Empower Asia

Lily sittting to the right aged about 12 years.

Before I, Lily, went to live at Esther House my life was difficult. I grew up in a country village in one of the very poorest places in Thailand. It seemed like our family was poorer than most of the others in the village.  At home we would eat just rice with eggs and a few vegetables with chillies. Maybe once a month we had meat.

I had no toys to play with unless I had some paper or some cloth so that I could make my own doll. My clothes were old and often ripped and needed constant mending. Actually I felt ashamed and shy about being so poor. Sometimes I felt ostracised and isolated because of the poverty that I experienced.

Bawm, my older brother went off to live at Empower Asia’s boys’ home. I wanted to go as well but I was told that I would have to wait until I started Year 7. But when I reached Year 7 I was never invited. I lost hope and became quite naughty. During my early teenage years I began wagging school and racing around on motorbikes instead. I figured that my best hope for the future would be to go to study at a low grade vocational training college. Then at that time my dad’s legs became very weak. The doctor said that his condition would not improve and gradually he would become crippled. As a result of this I would have to stop studying and go find a job.

When my older brother returned from Khon Kaen he talked with my dad a lot and encouraged him. Slowly his leg improved despite what the doctor had said.  But still my family had problems, my parents were thinking of divorcing. I just seemed so sad all the time. Sometimes I would cry right through the night.

When I finished Year 9 the manager of Empower Asia’s girls’ home, Esther House asked if I would like to go and live there. I was overjoyed to finally have an opportunity to go! There was a lot to adjust to because I had to live in quite a strict discipline regime at my new  home. Everything was very tidy and neat. But it was also really great. Christmas was the best time because we kids had the chance to do dances, drama, singing and other performances. I was always a very very shy person but I found myself becoming increasingly outgoing. Life was great. I had clothes, good food, Christmas and birthday presents. I even had a doll! Living in the Empower Asia community meant that I now had five mothers and three fathers. I felt very warm and happy. In fact I felt very privileged, like a VIP.

I know what I am like! If I had not gone to live at Esther House I would certainly have finished school prematurely. I was already cutting class at school and probably I would have got into alcohol and drugs as well as boyfriends. My life would have been so painfully different. I never thought that I could change and become the person that I have now become.

When I graduated high school and went to university I had the freedom to choose not to follow the rules that I had adhered to at Esther House. Instead however I chose to be disciplined while at university. After 5 years I graduated with a degree in teaching science. At the end of 2011 Jamie and I married. We are excited about what we can do in the future together. My life now is so so different to the life of my peers who I grew up with back in my home village. Thank you so much that you support Empower Asia. Your help really does change lives. It changed mine.

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Hi my name is Thary Heng. I am 23 years old. I am an only child. My mother was a single parent. The reason for her pregnancy is another story that I find very difficult to share. My mother worked hard to look after me and provide for me to study. It was very difficult for us to survive because we had no land to grow rice, instead Mum sold small amounts of sugar, salt, oil, lollies etc. My home is made from palm leaves and is just one large room about 20m2 in size with no power, phone or water. Instead we would collect rainwater and also get water from the river.

When I was 13 years old and in 5^th grade Sothea (she is now the chairperson of EMPOWER ASIA) told me about Jesus and so I gave my life to Him.

 In 2005 I met Donna (who started EMPOWER ASIA in Cambodia). She suggested that I join her girls home Deborah House. Over the years I have been very grateful to have enough to eat and a nice place to stay. I’ve been encouraged to be obedient, study hard and to carry out house chores. Now not only have I completed high school but I have also completed a psychology degree. I never thought that this could be possible.

Now I work with an organisation called Mother’s Heart. We help single pregnant women, women just like my mother was. I am so glad that God is using me to serve in helping women like this and I will serve Him in any way that He calls.

In 1995 at the tender age of 13 years Sangwian Prakongcher (Wian) came to live with us. Wian was from an extremely poor part of Thailand. He lived with his parents and five sisters. In Wian’s village Buddhism was not very strong, instead the prime belief system was worshipping spirits and the word of the shaman. This caused people to continuously live in great fear. Wians dad was a village witch doctor.

He was a very shy and nervous little fellow when he first arrived. He had no spare clothes or possessions except a hunger to get ahead in life by getting a good education. We were told that he was a bright boy but that soon he would be sent off to work on a building site in Bangkok if we did not quickly admit him.

When he was just 14 years of age his mother was tragically killed. He felt that his whole life was shattered.  Then some time later Wian’s dad was hit by a truck. This severely damaged his brain and unfortunately he became quite incoherent. He had to stay home and be permanently cared for. Eventually when one of his daughters turned her back, he walked off (he was now mentally unstable) and drowned in a deep fish pond.
Following this tragedy Wian orgainsed for his two younger sisters to find shelter at an orphanage. Now they have both grown up and study at university.

In Wian’s last year of high school he was head prefect and dux of the school with an A+ average. He was then accepted into one of Thailand’s best universities on a full scholarship. He also received a scholarship from Japan.
In 2005 he graduated top of the university in his field of teaching/science. In 2008 he completed his masters degree and has been accepted into the Ph.D. program.
Now he is 27 years of age. He is Head of the Mathematics Department at a big high school back in his province (we teach our young people to return back to their villages/communities when they have completed study). He is a leader, has bought his own house and has a steady girlfriend whom he hopes to marry once she has graduated university. He is an EMPOWER ASIA Thai board member responsible for the selection of children into the homes.

Wian was poor beyond the comprehension of most westerners. His life has been radically transformed. As a result of this he has transformed the lives of all of his family members. They will all jump up one economic class because we had the good fortune to stumble across a 13 year old diamond in the rough back in 1995.

It may well be that one day Wian will become our EMPOWER ASIA Thai director. Meanwhile there are many leadership and life lessons that he must first discover. So that is Wian’s story. A story full of both hope and tragedy.

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Santi Watiroirum’s (Bawm) story: Bawm comes from rural Buriram province which borders northern Cambodia. Of Thailand’s 76 provinces it is the third poorest. At the age of 3 years he was bitten by a cobra. It changed his life. His foot and leg became severely infected, swelling up so that eventually the doctors recommended that they amputate just below the knee. But his parents would have none of it. Bawm writes, “Instead, they regularly cleaned and cared for my foot and leg. They cut a hole in our wooden floor upstairs next to my sleeping mat so that in the middle of the night I could manoeuver myself over the hole and ‘go to the toilet,’ aiming into a bucket placed a few metres below me on the bottom floor. Each day my mum would clean up the mess. I could not walk. My parents had to carry me everywhere. Eventually I got better but I could never really play and run around like other boys. When I was 13 I was told about a boys’ home where I could study hard and have the chance for a brighter future, better than what I would have had living in my rice farming village.

“So I left my village and moved to ‘Home of A New Dawn.’ After living there 6 years I finished high school (Bawm won’t tell you this but he was top of the school and graduated with straight A+ average) and gained entry into Khon Kaen University. Recently I graduated with a science degree and have now been accepted into the Ph.D. program in biology. My thesis is about amoeba living in cave water. I think that it is interesting even though no one else does!”

Bawm is the youngest Ph.D student in the program and is being groomed to be a future faculty staff member at his university.

Left: Bawm (14) standing at the rear

In 2010 he travelled to Slovenia to further his studies. “When I have my Ph.D. I want to teach at a non-prestigious university so that I can help poor but capable students to learn about biology“.

By 2015 this poor rice farming boy – poorer than most – will be strongly middle class and because of his level of education will inevitably become an influential person. This is all the more poignant when we realize that Khon Kaen University was initially hesitant to accept him for the Bachelor’s program because he was considered to be crippled.                     Below: Lily (23), Bawm (26) and Gop (22)

Meanwhile back in Buriram Lily, Bawm’s younger sister was unhappy. Why should Bawm get to have a nice quality high school education while she lives back in the village? “Year after year I waited for my opportunity to study at Esther House. But I was never invited! I too wanted to follow in Bawm’s footsteps.” Finally after 3 years of impatiently waiting Lily came to live with us. On graduating high school with us Lily commenced study towards a 5-year teaching science degree at university. She has now graduated her study and is looking for a teaching job.

To Empower Asia these three young people are gold. They are why we do what we do. They are smart, balanced and educated and at the same time have not forgotten the humble background from whence they came.

Would you consider supporting other young people like Bawm and Lily? If so, kindly click on to : http://empowerasia.org/donations/

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Below is Bik’s story. It is different yet similar to Bawm’s story. Photo right: Bik (12) on the day he applied to join us.

“Hi, my name is Bik. I come from Seesaket which is Thailand’s poorest province. It borders Cambodia.

“I was just 3 months old when my parents split up. As a result I had to go live with my paternal grandmother. When I was 10 years old she passed away. This was not only a terrible shock for me but also I was left somewhat financially destitute. It was a struggle for me to attend school because I had no money. In fact when I was 12 years old, just about to finish elementary school, I was informed that I could no longer go to school and must start working instead. At about that time, out of the blue a school teacher told me that I would be able to carry on my studies via some organization from overseas that gives scholarships to poor kids. I was very happy about this and immediately applied. It took me a while to adjust to living in this new situation because the house parents were white people! But after a while I adjusted and did quite well in my studies and I even represented our high school in basketball.

When I graduated high school I went on to study at university but there was not enough money to support my study. Also at that time I got a bit rebellious and got involved with a bad crowd of people. I studied in the mornings and worked in a hotel from late afternoon until 2 a.m. each day. Eventually I got tired of this lifestyle and some years ago decided to return to living a quality lifestyle again. Up until a couple of years ago I had been working for an organization based in Bangkok that cares for people with leprosy. Now I am 28 years old. In January 2008 I came back to live at our boys’ house again. I am going to work full time at the house where I will be responsible for all of the accounts and administration for both the boys’ and girls’ work, represent the work with the kids’ guardians, schools and government and be the head of the boys’ project which includes leading the team that cares for the boys. All this is done so that we can raise them to become people who display love and care for other poor people in their communities. So that is my story!”

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