We’re in Chiang Mai for a few days, Thailand’s second largest city, which is about three hours southwest from our home in Chiang Rai. The streets are wide and the ancient city walls and moat frame the old city’s bustle, which is known for arts and crafts.
Driving into town after three hours in the back of an old pick-up truck–an adventure itself–I realized I had forgotten about the worst of Thailand. But here we are: the sex tourists and the bars with open fronts and women in short dresses and the lady boys on street corners. I rolled my eyes at the foreigners, but we all chowed down at a local burger and fries joint, and I felt like I’d sold out to the city’s Western appeal, no matter how innocent my strawberry milkshake tasted.
The rainy season is drawing to an end here in northern Thailand, and an hour of steady rain comes through at least every other day. Yesterday, we were stuck in traffic in the back of a truck and got soaked through the bone during a sudden downpour. Our teeth chattered as we laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, the water in the bottom of the truck sloshing back and forth as we inched through stand-still traffic. Some kids in a song-tao (group taxi) teased us, so Michael Manes grabbed one of our half-full water bottles and tossed the water at this with surprisingly good aim. Saving face, indeed.
Chiang Mai is the location of VCDF, one of our partner organizations who has a drop-in center for kids who live on the streets. Some have families, thought most of them are drug addicts that send their kids out to work. Others are on their own entirely. VCDF reaches them through art therapy, classes on being a kid, and educating the kids–kids–on contraceptives, STI’s, etc.
When we arrived to visit yesterday, the kids had just finished a group art therapy session, so paper and crayons were everywhere. I laid on the linoleum floor with a young boy, orange pastel crayons in our hands. He drew a penis. I drew a fish.
“Nee ari?” I asked, pointing to the best Nemo I could muster. What’s this?
“Blah,” he said. Fish.
I pointed to his drawing and said “Ghang mak.” Good job. We drew a crocodile next, and he was cheered when I drew large, vicious teeth in its gaping mouth.
The Girl in Orange from this past January was still there. She wore the same dress. I was delighted to see her, thinking, She’s still here! Then the reality of her, still sitting on the floor in that same dress six months later hit me. Oh God. Why is she still here?
Michael Manes wrote a beautiful post about the afternoon, his first at the drop-in center. I, for one, have chosen to focus my emotions on the kittens outside of our hotel. They are so skinny and skittish, but I won them over and now they come when I call them. One in particular is a tie-dye dark grey and orange and white. Their ears are full of mites and two of them have broken tails, probably from the local kids picking on them. They are so, so skinny. We moved to a new hotel today that was a bit cheaper, so I had to say good-bye. I keep thinking about them and wonder if they are okay.
Last night was a good-bye dinner for Rachel Sparks-Graeser, SOLD’s founder, who is moving home after a year here in Thailand with her husband, who returned to the States a month ago. The tears were flowing as we raised our glasses and thanked Rachel for changing our lives. We may never forgive her.
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[...] visiting VCDF, the emotions of what happens to children in Thailand came rushing to my throat and stayed there. [...]
12:51 pm July 26, 2010