We were driving through an empty road, winding through thick bushes, trees and rubber plants. Once in a while, only one or two cars or motorbikes passed by. Then we reached a military check-point, many questions came to my mind; Is this really our country?  There were bunkers and armoured tanks around and many groups of armed soldiers patrolling the streets ready to engage in battle.

As we reached BanNamSai School, I started with the friendly “Hello”.  The students returned my greeting with silence and the empty look. It looked nothing like we are from the same country who are meant to speak the same language. Soon after that awkward moment, we were greeted by a teacher who explained about the kids’ reaction towards any new faces. They lose trust on strangers. Language barrier is also another issue. Their Thai is not very good as they mostly speak Yawi, the dialect they use in everyday life. Now, I understand why the greetings and smiles were not there.

This trip was scheduled to endow education scholarships to children from the three Southern provinces in Thailand, and to hold a meeting with our associates, working on “Southern Child Smiles Again” project. And BanNamSai school is one of the places affected from Thailand’s southern turmoil.

If I get a chance to be there again, I will definitely greet the kids like I did before and hoping to see some smiles or a little “hi” back.

Weerasak Putthisai
Regional Program Officer
20 July 2016