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Whenever we talk about “family”, what naturally comes to mind seems to be a heart-warming image of a father, a mother a son or daughter living together under the same roof.
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However, as for Milk or Areeya Kongnonkok, a 7 Grade student of Ban Rai Na Dee School in Sakon Nakhon, life is far from complete; her family consists of her grandparents, an elder sister and a little cousin.
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When we asked about her father, she replied petulantly that he has left her since she was only 6-month-old and already remarried, and that he rarely sends her any money as a token of his support. As for her mother, she died from a chronic disease when she was 9. Since then, she only has her grandparents and herself to lean on.
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Her grandfather is growing string beans for a living. There is no need to say that an earning of a mere 20-30 baht a day could hardly support 5 lives. Worse still, her grandmother has been suffering from diabetes and blood pressure which has forced her to make a trip to the local health centre to pick up some medicine every month. All she could help out is just to do chores work and taking care of her grandchild. Soon after her mother passed away, Milk had to grow up overnight in order to survive all the cons in life.
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At the age of 9, she had already started working part-time in the field plucking rice sprouts; she confessed that this was the hardest time of her entire life. If one can imagine a little, 9-year-old girl whose height was not up to adult’s waist working in the farm under the burning heat of the sun, with hands and feet soaking in the mud all day, one would realize the kind of hardship she was facing.
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After school, she will go to work in the rice filed and get paid 2 baht per bundle of rice sprouts plucked. During the term, she can only earn about 20 baht a day; during school break, on the other hand, she can earn 150 baht from a whole day work. Even when the rice farming season is over, she still keeps herself busy with grass-cutting, vegetable-picking or fish- and tadpole-catching in exchange for some money, however little.
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At present, Milk is still doing her best and studying hard so as to realize her dream of becoming a nurse. All she has always wanted in life is “to see the day that my beloved grandparents live in comfort and no longer have to struggle through life like what they are doing right now”, she said as tears running down her cheeks.
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The road of life ahead is still long and naturally not without obstacles; yet she believes that education and her diligent efforts would help her reach her goals.
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