A Walk Through 70 Rai

In some ways our neighborhood in Klong Toey reminds me of a college town, or a large university campus. Every house is distinct, but the few commonalities unite the neighbors. The levels of poverty are vast and hard to distinguish--

Going to the bridge on the way to the bus stop. 

Yaaj Sateem just rebuilt her entire second floor--it's even got siding. Phaa Oot has 2 flat screen TVs in one room, and a TV in every other room of the house. Several neighbors have a computer with internet. Cell phones are no status symbol, as everyone has one--it just may be recycled, a hand me down, or new. Some people--most I think, have at least one motocy, but some have a car too. Over in Lok 1, two new homes were built, and just next door to one is a shack, falling apart. 

On the walk home through Lok 3. 

This was taken about 6 months ago--now it is completely covered in trash. This water sits underneath all of the homes here in Lok 1, 2, and 3. 

Why is it like a campus? The furniture, little there is, all mismatched, a lot is broken, but they still use it. Signs from political campaigns in June or from a store advertisement serve as awnings over the street or as a nice rain-shield to place on a motocy. The street littered with trash in some places looks like the remains from a college party the night before. The people, the men, walking around shirtless with their tattoos, smoking cigarettes or a joint, drinking an energy drink or two in the morning... some going to work, some hanging around doing nothing. Urinating on the side of the street is commonplace. Others, especially the kids, walk the soi, half dressed--and the babies may just be naked. People are always eating and trying to sell food--or lottery tickets. 

Some homes in Lok 3. 

The people don't go to "class" (unless still in school) but many have 2 or 3 jobs, and the ones who have kids either stay at home, or leave the kids with grandma or an aunt or uncle. The kids find more peace spending the day on the street, hanging out at a corner store, or playing games on the computer at a cyber cafe. They often run up and down the street, eating constantly, buying snacks the neighbors sell out of the their front door.

Everyone sells food, lottery tickets, clothes... something! Laundry is always  hanging outside, and trash and broken  pieces of anything litter the ground. 

Cats and dogs, all stray and mangy, sit in the sois, leaving their excrement as obstacles for pedestrians to overstep, or they loiter, waiting for some meritorious person to feed them--which any good Buddhist would do. (I just wish I had a shotgun some nights when they are in heat sounding like a dying baby).


Music and movies blare from the house next door every evening around 5:00--that's usually music for a few hours until they put in a movie. A lot of the neighbors are young--and most of the women are grandmothers at age 50 (or less). 


We had three French guys visit last week to play some music for the kids in our neighborhood--they have been traveling around Asia since August, playing music for kids in schools and neighborhoods--guitar, clarinet, and a sweet mobile piano. Jean, Mathieu, and Etienne (blog: www.bercemonde.com). We went to get a smoothie to share before they left and Mathieu asked me what the problem is here--what is the biggest cause of this poverty? 


In this neighborhood? 


It's hard to say what the poverty is here, in terms of some concrete reality, or lack. Maybe for some it's money--yes, for most. 
For a lot of the residents? It's a community. It's home. You don't leave your community easily--especially in a city of 10 million people. You have family, friends, routine, culture, jobs, a home... 

Pii Tiim and her grandson, Ket in their  home by the railroad tracks. 

I think, it's about the kind of education--and not the kind you get in schools, but by experiences in life. The kids who are living in a split home, seeing their parents take amphetamines and energy drinks, sniff glue, sleep around... this is what they learn. Other kids in the neighborhood see some good examples--one of our friends has a university level education and she and her husband both work. Truth is, a lot of people in this city are poor--for Thais, it is expensive to live in Bangkok. With an average income of 300 baht a day, you can't afford a lot. 


Drugs, teenage pregnancy, education... you could put a lot of words on it--but it's not just one thing. Nor does it have to be. So they are poor-er than me in the US. They are poor-er than a lot of people in the world... But really? It's not the poverty that's so bad. You live here and it's what you know... There are a lot of worse problems in life than poverty--it's just that being poor brings you closer to those problems. 

Some of the boys playing on the tracks. 

August Post

In order to keep my sponsor letter short, I'm posting here the rest of what I wrote to share! 

Cultural Note

Being in Asia, I am learning about saving face. In terms of being tardy or late for a meeting or for class, the standard is at least a courtesy phone call, and a meeting isn’t really set unless you confirm at least three times. But upon arriving, just to smile and greet your friend or business partner. You may apologize, or not--no big deal either way. The key reaction of the person waiting for you, on the phone and when you arrive, is a smile with the phrase, “mai pen rai”! This means, no problem, no big deal, don’t worry about it, I don’t have an opinion about it, and “I may be mad, but I’m not going to lose face or cause you to lose face”.  I am more accustomed to arriving, after calling, to arrive, sputtering profuse apologies, or trying to invent an understandable excuse for my tardiness. 

Tiaw!     

            Every couple of months we try to have a tiaw (trip) with the kids from the neighborhood. We like to go somewhere beautiful, and where they can also learn a little about their culture/city/Buddhism. In July, we invited 12 kids--giving a perfect 2:1 ratio of kids to adults. We told the kids to come to the house at 8:00 am that Sunday morning. At 6:40am, I woke up to the voices of Ket and Ai waiting at the door, all ready to go! They waited the entire time. By 7:30, six of the kids were sitting in our house, eating their breakfast, waiting for 8:00 to come. We went to Chang Saam Siang, the three headed elephant, “Museum Erawan”. It is a beautiful museum built to preserve the tradition of Eastern Spirituality amidst a world of science and technology. There is a gorgeous park, full of ponds and waterfalls, with plenty of fish to feed. The kids were so well behaved all day, so happy to be out with us, I could see it in the face of each child--the joy, the feeling of being loved!    

Ai & Ka, two of my faves, were my charges for the day :)

Make a 'wish' and float a flower! Our kids loved this :)

Ploy watching! Love this girl!

Ka trying out the bells

Pan and Ohn eating lunch at the museum--we brought bbq'd pork satays and sticky rice.

Going crazy over feeding the fish!

Gotta love the teeter totter!

Thuy leading the kids across the water into nowhere. haha...

Katie with the kids on the dock.

A New Apostolate, New Friends
    I spent one afternoon with Anita, a woman who volunteers with an organization to help asylum seekers (those not yet granted refugee status) by giving some basic food and toiletries. I was in her small office with boxes of food and bags of rice, and met the people who would come in, one by one. My heart was burning with love and compassion as I heard their stories and looked in their faces as they came asking for food.

One Somalian boy, 12 years old, came in. He has two sisters and his mother is paralyzed. He is clever, and learned English by asking someone he saw speaking English to teach him a little bit. He comes into the office after taking three buses to get there, and must take four buses to get home.

    A Sri Lankan came in. He is Tamil, but is fluent in Sinhalese, the language of the majority, and was able to work as a translator. He worked in Malaysia and then was arrested as a suspect of a terrorist group. He was detained for 23 months in prison and tortured until the International Red Cross was able to help get him released. His wife and three children were still in Malaysia, and he went to get them, returning to Bangkok, where they must reapply as refugees. The status already granted in Malaysia does not transfer as granted if they live in Thailand. He is home schooling his children, trying to find appropriate books to use.
    Anita shared that many of the refugees sleep very late in the morning, until 9, 10, or 11. They know what it means to live hungry--so if they sleep late, they wake up close to lunch, and drink water. Then they have more time until they can eat their one meal of rice. They often are achy, painful, and sick, so the refugee center has hired a physical therapist in their clinic to give them exercises.

Once a week I meet with a young couple from Pakistan to teach Catechism. It is quickly becoming one of the best times of my week. This couple are newly Christian and are showing me what true love is for each other and for Jesus Christ--they have literally risked their lives to be together and to be Catholic. They shared with me, “When we first arrived in Thailand, we were hungry for money (they were cheated on the cost of their visas and the money they came with disappeared quickly). God is answering that prayer, and now we are hungry for Jesus in the Eucharist.” When learning about the saints, I was sharing about what makes a saint and how we are all called to be saints. He looked at me and said, “It’s hard to be a saint, isn’t it?”

I spoke with this Pakistani couple after my experience meeting more refugees. To clarify: You left your country, your home, so that you could, 1) be together and, 2) be practicing Christians? They said, “Yes.” These are people who had homes, communities, jobs, education, livelihood--and for most of them, for reasons out of their hands, they are waiting in this limbo, surviving on maybe one cup of rice a day, and hiding from immigration police (thus unable to work) until they are granted refugee status and given a host country.This is an experience that has completely struck my heart. I am discovering a deep desire for friendship with these refugees. I find courage and heroism in the face of these struggles in their lives.

Anita gives rice, oil, some canned fish, crackers, milk, flour, Mama (thai's version of ramen noodles), and then some laundry detergent, soap, and toothpaste. This is for one month at a time.

A couple coming for food, with Anita (seated).