The challenges facing some families.

Home Visit – ‘Ton’

Date:   February 7^th 2013

Team: Suky and Social Worker

We have changed the name of the child to protect her identity.

The new house the family is living in is concrete built and secure.  Rent is 2,500 B per month.

Previously there had been suspicions of misconduct between the stepfather and the elder daughter (Ton).  When the grandmother was very sick it gave Mum the ideal reason for leaving and taking the girls upcountry.  When her mother subsequently died and there was no work to be found, Mum came back to Pattaya and tried to re-enter the girls in school 7, but because the term had already begun, this wasn’t possible until mid year. 

Father, having no job and nowhere to stay, found out where they were living and moved back in.

Ton’s older sister subsequently found a boyfriend, and left home to move in with the boyfriend’s parents, but they didn’t get along.  She was unwilling to go to school and unwilling to work, so subsequently she decided to come back home.  She has become sullen and unco-operative and refuses to go to school.  She stays home all day playing video games. Mum is afraid of saying anything that might upset her.

The parents do not have any regular income, they take whatever is on offer whenever it’s offered – construction work, house cleaning, moving etc.  Father is handicapped, having only one arm, which doesn’t help the situation.

The home is basic in the extreme.  There is no working T.V., no fan (the one in the photo is broken), no refrigerator, no washing machine, no beds, virtually no furniture and a piece of thin matting in one area of the room for sleeping on.  The toilet/shower room has a pipe very close to the floor and the ‘bath’ is a large plastic bowl.  Water is from the mains and the pressure is very low (no tank) so they get only a trickle. 

It is clear they are desperately poor, and when they were conversing, Mum was crying – partly because she was ashamed of her current circumstances and partly because she was afraid to upset her daughter.  She must be at the end of her tether with one thing and another.  How they will manage in the hot season, I can’t imagine

100 Years From Today

It will not matter how big your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove. But the world may be a little better because your help touched the life of one child.