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.

Cambodia, Pt 5: Khmer Rouge Interrogation Techniques

Looking into one of dozens of classrooms that became a torture chamber

[Fair warning: today's post deals with the torture and murders of nearly all who passed through the Tuol Sleng interrogation center in Phnom Penh, and there are images that may be tough for some to see.]

A now-peaceful courtyard at the former Chao Ponhea Yat High School - a place that became Security Prison S-21

My visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh was disturbing... just as it's intended to be for anyone with any sense of decency toward their fellow man who goes there. If you didn't see the introductory post to the place, it's here. It's a reminder of what inhumane acts are possible in our world, then and now, if nobody stands up and shouts "stop".

When you're standing on an upper floor balcony there and overlooking an open area like the one above after seeing the displays it's a bit difficult to think of it as Chao Ponhea Yat High School, which it was until the Khmer Rouge took it over around 1975.

Then it was full of the chatter, laughter and activity of hundreds of adolescents about to cross the threshold into their adult lives; lives that were to be unexpectedly and forever changed by the circumstances and injustices imposed on many of them during the KR's reign of terror.

Shackles used to "greet" prisoners

If you happened to be thought to be an enemy of the "new order" you were brought to interrogation centers such as this one to confess your transgressions - whether you'd actually thought of or comitted any - and then killed anyway.  In other words, you were guilty... period.

The last 14 victims found after the Khmer Rouge fled the scene are buried in this courtyard

In the picture of the courtyard above you can see a frame. There are several large pots on the ground beneath it. To get "the truth" from the prisoners, some were hung upside down from this makeshift gallows-type frame and left there until they talked. If they passed out, they were dunked into the pots full of human urine and feces to revive them.

In larger rooms like this one long rows of prisoners could be shackled together, feet facing feet. There were no creature comforts whatsoever.

There were many other incarceration/interrogation points, but Tuol Sleng (aka S-21) has become the most notorious, possibly because of its proximity to the area known as "the killing fields" but perhaps because of the sheer number who suffered and died at the hands of their countrymen.

Photos taken by the Khmer Rouge were on the walls of the rooms they'd been taken in.

Upon arrival, prisoners were given a number, photographed, forced to give a detailed history of their lives and family information, and told what the rules were. You can see a version of one such  list in the photo above on the left.

They were then often shackled together at the ankle in long rows in some of the larger rooms to await their turn to confess. Nothing beneath them on the hard floors, no mosquito netting, and no talking was allowed. Oftentimes entire families were brought in together and subsequently wiped out.

Smaller rooms were more often used as the interrogation points, and many have been restored as a testament to what they were decades ago. A couple of examples follow; the "after" photos taken of the poster above the beds in each room. It was overwhelming.

The bed used to torture an alleged enemy of the state...

... and as he ended up after the "interrogation"

...and another bed...

...and another body...

As you walked from room to room you couldn't help but feel you were surrounded by the spirits of those who met their horrible fates in them, and it made for a somber journey, at best.

There was a large group of students there that day, and I stood outside the doorway of one room to await my turn while they looked from the bed to the enlarged image on the wall and back, not even whispering between themselves.

All but one of them (seen in the picture above) filed out past me, and he stood staring at the photo a couple of minutes longer. Finally he looked down at the floor and turned to leave the room, walking slowly with his arms hanging loosely at his sides. When he passed by me he looked up; a tear just beginning to make a trail down his right cheek.

Piles of skulls and bones found on the grounds of S-21

Well over 17,000 were imprisoned and tortured or killed at S-21, and those that managed to leave there alive usually ended up at Choeung Ek, a short distance away.  You're more likely to know that area as the Killing Fields, although it's a far less gruesome place today than S-21. We'll cover that area in the next Cambodia report, and then move on to the more pleasant stops on my visit... and there were many.

One last image from Tuol Sleng

Trip Report, Part 28: Student Blockade At Kung Krabaen

Uh-oh...The car was off in the distance, past this school group.

When we'd arrived at Kung Krabaen Nature Center the parking lots were nearly empty; it was only mid-morning, and we'd only seen a single group of school kids within the park itself as we took our time walking through it - as one should, I'd say. Figuring we'd exit from where we'd entered the park we'd parked in a small lot near the main entrance, pleasantly surprised at our good fortune to find such a convenient spot.

It wasn't quite as lucky as we'd thought.

The walkway where we came out of the park ended up being a short ways from the car, and the narrow bridge leading to the car was blocked by a student group seated on the ground, listening to one of their instructors giving them an introductory talk about the place.  When the group of folks in the top image passed by, the instructor stopped to wait for them as they walked in front of her. She stood, microphone in hand, and waited for them to go by, and then began speaking again.

"So, what do we do?" I asked my friend. "Let's wait and see if they get up and move," my friend replied "unless you want to interrupt them again."  Swell.  Had I understood a word she was saying it may well have been interesting, but I didn't.

We stood there for about 10 minutes as the students listened, took notes and occasionally glanced over at us. Finally my friend said "I guess we just do like that last group did."  I know enough people in the teaching profession that I felt sort of strange doing so, but we began to walk through the blockade, trying to be inconspicuous as we went between the students and their teacher.

I figured, though, as long as we were going to interrupt them anyway, why not have some fun with it, so I put my hand up to my mouth and began to "talk" silently as we walked along, facing the kids who were now watching us more intently than they were their teacher.  They erupted with giggles and laughter as they saw me mimicking the woman, and that earned me a look from her we in the West might call "shooting daggers".  

The talk went on after we passed, and we stood at the car and again waited, our path to drive out still filled with blue shirts.  At that point there was nothing else to do but wait, and wait we did, some in the group still glancing over at us and smiling at my prank. 

Almost 15 minutes later they got up and began filing past the entry sign, returning my waves and laughing among themselves about the farang who'd interrupted the lecture.

I motioned for some of them near the end of the parade to stop for a picture, and they (naturally) grouped together and posed. It probably belongs in one of the "Smiles" posts, but it fits with today's follow-up post, so here it is.

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

The Dusit Zoo - Bangkok

A white tiger in the Dusit Zoo, Bangkok

Located in the Dusit neighborhood of Bangkok, a little ways behind Parliment House you'll find Khao Din Park, home of the most popular zoo in Thailand - the Dusit Zoo.  The name Parliment House may sound familiar to some of you who followed the social unrest a year or so ago as a number of large public demonstrations were held in the large open area in front of it.

The Dusit Zoo is part of the Royal Zoological Park Organization, which also maintains zoos in Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nongkla in addition to the Khao Khiao "open" zoo. Having not been to any of the others so far my guess is that the Dusit is the most popular because of it's easy access to so many people. As of now the zoo's been open for 65 years.

The grounds cover around 47 acres (118 rai), and there's a lot to see.  There's a tram train that'll ride you around the place for an overall view, or you can pick up a map when you buy your entrance ticket.  Fees for the Thai are 50Bt for adults and 10Bt for kids. As is often the case farang pay a little more than that: 100Bt for adults, 50Bt for kids.

The organization estimates an average of 2.5 million visitors come to the zoo each year to see over 1,500 animals, birds and reptiles.

A map showing features of the zoo

There are the normal souvenir shops, restaurants, exhibits and informational displays - even a 7-Eleven, should memory serve.  There are demonstrations and shows and plenty of places to sit, rest and people-watch.  Naturally there are all manner of school field trips going on during the months when the weather's likely to cooperate and schools are open.

While my friend and I were strolling around one time three school girls came up to me and asked if they could interview me. [As an aside for those of you who haven't been places where students are often learning English any time you're around students in Thailand you're likely to have them come up and ask to speak with you. It's nice to be of help, and frankly sometimes it's more attention than I get back home some days!]  They asked me about a dozen questions - why am I in Thailand, what kind of work do I do, what did I like best about the zoo - and one videotaped me and the girl with the microphone, while a third girl took notes on a clipboard.

The zoo is open from 08:00 to 18:00, and can be reached by BTS, taxi, or bus. I've gone the entire way by taxi once, but usually I'll take the BTS to the Victory Monument stop (noted in blue on the map below) where it's easy to catch a taxi to take me the rest of the way. If you want to try the taxi route you can print the Thai map at the end of today's post that's gotten me there once.

Once I went by bus with someone who knew the routes. If you can find your way that way you can take bus 18, 28 or 108, or 528, 515, 539 or 542 if you want one with air-con.

Somewhere I have more photos of the place, but maybe not. If I find them I'll do another post.