On this trip, I was often stimulated to think about which would be
harder: to live in poverty, with my parents but without education;
or to leave and get education.

Listening to a CARE Thai staff member, I was
reminded that I cannot be impatient for
immediate results. This person was born in a
small village like Mae Jong Sam. His parents
were devout Christians. When he was five, a
man came to his parents and asked them to send
the boys to school in his village. The parents
were conflicted, but because they read the
Bible, they had a strong respect for
education, and decided to send the boy and his
younger brother to the school. At that time,
there were no roads or infrastructure like
today's, and so the two boys were ordered to
hang from the tusks of an elephant. They had
to hang from the tusks because the elephant
that was carrying a lot of other people's
things up a small river toward the town. If
the boys did not cling for dear life to the
tusks, they would be swept away.

Thus, in confusion, they tearfully said goodbye to their parents.
However, his brother, overcome by the difficulty, gave up and
returned when they were partway there. The boy, alone, eventually
made it to the town, but for the first while, he resented his
parents so much that he cried constantly. Due to his poverty, he
had no ability to return, and from that day he never saw his
parents again. While at the time, he resented his parents, the
education he received eventually brought him good fortune, and
then work as a staff member at CARE Thai. Crying, he told me that
today he is thankful to his parents from the bottom of his heart.

He is using his experience and finding joy in giving the same
chances to similar minority kids. His story is an unusual success
story, but having met someone who is so thankful for the joy of
education, my desire to support this program was strengthened.

Writer: Masanori Tamazawa
Translator: James Huffman