life in Thailand's most remote village
I'm super excited about today's video This is the first Pay It Forward video I've done in a long long time I'm here in the town of May suryang which is one of the major stops on the Mei Hong Sun Loop where a lot of motorbike tourists go when they're up here in Northern Thailand but this is just where our Journey Begins we're going off-road two hours into the mountains we're gonna see how the hill tribes live learn about some of the challenges that they face particularly with education and we're going to meet a group of people that are performing Miracles it's not easy to get in there and I called my old buddy Sean and he explained what the first part of the adventure would be like you're going to go into a four-wheel drive about I think about four hours after you leave Chiang Mai you're gonna head off-road [Music] and you'll be going through you know most probably flood waters Raging Rivers [Music] Hills that don't have actual really good roads she might get stuck in the mud it's better that you experience it and see it you know anyone that I've sent to God comes back and just they're totally 100 sold on just being the most valuable project they could spend their time on [Music] so that was our ride up here it's been 10 hours since we left Chiang Mai and we're only about 300 kilometers from Chiang Mai the last 23 kilometers took us four hours to get in here and as hard as it was for us to arrive in this Village it made me immediately think about life here you know like like what is daily life like just to go from one Village to the next was 20 minutes a half hour hard drive roads that can be washed out in rainy season so so what is it like for them to live here on a daily basis foreign [Music] tribe they've been here for Generations in every Valley is another small village most with no more than 10 houses 10 families cut off from the world no hospital no internet no telephone I wondered about the kids who live here and the challenges they face in getting a basic education foreign thank you no idea to me Paul [Music] things are made really then you got me party or um foreign [Music] [Music] being in here this deep it feels like these are people who've been forgotten and left behind by the rest of the world given no chance at a different future but there's a group of people who are changing that back in 1981 a couple from Norway named ingvar and Karen andreasen moved to Thailand with their two small children [Music] they immediately started helping local communities like this and they've been doing it for the past 41 years straight and their son Michael living in Thailand since he was just three years old has dedicated his entire life to helping these forgotten communities my name is Michael Andreas and I'm from Norway originally I run an organization called Eyecare Thailand Foundation I just want to understand what life is like here when you get this deep in and what are some of the challenges and stuff so for the kids and the people who live in the village of Salat jiangtong where we're at right now life is not easy there's no phone signal there's no internet so if you have a health emergency you're really on your own unfortunately a lot of people in this area they don't go to the hospital until it's really late in the game and a lot of fatalities are people who are trying to make it to the hospital and pass away somewhere along the way foreign [Music] but what about schools well they're few and far between in these remote areas I'm in a central Village that's lucky enough to have one but this small school is the only one to service kids for hours in all directions education is a whole different ball game up here compared to the rest of the country now even though the 11 Villages that send kids to this school are not far the furthest one is 10 kilometers away if you can imagine 10 kilometers over very rough not even roads but Trails Through the Jungle that can take you up to three four hours to do and there's not really any way you can expect primary age kids like these guys to be able to do that on a daily basis and so all doors then from that point kind of remain closed to them and and potential Futures they could have life is really difficult if you do not know how to read and write if you don't have a high school diploma really your only options are to stay on the farm and to continue the life that your parents your grandparents and your forefathers have lived without any hope of advancement any hope of progress any hope of helping your children your family have a future [Music] it's estimated that over 1 million school-aged kids in Thailand are not in school and the biggest challenge is right here in these Hill tribe communities Michael and his team have been working hard for years to change this so we know the walks tough but Michael how are you solving this it's real simple Chris build a dorm that's what you do this is what we're standing this is it this is dormitory number 18 that's got 40 kids in there that's 40 kids that are studying it's not complicated it's not rocket science you build a dorm it's amazing to think of the impact that such a simple solution can have the 18 dorms that iCare has built have provided a home for over 2 300 children so far that's 2 300 young kids who are usually the first in their family's history to have access to schooling [Music] and and who do we got behind here we have fantastic people these are the principles of the dorms of eye care so how many kids at each of your schools 156. wow 63. so between these five guys we're talking about about 500 kids that are getting educated out here in uh the deepest stretches of Northern Thailand and uh these guys dedicate their lives to it and it's uh it's pretty amazing yeah nice work yeah [Applause] [Music] as the countdown to the ribbon cutting began I looked around and it felt like more than just a countdown to the newest dormitory being officially opened it was Mothers fathers grandparents all counting down to a new future with new dreams for their kids [Applause] today's a fantastic day today we're so excited because finally the dormitory that we built here at ping luang is open we've had a few delays there's been covid there's been things like that going along but finally now the kids here of these Villages can have a home to stay at the school without having to walk without having to get back and forth without having to miss months of school because of the rains so now they can stay here they can learn they can have a future have you guys worked out who's sleeping well yeah and how old are you guys 16. Japan he wants to be a policeman nice right on he wants to be an electrician he wants to be a soldier policeman's electrician and a soldier all right well good luck guys on top of building the dormitories we were also able to bring in three truckloads of school supplies and clothing and things that they need here Ricard a young Swedish man came in and helped fix some of the bicycles that had previously been donated [Music] but what they were most excited about today was that we found a way to bring in and keep cold some delicious ice cream the kids told us that this was the first time they'd seen ice cream in over 10 months [Music] it's remarkable how such a little amount of money can help so many people here foreign also offers scholarships that are needed to help many of these families who simply can't afford to lose the help of their children at home these scholarships are only 500 bought a month which is 14 in a village where the average wage is only thirty dollars a month though this is all it takes to offer these kids an education and a chance at a different future so I mentioned at the start of the video the word Miracles it's a word Michael used with me and it really is a miracle it's a miracle that Michael found this calling for himself it's a miracle that these kids now have access to a formal education and it's a miracle how little it takes to help [Music] I wanted to use this YouTube channel to help and thanks to all of you we were able to offer 15 scholarships for a full year to show their appreciation the mothers offered us gifts they spent days making and the kids offered handwritten notes of thanks I care that gave me money and I will buy socks and and shoes and the other part I will give it to my mom because if I don't have this scholarship I would be very very difficult in my life I have a lot of difficulties because I have many still many brothers and sisters I would be a very good student wow wow nice beautiful so her daughter's now top of the Class A year ago she wasn't not in school she wasn't in school she was just going to the farmyard with her and we met her and we talked to the mom and she's in school now I'm just so happy to see her here still in school doing well going crazy it's fantastic [Music] I ended the night chatting with a few local teachers who themselves were former Eye Care scholarship students and if these girls don't inspire you I don't know what will so we've seen all the great work being done but now it's time to show some some real success stories who do we have here okay she studied here from kindergarten to sixth grade okay and what do you do now so she is a teacher and she's back at the school that she studied at before wow and were they part of did they stay in a dorm of of eye care and she was able to use the scholarship not only to go to university but also to help her mom get a house and to start have a place to live her life is very much better she doesn't have to eat the burning rice anymore so the only so she said now they don't have to eat the red rice anymore which is the cheapest rice they can eat the good white rice and before they didn't really have anything to eat with the rice but then now they actually have something to eat with it I'm curious how they feel like they they grew up walking to school so far now they're teaching at the schools she said at that time she felt like giving up it was so tough it was so difficult but she feels proud to be back here today and she says she's full of joy and happiness that she can help and and she gets and she gets to return to the school to the teachers what they did for her before and this was the school that gave us the opportunity and now she's back here today she wants to give a message to your viewers in Karen um she said that I'd like to thank Eye Care Thailand foundation for giving us a dorm for giving us a place to stay that is beautiful and great for the kids to stay and to live scholarships and not only that her Village which is the one down the road we're building another dorm uh in the village of watu and so she'd like to say thank you for that may God bless and protect and keep us everywhere we go in our life in our family and may God go with us basically that's what she said that night the village hosted a celebration for us and they told us that it was the biggest event to happen there in 10 years [Music] they served up a feast and the locals came from near and far to ask Michael if I care could offer help in their Village next we're trying to just do our best to get each and every one of these guys [Music] thank you being there experiencing this it was life-changing people don't sit around feeling sorry for themselves they live with joy they carry on and all they're asking for is an opportunity to be educated [Music] so I use the word miracle earlier in the video I want to go back to that it's a miracle that that Michael's dad came here 30 40 plus years ago to miracle that Michael continued on with his dad's work to the point where they're they're impacting so many lives so deep in the rural rural Northern Thailand it's a miracle that that Sean my buddy in Phuket is doing what he's doing introduced me to Michael Bob and Paula shout out to the Cambridge crew for this video a couple of subscribers it's just it for all of these things to come together and then they have you guys the retired working for you community out there few limits supporting it truly feels like a miracle and I encourage you to learn more about Michael and I care I've left a link if you guys want to keep fueling the path forwards directly thank you to everyone who's you is that the Living Waters portal the retired working for you donation portal I'll leave a link to that below as well but just by watching just by learning about this with me you guys are part of the solution so thanks a lot I'll see you soon
2022-12-06 22:28
