Hi everyone,

As we prepare to depart for Thailand in TWO DAYS (yippee!) we thought we’d leave you with a moving story about an elementary school teacher from BC who raised money for a water system in Thailand through Imagine Thailand, the organization with whom we’ll be working.  She visited Mae Sot (the community in which we’ll be working) this summer to see how her money was put to use.  Here is her story:

“Huay Ka Loke is on the outskirts of Mae Sot and as we were driving out to it in our truck, it seemed to be way out there. The area is called Baan Huay Ka Loke and is a small agricultural and farming community of people from the hilltribes. For parts of the year, the land and scenery is dry dust, but with my visit and the monsoon season, the dust has turned to mud and there is a bit more greenery.

As soon as we pulled up, children in torn clothing, bare feet and dirty faces come out to watch and stare. They are so curious, but have serious and untrustworthy looks on their faces until you give them a smile. Then, they can’t help but smile back and when they do, the beauty of their smiles, the innocence and pureness in their eyes pulls at your heartstrings immediately. These children seem happy despite the poverty, the malnutrition and the absence of their parents. They don’t know any differently. They turn to each other as family and it is so obvious that their primary attachments are their classmates. The little ones hide behind the older ones and they cling to each other’s clothing. It reminds you of a litter of kittens or puppies. I couldn’t help but wonder what life must be like amongst hundreds of children who must live like this and fend for themselves. Is there a hierarchy? Is there any sort of abuse going on, bullying, teasing? When basic survival comes into play, do you even worry about it?

I saw children climbing the walls and equipment and hanging out all over the place, without supervision, as young as three years old. I watched a child who could not have been any older than 3 jump down from a 6 foot cement wall. He was wary and it took him a few moments to get up the courage, but off he jumped down onto cement in bare feet. Can you imagine seeing this in North America? But here, they have no parents, just each other and their teachers, and there are only 12 teachers spread out amongst 363 students, 222 of which board at the school. 35 of the students are orphans whose parents have died or been killed. The rest have families in the village nearby or back in Burma or refugee camps.

My initial feelings and emotions of the children, their environment and the school was just pure shock and it was as if the wind is being knocked out of you. It’s hard to breathe for a few moments and when you get a whiff of the stench of the muddy, filthy river or stream water next to you, you actually can’t breathe because if you inhale it, you might vomit right then and there. And this is water that they used to drink from before the water filtration system, it’s just astonishing! It is one thing to hear about these conditions, to read about them, study them, but to actually see it in reality, is a completely different experience and so important to be able to truly understand poverty. The real visuals, smells, sounds, the feel of the climate on your skin and the interactions with the children and their physical touch just completes the experience. How can you not be affected for life and grow in your soul from this.

I first spoke with a group of older boys. I introduced myself and said that I came from Glen in Canada and gave them the clean water. They only understand a little English, but immediately said thank you with giant smiles on their faces and kept saying it as I moved on.

Thanks to the water system, two of the bathrooms now have toilets and showers in them, which is just amazing! They still have access to the outhouses, which are just disgusting, but they have to have more than two washrooms for close to 400 people. Something worrying is that the kindergarten students probably use the outhouses more than the other students since the Kindergarten classes are down the dirt road and right next to the outhouses. The ground is muddy in places and the path to the toilets is just disgusting and filthy and most likely contaminated. They have layed out narrow wooden planks on top of the mud to walk across it to the bathrooms. I couldn’t believe there were children running along this filthy pathway in bare feet and they don’t even flinch if their feet get some of the sludge onto them! Meanwhile, I’m tip toeing in my cute, flowery little flip flops and holding my breath as I open the broken door to the new bathrooms. The stench is unbearable and you have to plug your nose or breathe through your mouth. But if you do that then you worry that you will taste the foul odour instead. To think that they must shower in this room as well, is almost impossible.

The water filtration system is in the staff room and Jim was there to greet us. He is the Assistant Headmaster (like the vice principal) and such a delightful man. He also has the sweetest smile ever. He speaks English very well and is incredibly grateful for the water.
I was able to sit and sort of interview him about the school and the water system and how it has impacted their lives so far. They are able to save a lot of money now since it used to cost them 200 baht ($6) per 200 L of water a day and this was just drinking water.  They now are able to wash using clean water from showers, not to mention laundry and cooking. The 4 year old children used to have to carry heavy buckets of water from the well several times a day. They now also have flushable toilets instead of outhouses. Jim also mentioned how much easier life is for Sansu, their student who is missing a leg. He is now able to clean himself properly on his own. The students can now drink as much water as they like, whenever they like, compared to drinking maybe two cups of dirty water a day.

The students receive 3 meals a day and get rice donations from the local Mae Tao clinic. They sometimes get curry if there is someone to donate it, they collect bamboo shoot and water crest from nearby and Jim fishes in the local ponds and rivers when he can. They get no fruit or vegetables other than the bamboo and water crest and get meat perhaps 3 times a month. There are no animals that they could get food from. They would like to start up a mushroom farm, but the little money that they do receive must go to food and teacher’s salaries when they can afford it. They also need to get access to the nearest cities pipeline to be able to use the water to for watering the farm, but Imagine Thailand is working on this and should have them connected in a couple of months. It would cost about $600 for them to start up a mushroom farm. I heard this and realized that our job at Glen is not over and this school is in desperate need of food now, the second most important need for survival. We have to find a way to continue fundraising money next year for food for these human beings.

The most common illnesses for the children are severe Diarrhea, severe stomach aches, and Malaria. There is no mention of malnutrition because I don’t even think they know what that is. They get 1 or 2 cases of stomach illnesses a month and 2 or 3 cases of Malaria per month. The students can go to the Mae Tao clinic and they will treat them for free and provide free medication. I wonder if there will be less stomach cases with the new water filtration system…”

Installation of water filtration systems  is one of the three projects that we have been asked to oversee in Mae Sot.  We can’t wait to get there and experience this story firsthand!

PS.  For pictures of the water systems, please refer to a previous blog on our site entitled “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”