do with my money, so I'm merely making a suggestion that I'd ask you to consider, as I've done the past couple of years at this time.

Every so often most of us do something to help another human being that (pardon my language here) barely have a pot to piss in.  You know who they are. Sometimes you see them sitting on the sidewalks in the city, but there are millions more you'll never run into, unless we venture WAY outside of our own little bubbles.

Proud parents with their baby boy at the party. Their daughter played games, and everyone got to eat.

Finalists vie for the last spot
playing Musical Chairs

I see them regularly each trip I make to Thailand, and some of these families I've come to know better since I've been sponsoring their children's education. I don't need to go into detail, but if most of us lived as they did there'd be some major bitching and moaning going on, I can assure you of that.

If you love Thailand as I do, I have a charity to suggest that makes a real difference in people's lives there on an on-going basis; one I recommend with a freely admitted bias, since I've had the pleasure of dealing with the people involved directly and seen with my own eyes where the donated funds go, and that's the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project.

To save the comments, I'm aware that there are homeless in my own city (I help here, too), and I know we can't save the world, but we can save little pieces of it.

Here's a simple, painless way you can join in and do something that can brighten someone's life: make a donation to the New Year party that PSKSP funds for the children at the Hauy Phong orphanage. It's a full day of music, special food, games, prizes, gifts and fun for the 350+ children who live on the campus. This year's party is in the planning stages now.

I'm not suggesting you do anything more than skip having one meal out somewhere this month and pass that money along to help this party out.  If you have another charity you've done some research on and are comfortable donating to, more power to you... but do it. What's that, total?  $10US? Seven Euros? Six pounds? Nine AUD?  Next to nothing, whatever it is.

You can't put a price on the happiness shared during a party like this.

The Pattaya Street Kids Project is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, and they maintain a level of complete transparency regarding their accounting. There are plenty of details in a PDF file from the registered charity here.

If you want to, you can make your donation to their fund earmarked for the annual party they also fund for the slum family kids and children under the care of the Mercy Centre in Pattaya. Today's photos are from that party last year, as I wasn't able to attend the Hauy Phong party.

Check the PSKSP site, and please make a donation if you're able to do so.  School sponsorship opportunities are always available, too.

Thanks for thinking about it. I appreciate it.

Those Ubiquitous Thai School Uniforms

School kids, as seen in the "Gift of a Lifetime" post

Throughout Thailand you'll see them: millions of children heading to and from school in their regulation attire. You'll see them in a lot of other places around town, too, because most of them don't go directly to and from home any more regularly than we did as kids; stopping for snacks, to play with friends, shop, and do everyday things. On any laundry day you'll see the same uniforms hanging in the yards of houses, apartments, and condos. Many times I've seen them hanging on balconies with the rest of the laundry to dry.

Two boys having ice cream at a school luncheon

According to figures I've seen there are almost 6 million primary students in Thailand, 4.7 million in secondary schools and over three quarters of a million in vocational education. Education is compulsory for the first 9 grades of school, and the government pays for much of it, as it should. Evidently they're not doing too bad a job of it, as the completion rate is just shy of 82% and the literacy rate for youth aged 15-24 is 97.98%. Figures and statistics can be manipulated from hell to breakfast, so take these with as many grains of salt as you wish, but we're in the ballpark.

Some of the hundreds of uniform items in the story I visited

While out shopping with one of the students I sponsor there this last trip they were interested in buying some sports equipment with their allotted spending money, and we'd stopped in at a shop that just happened to sell uniforms for some of the schools in Pattaya. Many of the students from more humble homes are quite pleased to have the proper clothing and equipment for their favorite sport, and I've bought my share of soccer balls, shin guards and cleats for them at different times.

While I was waiting for the clerk to tally my total I looked around the shop and found a large corner of it stocked with the very uniforms I'd seen around the city. In addition to the uniforms there was another small shop just next door that did the custom stitching of the school and student's name. I'd been to similar stores here in the U.S. during my own school days, but only to buy the required attire for the physical education classes, one of my least favorite parts of my school day. 

While today's post may not be as interesting to everyone as some aspects of Thai life, it's very much a part of it.

Some families are hard pressed to come up with the funds for their part of the school costs, and that gives me another opportunity to suggest that if you can afford $10 a month you might want to to check out the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project site and help. A year's donation will mean you have two or three less dinners out a year, but it can make a lasting difference in the life of a child - and their children to come. As I've said before, we can't save the world, but we can save little pieces of it.

School Begins... But Not For Everyone

Schoolboys having a laugh at the ting tong farang

In May - right about this time - school bells ring throughout Thailand to announce the first of two annual school year terms. I think most of you reading this would agree that not only is education the key to most anything worthwhile in life, and that everyone ought to have the opportunity to earn that knowledge.

School kids in Udonthani

The Thai agree, and although since Sukhothai times (1238–1378) there has been an educational system (of sorts) in place, there was much more of an emphasis placed on it over a wider range during the reign of King Rama V, including the first schools built in 1871. Their efforts have vastly grown since then.

Although the Thai put more into education than many other countries do - nearly 22% of their national budget, compared to, say, Great Britain and France, at 11% - there are often costs that must be paid by the families of the students themselves. Uniforms, shoes, miscellaneous fees, transportation, lunches, snacks and some supplies are still the responsibility of the student's family. 

Many lower-income families simply don't have it.

Not to go all "Sophie's Choice" on you, but if the choice had to be made between food for your three children or schooling for the seven-year-old, what would you choose?

A basic day laborer, a grandparent raising a child because one parent disappeared and the other died can't afford school fees, even if it means being in violation of the national directive to send your kids to school, and there are countless other stories. Most of you know what medical bills can do to finances, especially anything above the common cold. Yes, there is public health care in Thailand, but it is very basic coverage.

Now, I may be about to lose some of you today, but as this is something I truly believe in - and I haven't brought it up like this for two years, since the first post about it in April of 2010 - I'm asking that you stay with me today and read through this and give it some thought, will you?

A child at the daycare in the Kho Pai slums of Pattaya

The kid in the photo above has an opportunity most living in abject poverty do not.  They spend their day with close to 70 others at a clean, supervised daycare center adjoining the Kho Pai slum area of Pattaya.  Their stories are all somewhat the same, and none of them have a hopeful future.

The uniform they're wearing was sewn by a volunteer for the charity that runs the place with donations from people like you and I (although I do far more for the PSKSP directly).  Their mother and father do basic labor or scavenge in the dump for items that can be recycled or otherwise sold. There is no money to send them to school for a decent education, which means that they will continue the legacy of a humble life of menial labor and be vulnerable to all of the pitfalls so many in poverty fall prey to: alcoholism, abuse, addiction, and worse.

Schoolgirls sharing a laugh after seeing their picture

The girls giggling in the picture above have the opportunity to break the cycle of unhappiness so many from poorer families do not have.  There are precious few guarantees in life, but there are some things that give some more of a fighting chance than others. More importantly, if they have a chance to earn what we'd call a decent living, their children will probably have funds to get an education, and that most likely means their grandchildren will, too.  It's rather like tossing a pebble into a pond and watching the ripples spread out.

Lunchtime at a school in Pattaya

Can you tell which of the boys above lives in a home you wouldn't house your pets in?  Neither can anyone else, and in a world of peer pressures and the likes that helps level the playing field. All most of us need is a chance, and that's why I'm posting about this today.

Another daycare child

Some have told me "there are children starving here where I live, too - why should I send money to Thailand?"  My response to that is this:  we can't save the world, but we can save little pieces of it. If you wish to do that via a shelter in the city you live in, that's great; I applaud your efforts. If you want to hand out food to people on the street, that's fine, too.

Some years back I read about a UK-based charity called the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project.  Their website link is at the end of the post today.  They're certainly not the only charity out there that keeps administrative costs down next to nothing, but I can't name many others. Their organization is completely transparent, and financial reports are shared freely with sponsors.

Monies I donate to support the handful of kids I've been privileged to watch growing into responsible young men and women goes directly to where it ought to go, without a percentage shaved off here or there.  I've met the man who founded the charity many times, and was pleased to learn early on that he's the real deal.

Funding varies, depending on the age of the child sponsored and the schooling they're receiving, but figure it costs about $120 per year.  Many of us weedle away more than that on needless junk in a single month, with nothing of any substance to show for it.

The Pattaya Street Kids Support Project is not part of any religious or other group. On their website it clearly states: "We are a secular charity and do not support or promote any religious organisation. We are always prepared to consider working with any organisation in bringing help to children in need on the strict understanding that any such help is given unconditionally and does not involve the preaching, promoting or acceptance of any religion."

Give it some thought, will you?  Take a look through the site - especially the Kids Needing Sponsors page, and see if there isn't enough charity in your heart to make a lasting difference for one small piece of the world. The time to act on this is now - school is starting, and many will miss out.

If this doesn't look like the charity for you, no penalty accrued - do some research and find another wherever you like - and I'll try not to bug you about my favored group for another year.

The Pattaya Street Kids Support Project

Slumming In Pattaya. Really... I Mean IN The Slums

One of the nicer family homes I've visited.

You know, it's so easy to take the most basic of our creature comforts for granted: our homes.  I'd wager almost none of you reading this live in a home that looks anything like the dwelling above, and an entire family lives in it.  I've met them.

For lack of a better word we're blessed that we don't have to.

Homelessness is not nearly as far-fetched a possibility as most of us would like to think, either.  There were over 650,000 homeless people in the United States in 2009, and I don't think things haven't gotten any better here in the past couple of years. Latest figures indicate there are well over 6,000 in San Francisco alone.

The folks in the slums of Pattaya I'm writing about today and tomorrow are essentially mere squatters, often living on land by the grace of stealth or the tacit permission of the landowner, both of which are "iffy", at best. Their domiciles are constructed out of whatever they can locate to bang together.  Those of you who have seen a heavy Thai rainfall can imagine what it's like trying to stay dry in one of them.

The "Happy Feet" movie poster makes for an interesting juxtaposition here.

As you're whizzing along in a baht bus past fields of green overgrowth there may be an entire neighborhood not 50 yards away behind it. Regardless of the circumstances behind them living there, these people are some of the poorest of the poor;  walking miles every day with a pole over their shoulder selling fruit from the baskets hanging at either end, perhaps doing some form or menial labor or doing no more than scavenging through the dump to pick out recyclables to trade in for enough to feed their families.

Hopefully your neighborhood will never look like this one

A charity I've been involved with for a handful of years makes regular rounds to families living in some of the poorest of conditions not all that far from where you'd be likely to stay on a tourist's visit to Pattaya. One trip I took photos on a delivery day to show friends here in the USA who were asking about the students myself and my family sponsor there, and I thought I'd let them see why it was difficult for them to come up with the funds for food, let alone the uniforms, supplies and fees for a year of schooling.

One of my students lives in a home very like the one above. They have one plug inside for electricity, and one tap outside for water, although it isn't potable.  Water stands on three sides of the shack every time it rains, and mosquitoes breed by the tens of thousands. Still, every time I've visited them their clothes are clean and pressed and the insides, while humble, are kept up the best they can.

The charity takes donations from groups and individuals for the weekly food distribution, and there's a rhyme and reason to it; they don't merely drive out into the slum and start handing our the hand-packed bags of rice, tomato paste, cooking oil, ramen noodles, fish sauce and such, but you don't need to know how they keep track of families to make sure the ones they've been helping continue to get help.  They do.

Volunteers I can't reach for photo permission distribute food bags

May I make a suggestion? When you get home tonight and close the door behind you, be grateful for the walls around you and the roof over your head, regardless of how the rest of your day went.  We truly are very, very lucky to be living as well as we do.

Tomorrow you'll hear a little more about the project and see some of the people I meet when I ride along.

Thai Smiles, Part 43: Hauy Phong Orphanage Boys

Talking about the upcoming party with some of the boys at Hauy Phong

A few days ago I made a pitch for donations to the Pattaya Street Kids Project's holiday party at the Hauy Phong Children's Home.

Some of the approximately 400 boys (and girls, on the other side of the road) who would appreciate your help

Although the party is coming up soon there's still time to make a donation. For the relatively insignificant sum of $4US / 2.5GBP / 120 Baht you can defray the cost of one child for this yearly event. I don't smoke and I don't know what they cost where you live, but that's less than a pack of cigarettes here in the US - and it's a far better use of the cash.  These are children who haven't much more than the clothes on their backs, and they really put their hearts into this day-long event.

Having lunch at Hauy Phong

You can make donations in a number of ways (see their site HERE) but I've always found PayPal to be the easiest.

The photos today were taken when I was last at the home a couple of days before one of these parties. I just noticed today that while I was taking the photo below of the boy sweeping up leaves Don was taking a photo of two boys who - as of today - are smiling out at you on the PSKSP home page. Just an interesting coincidence I thought worth pointing out.

Give a thought to donating, folks.  Note on your donation that you'd like the money to go to the Hauy Phong holiday party, and that's where it will go.  100% of it.

A boy "rakes" leaves while Don takes a photo of two others

Helping Some Kids Have A Happier Holiday

PSKSP founder Don and some of the Hauy Phong residents. After being involved with the home for so long the kids know him.

Located about 40Km outside of Pattaya, the Hauy Phong Children's Home is home to somewhere around 400 boys and girls between 4 and 17 years of age. Some are orphans by the classic definition, some are runaways and some are children who've been rescued from bad family situations, from life on the streets, or from the horrific world of sex trafficking. There are also cases of their families simply not being able to keep them properly. Originally a correctional facility of sorts it's now a part of Thailand's Department for the Prevention of Human Trafficking.

Here they're gathered together in a safe place, protected by the watchful eyes of an attentive and caring staff and able to have a childhood free of the unfortunate experiences they endured before arriving here. The boys live on one side of the highway that divides the extensive grounds, and the girls live on the other. Being a government organization they're not affiliated with any outside religious organization, so these children are left to live their lives as Buddhist - as over 90% of the country does. Personally I like that.

One of the dormitory buildings - six or seven, I believe - at Hauy Phong

The afternoon these photos were taken I'd gone along with Don, the founder of the Pattaya Street Kids Project to sit on the sidelines and observe while the folks who were involved wrapped up plans for the upcoming 2011 Holiday Party - one of the biggest events of the year for these kids. I'll post again about the home, but today it's all about brightening the kid's lives for this one special day.

Some of the "clean up" crew stopped for pictures before we left.

When we rolled in there were kids bustling about everywhere around the grounds. Some of them were having lunch, some were finished and were back on task, sweeping up leaves throughout the grounds in preparation for both the party and a visit by some local monks. As handy as everyday Thai brooms can be, they're not rakes - and there were enormous areas they were making tidy. Still, the kids happily went about their work.

Their annual holiday party is a full day of food and fun, many of the activities planned and organized by the kids themselves - right down to meal suggestions. While the lunch I saw the three pictured below eating looked like a healthy, balanced meal - and they hardly wasted a spoonful - for this one day they discuss and make a request for a special dish as a treat; something the everyday budget can't be stretched for, such as hot dogs or fried chicken. That's where some of the additional funding from PSKSP comes into play.

Along with the games and meals there's a dance that goes late into the evening. Last year the favored number was "Kung Fu Fighting", and I was told the dance floor filled each time it was played. It probably had to do with a renewed interest in the song after it was used in the Kung Fu Panda movie. I considered inserting the original song video here, but I'm not that cruel.

Each of the kids receive at least a couple of gifts, too - and for many they're most likely the only presents they've gotten the entire year. It's no small wonder why it's such a popular event. Sometimes a family member comes to visit them that day, and they, too, receive a bundle of food to take home.

Food packages are assembled for the big day

The party will be coming up soon, and here's where you can help: sponsorship cost per child is a mere 2.5GBP, or just under $4USD. That's just a bit more than many reading this are likely to spend on a latte today, and less than a fast food lunch.

The link to a page with their PayPal account is HERE. Please consider making a donation and note that the funds are for the Hauy Phong party.  They'll get it to the right place.

Begging Children: The Darker Side

On August 3rd there was a post that showed two little boys giggling while begging at the foot of the stairway outside the Sala Daeng BTS station. At the time I didn't go into the less pleasant aspect of this seemingly casual activity that can sometimes be a well-orchestrated business, but after hearing a recent story from a friend there I guess maybe it's time to talk about it. I'd rather not go into the story from yesterday's email, but it makes the examples below pale by comparison.

Some of you read Dicken's "Oliver Twist" in school, or perhaps saw one of the sanitized stage or movie musicals adapted from it. In the adaptations the less savory portions of the story were minimized, and it's understandable that when we see kids on the streets of Thailand (or Vietnam, or India) it's easy to merely think they make a living collecting odd contributions to help support their families, and this is sometimes the case.

However...

On an early trip to Thailand, my friend stopped me from putting coins into a child's cup at a BTS station, explaining that it wasn't a good thing to encourage the behavior. "Why not?" I asked "They might not eat today otherwise." "Bad people hurt them," he said in a somber tone, and pointed to what looked like stripes showing on the little girl's legs. I understood instantly, but he waited until we were a few yards away from the child before making a whipping motion with his arm. "If she does not bring home enough money, she is beaten."

That seemed like all the more reason to drop money into the hand still stretched out in our direction, but I caught the meaning of his reasoning. He went on to say that very small children are stolen from villages, sometimes even drugged and held on a sidewalk in someone's arms who may not even know the child's name.

Children have had extremities amputated or been otherwise disfigured in an attempt to boost their "sympathy" factor and raise their daily take, he said.

"Oh, please," I said. "That happens in movies like 'Slumdog Millionaire' - it doesn't really happen HERE, does it?" His face darkened and he said "There is a boy in my Grandmother's village I know who has had this happen to him. He got away and returned home, but now he has only one foot." I've since met the boy, and while I can't vouch for how he lost the foot, he only has one to get around with.

Some children (like the one above) have an obvious legitimate disfiguring disease and hopefully have a slightly better life due to the kindness of passing strangers, but we can't know for sure about many too many of them.

I suppose the best we can do is just follow our hearts and give money to folks on the street as we see fit, but I personally find myself being far more skeptical - and I don't like that.

Partly out of frustration, but also in an effort to better help children there I became involved in the Pattaya Street Kids Support Project. I know I've already mentioned this organization in another post, but I bring them up again as a way to make a positive difference with the confidence that donations are actually making a lifetime difference of an entirely more worthwhile and positive manner. I hope you'll look into it.