Childlife-A future for street children in Mae Sai

Arkeuy the
rucksack boy
Among the boys it was Arkeuy, who caught my attention from the
beginning on .He always was wearing his rucksack, even when he
was sleeping or eating..That is how I came to call him
     the rucksack boy
He rarely smiled, didn’t
play much at all with the
other children and was
appearing to be sad,
unendingly sad and that
made me sad as well.
I asked the staff for Arkeuy's background story and this is what I learned: Arkeuy is five years old,
he is Akkha and Thai, and when both his parents had died a friend of the family took him in . In November
2001 this family friend brought Arkeuy to the Childlife house, but always returned in the evening to picked
him up . Now it has been four weeks that he did not return anymore to pick him up, probably because he
became alcoholic in the meantime. Since then Arkeuy has been waiting with his rucksack, day for day,
always ready , hoping every day that this is the day he will return and pick him up once again.
I began to embosom the little rucksack boy , I played with him, consoled
him when he was crying- I wanted to see him laughing again and not so
unendingly sad. Slowly Arkeuy opened up, began to be without his
rucksack, if only for short moments, and slowly the time he spent without
the onerous burden increased.
Towards the end of my visit I
rarely saw him wearing the ruck-
sack anymore, and I could see
him playing and laughing and I myself began to feel freed from
an onerous burden.
Thanks , rucksack boy, for showing me that my commitment is
worthwhile, and for giving me the strength to keep on trying to give
you and your mates in fate a chance by trying to find people who support us and thus your future as well
back to children.................support the children