Burmese Soup Kitchen Didn't Happen!

After being approached many times by children asking for money or food we began to wonder what would become of these children in the future. The future for children on the border is bleak enough, but these children are not even getting a chance from the start. They do not go to school, are sent out in the morning and told to go and beg, steal (?) and if they don’t come home with a certain amount of money they will be in trouble. Can we provide a safe place for them, somewhere to eat, play and maybe develop good enough relationships where we can arrange for them to go to a school? If we start by giving them somewhere to go where they can get a good lunch, then we can work on the rest later. Our first "Burmese Soup Kitchen".
Whilst this seemed like a good idea, the children didn't turn up regularly, probably as they don't have watches, but also they are too busy to go to an out of the way house. Maybe they get enough food begging from "farang". Anyway, we have given up on this idea at the present, although we may come back to it at a later date.

Lunch and Some Fun!

We sat at Canadian Dave's cafe eating our lunch in anticipation. We had arranged with Thant (our Burmese friend) that if the children arrived we would phone him and he would send the older boys that live with us to fetch them. Soon, Ayisha arrived with her brother and nephew, I rang Thant, and Angulah arrived in a Tuk Tuk to take the children back to the house. Wendy went in the Tuk Tuk so there was a white face as the Tuk Tuk driver was scared he would be pulled over by the Thai police to check out the Burmese children. The children went to Thant's house where they had lunch and spent time playing with some toys we had bought for their visit. This has got to be better than rummaging through the rubbish and dodging the Thai authorities. The children turned up another time at the house during the week but we haven't seen them in the last few days.

More children on the street!

On another recent visit to a favourite café for lunch we were approached by 2 different boys, again asking for food. Having our friend Maung Maung Tinn with us enabled us to chat with the boys while their fried rice was being cooked. We discovered that they are from the Muslim quarter of town and basically spent their time trying to get money out of foreigners and avoiding the Thai police. Both boys lived with ‘aunty’ as one boy’s mother had gone to Bangkok with her new husband who didn’t want him. The other boy was shyer and we will try and find out his story at another time. Meeting these 2 sets of children gave rise to the thought of the “Burmese Soup kitchen” idea. We will keep you updated!

Meet the Street Kids

Whilst having lunch the other day we were greeted by 4 children ranging from about 2yrs old to about 8/9 yrs old. They asked for food and stayed around whilst their fried rice was being cooked. The following day the same children arrived again at the same café and asked for some food. Wendy had just finished eating her meal and had placed the left overs on the table beside us. The children ploughed into the rice and noodles and finished her meal off very quickly. The 2 yr old reached up to Wendy and sat on her lap and drank her water and ate her food, obviously very hungry! The owner explained that these children regularly visit his café and often encourage foreigners to buy them food. They obviously don’t go to school!