Understanding the Lives of Orphans : หน้า 94/207

Luang Phaw wanted their son to witness what difficulties face children who do not have parents. With his eyes now open, he may change and love and value his parents more from seeing these unfortunate children. I remember when I was a senior in college and my friends invited me to help bring food to the orphanage at Prakret. There were about 200 or 300 children with only about 20 caretakers at that place. When we arrived at the orphanage, all of the children ran toward us fighting to be picked up. They called the male guests “daddy” and the female guests “mommy,” which made the guests blush. The kids were taught to call everyone that since they did not know who their real parents were. Three or four children rushed over and hugged us, like little monkeys, telling us that they had never known love and warmth their whole lives. They hurried to grab as many toys and as much food as they could. When we gave them desserts, they fought each other for it. When we handed out dolls, they fought over them. Since we did not know how many children were at the orphanage, we brought only 40 or 50 dolls. When we handed out the dolls, they fought over each one. One grabbed the neck; another grabbed the arm while someone else went for the leg. Within seconds, the doll was torn to pieces with each one holding different parts. After that, they continued fighting. When we gave out clothes, the caretakers would take the new clothes to the children wearing the oldest and most tattered clothes. Kids whose clothes were not too worn out did get any new clothes. They became envious and started pulling the new clothes off the other children who had just put on the new clothes. In the end, the new clothes got ripped and torn and nobody got to wear them. What we witnessed made us feel sad and heartbroken. These children had a different perspective on life than us. When we were young, we wanted to have lots of friends or age to have fun with. We never thought about our friends fighting or stealing our food or toys because we were always well fed and provided for. Most importantly, we received love and warmth from our parents and relatives. We saw the world in a positive light. But these orphans could not view things as we did. They did not see the hundreds of other children around them as their friends, but rather as rivals waiting to fight for the things they wanted or the love they needed. The loneliness seen in their eyes broke one’s heart. Let us think about the way children demand that their parents fulfill their every need while still having the audacity to hurt the parents’ feelings with cruel words. Remember that this is tantamount to killing them with harsh words. Even while these children hurt their mothers and fathers with unkind words,