|
| | | | “All I want this new year is just a big fluffy toy” | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
“All I want this new year is just a big fluffy toy. As far as I could recall, I never have one of my own before. I always thought that, if I had one, I would share it with my sister, cuddling it warmly together to make up for our parents’ hugs.”
|
|
|
This, on a superficial level, might sound like a typical wish of any girls. However, it reflects a dark shadow that lies inside Nong Taadam’s heart; her wish speaks to us loudly about the painful reality she, and possibly many other underprivileged girls, are facing.
|
|
|
Rampaiporn Kudnok, or Nong Tadam told us that, in the past, she and her family, which consisted of her grandfather, grandmother and two siblings did not have a house of their own to live in. Their only shelter was a stable; in there lived a heard of cows that her grandparents are paid to look after and take on the night watch over. The pay was merely 50 baht a night. Her childhood life, as one might imagine, revolved around a cow stable and toys made of strips of hay, which her grandfather kindly handmade for her.
|
|
|
During the rainy season, the ground was too cold and wet to sleep on. The villagers pitied them so much that they each donated some money to build her family a house which was then named, “A poor man’s house made from Korat people’s goodwill.”
|
|
|
She told us more about her life: “my parents were separated since I was little. Mummy went her own way to build a new family with someone else; as for daddy, he stayed behind to look after us for awhile but then had to leave for Chonburi to work as a fisherman. From time to time, he would send us some money. In the picture, I drew him holding a fishnet in his hands. Really, I don’t want him to work so far away from us. If he was nearby, I could feel the warmth of his presence. This is why I always wanted to have a big fluffy toy to hug so much.”
|
|
|
She wishes to become a doctor so that she could help those sick people, who do not have enough money to pay for the medicine. “Also, I would like to have a house of my own. It would be for grandma and grandpa to comfortably spend their old age in. I am going to buy it with the money I earned and it’s going to be the very first place I could proudly call home”, she added.
|
|
|
This is only a little part of her long cherish dream. Even though the thought of owning a house seems beyond reach at the moment, if we could give her at least a little pot of hope in which she could plant her courage, she might be able to fight her way through all the downs in life and make her dream come true.
|
|
|
