I SPENT 250,000 in a Remote Thailand Jungle and Here's What Happened
Michael I got 250,000 to spend I know just the place to spend it but we got to go deep how deep deeper than you've ever been I'm in this is going to be a video of Epic Proportions but I'm going to need a beard to do it right well this is definitely not going to work I need a big bushy Santa Claus beard but I'm late for my flight oh yeah now that is what I'm talking about just in the St Nica time so you sit back put the remote control down and get ready to feel good because this is my craziest Pay It Forward video ever H ho [Music] so I found my partner in crime hey Chris good morning good to see you it's early early so uh Michael can we put this 250,000 to good use absolutely we have 25 tons of stuff that's already gone up the mountain is that the the school's ready for us to give out okay I only got one question you said we're going deep how deep today's first stop is 9 hours from here so we're going to hit the road and we're going to start the journey into the great unknown this video isn't just about what we're going to do it's about where we're going to do it we're heading to what's known as the hook of Thailand this strange squiggle on the map sits between meang and mayong son and is surrounded on three sides by Myanmar to have any chance of pulling it off we'll need an army of volun teers including border patrol translators and pure muscle and a convoy of off-road [Music] vehicles mine was driven by Dawn who along with partner yo represented two out of the only five police officers that cover this massive area the first 5 hours of the drive saw the roads turned from concrete to dirt to no roads at all [Applause] [Music] [Music] okay so it's 300 p.m. we're 8 hours outside of Chang my this is what the roads have been like for the last 2 hours look at this the drivers like can't get out of first gear they can't go more than four or five km an hour but as hard as it is for us to get in here just to to do what we're about to do think of how hard it would be to live in here and what some of the daily hardships the villagers must go through [Music] for for and tell them one last thing the whole world's watching [Laughter] she said she will not go down and pick you up but she'll be waiting for you up here at the school so if you'd like to come and visit you're very welcome as you can imagine there are no tourists that come here ever but as the kids in their parents began to gather around I realized they all knew Michael and they knew that when when he shows up good things [Music] happen everyone's having fun already that's that's what Christmas is all about so here's the deal thanks to one of you one of my subscribers John you wrote me an email a few months back and you told me a story about your wife Sally Sally limb and she love Thailand she volunteered to help kids in Thailand and John you challenged me you said Chris I want to give you 250,000 bought from the Sally limb kindness fund Sally Lim lost her life last year but Sally your memory is going to live on today and over the next few days is this all unfolds so what we've done here is we've put that money to use we have jackets it's getting cold up here in the mountains there's blankets and yes kids need little Christmas cheer so John Sally this is due to your kindness Sally Limb and and I didn't grow this Santa Claus beard for nothing who needs a [Music] gift see Sam song open the gifts kids open the gifts what is it w so we've got four kids at the school who are in need of scholarship so they're all getting that scholarship today as part of the trip and they're bringing something that their family made to give to all of you who helped to make this possible a absolutely love this coming from right here where where all that matters is having a good [Music] heart so we're just heading back to the place where we're going to sleep tonight Michael never rests so we're stopping to visit an old student and and and and I think I recognize this little village I think I've been here before hey Michael am I crazy or have you brought me to this place before Chris you are not crazy this is the house that you went to last time you were here with us this is where it all started [Applause] spee [Music] [Music] so we are going to proudly inform her dad that she is doing fantastically well she's getting good grades and continuing on to what she wants to do which is be a [Music] doctor this is how we make a difference this is how we give a future for the kids here but they're continuing life the parents the father is not well he's in the hospital currently but they are so proud of their daughter as she continues to do something no one else in the village has ever done which is finish an education and go on to the next step and with that we wrapped up day one and we made our way to the village where we'd spend the night that was The Chariot and look at this I don't know if you can see but they have dinner all lined up big night at the [Music] [Music] Village okay let's see what the sleeping Arrangements look like okay here we go one 2 3 four five six six of us in here I'm calling this one on the end I'm going to take this one so there's the sleeping oh boy no I'm not taking that one you see that oh boy that could jump right down on a fella all right [Applause] [Music] [Music] rustic Christmas Christmas [Music] hold [Music] morning activity's done it's lunchtime let me show you what that's like here this is where they were cooking over an open fire earlier and this is what they call the canteen this is a school cafeteria in Northern Thailand so what cap some cilantro looks like some sort of pork a lot of volunteer work look how fresh everything is up [Music] here noodles veggies pork rice this is where the kids are eating and my favorite thing this one's to you kids back in Canada where I'm from after they're all done eating they slide their shoes back on and then they head over to their very own wash station to wash their own dishes [Music] oh look our building very nice yeah our glob is the Rotary Club of Bangkok du we are a German speaking club but uh everyone is welcome we have taii and all kind of international members and what are we looking at behind you guys is this what you're coming to check out no it's really famous a nice project we did actually in cooperation with other rotary clubs from Europe from Switzerland Italy and France and Germany the kids can stay during the week uh since their homes often far away so they cannot walk every day to the school so they stay here Monday to Friday back home at the weekends when you come out here you will realize that uh you cannot take anything or everything that we are used to in the west uh for granted and we are here to help those kids having a better future and uh yeah getting some of the education that we were lucky enough to enjoy which is uh is not the standard situation up here in the mountains so the afternoon of day number two we're dividing and conquering we got a convoy a trucks and volunteers out going to another school doing another food and gifts drop and then there's two trucks and about eight of us with bags of food rice essential supplies and we're just going going to the to the smaller Villages these are just collections of three four five six [Music] houses for decades Michael's been coming in here literally going door too and offering these kids a path to a different future through education he talks to each family and overcomes surprising obstacles this mother said that if her daughter went to school who would do the laundry work on the farm in these cases he offers a scholarship to help pay for these hardships and one by one he changes their lives 8 years old yeah heard yeah you got the you went to the kindergarten a little know she did oh she did did she did she's been a few like she comes a few days but she's supposed to go to first grade so they're both going to new school year they're both going to start school the new schol both going to go in the first how about that but it's not just Michael today his newest helper went out on her own and for the very first time she managed to convince one child to get into [Music] school oh my God yeah I got one I met that girl and she finished like grade nine let's say in but her parents don't have money to sent her to school so she left out and then now yesterday I got her back I got her back congratulations that was your first one alone many more to come so you guys have to meet paaw here she has Haley my wife would say is small But Mighty come here come closer to the camera you stand right here so so where where are you from I actually I originally uh was born in Myanmar but because of the Civil Wars I escaped with my family to Tha Thailand so we lived in refugee camps how old were you in the refugee camps um like two two and then when did you leave the refugee camp uh I left refugee camp when I was 9 years old and I moved to migrant School how did you go from a refugee camp to what you're doing today uh giving back at iare uh migrant School I study you know Burmese English Thai and then Korean and then I I got a scholarship from iare so I got to know them I got to know what they are doing when I was in my University uh I joined them and I really liked it I feel like oh this is my way to work for this like to um get the kids who are not going to school comeing back and I want them to see that education can really change their life in the future did you guys build this Schoolhouse yes we built this I came here when they started the building uh I think around February wow how many students here 23 you just amaze me let's give away some stuff [Music] [Music] cars having some problems trying to jump start it go go go all right Jimmy are we going to make it yay we make it let's hope be good to [Music] us so it's day three and I got a good news bad news good news story for you the good news is that that we've made it back to concrete roads well this gives you a sense as to how high the water gets this section of concrete bridge washed out a few years ago in the rainy season the bad news is even though the next place we're going is only a few kilometers over next Valley from where we were we have to now go back up a several hour 4our drive back up to find that Val valy because there's no roads to cut across and the good news well it's good news for you is that you can just sit there relax on your couch your sofa wherever you're watching from and enjoy the last day that we got in here as we finish giving away the 25 tons [Music] so this is what it's like riding in the back of the Border Police I got PE saww you you're still fashionable oh my God that's been my bumpy seat for the past 2 hours we've come across another truck got to figure out how to get by this is the road there is no Road we're driving on these Boulders so we're like it's like we're in the back of a washing machine it's about to get dark and we got to drive up this River for two more hours before we get where we're going I wonder if we'll be rewarded with a five-star Resort in a spa this would be a nice peaceful riverbed if we weren't lost stuck in the middle of it hours in any direction to even the nearest person oh boy this is what Michael meant by going deep as we made our way in the pitch black to the final Village I realized something the deeper I seem to go the more rewarding The Experience became Jimmy let's reveal the accom accomodations here so is this the library Tommy yes this the library all right we're in the library oh ladies room ladies room here Jimmy we're in here men's room here one 2 3 4 5 we got five little pods and let's see the bathroom here yep that should do bathroom and shower the old bucket and well there's new no squatter but bathroom and shower for 10 people right there so smack da in the middle of nowhere sits this tiny little village they're cooking up dinner no barbecue the crazy thing to me is that all the way out here we have a traveling band I down you pass to come Cheers Cheers thank you Che [Music] I [Music] So This Is It Michael the last of the 25 5 tons who who's who's this one going to this is a very special family Chris this is pan and su's house this is a family whose kids were not in school and decided to listen to what we told them and send their kids to school what that meant though is that they had to walk 39 km over the roads we traveled in to get to their school one day and one night of walking so here we are to go say thank you to them once again for letting their beautiful kids have that opportunity to study 25 tons and the last one's super special [Music] [Music] so Michael what I've learned about what you do over the last few days you're building a bridge for the kids who live in these remotest parts of Thailand to a completely different future a completely different life but I'd love to hear in your own words the work you've done for decades how it all fits together to build that bridge for them thanks Chris for that it all begins with the dorms the dorms is what makes it possible for these kids to come out of these Villages and go to school as you've seen for yourself in six of the last seven schools the dorms there means that the kids can study basically that's the start of the program once you get the dorm then the rest is going and knocking on a million doors asking the parents to send their kids giving scholarships and then it's trips like these coming up to give Christmas presents blankets reemphasizing the importance of education and then the last step is giving them a path forward whether it's University scholarship whether it's vocational scholarship whether it's the icome hospitality program which gives the kids a road into a career in Hospitality giving them the income to support their families and change their villages in ways that would never be possible in a 100 years and why did you choose to focus on the remotest deepest parts of the country if it's easy let's let someone else do it if it's easy it's already been done done if you want to bring about change if you want to use the one life you have to make a difference let's go where no one's been let's go where we can make the biggest difference in the time we have on this Earth and that's up here well Michael I can say that honestly you changed my life to all my viewers if you're feeling so inclined to fuel I Care's efforts Michael's efforts believe me this guy counts every last penny and there's nowhere better to donate your money I've been shocked at all of my subscribers out there over the last couple years we've had donations ranging from $100 up to $30,000 so no matter what I'll leave a link in the description below a dorm cost $600,000 if you're out there and you're a high roller why not build a dorm if you just want to donate 50 100 bucks it's all going to these efforts that get into the hands of people who need it most Merry Christmas everyone happy New Year it was great to be back [Music]
2024-12-23 07:21
