Childlife-A
future for street children in Mae Sai
Excursion to the "Golden Triangle"
(April 1, 2002)
promised to visit the Golden Triangle and to take along 10 of the older
kids. He explained that if we invited all of the children the food bill would
be too high. We were scheduled to leave by ten o'clock.
briefly. I had my doubts how he was going to handle the situation of who is and who isn't going on this trip. But
surprisingly, at about eleven o'clock 32 kids and 4 adults were ready to leave. For once I was allowed to sit in
front with Ngaow, a privilege no one will refuse considering the heat and the crowded loading space on the
lorry. Unfortunately we didn't get very far. After a few hundred meters Ngaow said that something was wrong
couldn't continue driving.
Ngaow barely made it back
to a nearby garage. We all had
to get off the Pickup in order
to change the defect tire.
Instantly, I thought about the
cost involved because just
station where we filled up the tank. At this moment it was clear to me that we have often been small-minded
toward Ngaow with respect to those necessary expenses, far away from any experience. I promised myself
to review these bills in a more liberal way in the future.
house. This shelter had been built with the support of donations from Thais. At
the moment Harbourhouse is the residence for 12 girls. The headmistress of this
outfit was taken by surprise with our unannounced visit. When Ngaow asked her
whether a lunch for all of us would be possible she even managed to smile. In a
short period of time we were served a hot meal which the children enjoyed very
much . After lunch Ngaow and we had difficulty in collecting the kids who were
to our final destination. When we arrived we had an excellent view from the
Mekong embankment facing down the Golden Triangle. As a lot of boats
were floating in the river we asked Ngaow what the price would be for
renting such a boat. He looked at us very sceptical but after a short inquiry
of local fishermen, he said 800 Baht. We gave him the amount needed and
went down numerous steps to the anchorage.
The boat trip was a
big success not only for the kids whose eyes were sparkling, but also
for us.
where locals offered various goods especially for tourists. We all took some time to look at these items.
While we were touring the island the kids were constantly trying to hold Sissy's and my hands in order to seek
shelter in this unfamiliar and unknown territory. Our group drew attention to other tourists who were surprised
to see all these properly dressed and well behaving children, especially the little ones who were clinging to
Farangs' hands.
surprise I sank in deeper and I therefore lost one of my sandals. Luckily, I had found it before it got lost in
the river Mekong.
a hill. Having arrived there, which was not an easy task because of the
enormous heat, a spectacular view showed us the junction of Mea Sai
River and The Mekong, including the Golden Triangle.
thirst almost became unbearable. We had two choices: either to buy a
perfectly cooled Cola for 12 to 15 Baht, just for us, or buy 35 cans of
Cola. Since we didn't want to drink them in front of the children we
decided not to buy them at all, at least for the time being.
one scoop for as little as 4 Baht. I explained to Ngaow that I wanted
to treat all of us with ice-cream. Ngaow arranged everything but
suggested to have the Akkah-Children invited as well who posed in
their traditional costume for tourists, so they could take home a nice
photograph-souvenir. After having queued up, all of us including the
Akkah-Children were served with ice-cream. The kids thanked us
with their hands folded, as usual, for the treat and everybody enjoyed
the ice-cream.
riding on the back of our Pickup during such a thunderstorm we have had experienced during the last three
days was no fun. We wanted to leave in a rush but all the children were scattered around. We found
everybody except Nasso but luckily she had already gone to the Pickup. As Ngaow was ready to drive it
started to rain and we had to look for some shelter. Having found none we were forced to continue our
journey back home. We didn't get "soaked" either, apparently we had left the clouds behind. Speaking of
"home". My home is of course Germany but at this special moment I felt as if had returned from a very
nice trip with my family, as I used to. Simply being at home. I wanted to stay.
Social workers have also got a private life and one day before this trip I received bad news from Germany
which made me sad and put a heavy strain on me. But the kids, my little friends, felt something was wrong
with me and had been so affectionate. When Nasso were capable of speaking our language, she would say
: "Hey Bernd, cheer up"
