Avoda Story: Golden Triangle
The famous Golden Triangle in North Thailand is a famous tourist attraction. Situated between the three borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma this area shows its picturesque mountain ranges, with wild life and elephants as well as colourful dressed hill tribe communities. Tourists build a never ending stream, taking pictures of smiling faces and breath taking natural landscapes. Little is known about the real life in the Golden Triangle.
The name Golden Triangle means literally: in this triangle of Thailand, Laos and Burma vis gold, is money made. How? One word: drugs! Almost every family is afflicted by this merciless evil trade. Every family of the hill tribe communities have family members who are enslaved by drug traders, either as drug users, drug sellers, drug transporters, or as children growing up without father, or mother or both: because their parents are locked of for decades of prison sentences.
This is a true story about Gung (10) and Pu (8). Two girls of a hill tribe community, right in the middle of the Golden Triangle. The two sisters have two fathers, and both fathers left them and their mother. The mother can’t handle life’s hard realities, her escape from desperation is with drugs, mostly opium, and often also alcohol. But opium dreams are no solutions, life’s pressure is building up. The drugs have killed the feelings for her children. For her children mean a burden.
Children have hunger, to buy meagre foods she has to spend her scant money. Money she otherwise could use to buy escaping dreams, opium. The children witness several attempts of the mother to once and for all changing her life: by killing herself. In one instant the mother, high on opium, wants to cut her own throat. She already cut parts, blood is flowing.
But she did not do the last deadly cut as yet. Both little daughters watch in paralysing horror. Mother! Yes, she is a neglecting mother, but she is the only mother they have. The mother is the only security they know of. Without mother they a free prey for human trafficker, rapist and drug peddlers. “Mother! Don’t do it! Please…” Blood flows…. Gung wants to grab the knife away from mother – but she is afraid that her mother may cut her throat instead, and Gung is responsible for Pu!!! Pu would not survive without Gung.
In the end mother did not finish her exit, bleeding she takes another puff from the opium pips and drifts into dreamland. Other family members recommend that Gung and Pu cross illegally into communist Laos and stay with their extended family there. The two little brave girls go on this dangerous trip. Always looking out for kidnappers and rapist. They manage to cross the Mekong river, the famous border river between Thailand and Laos.
Two girls of a hill tribe community, right in the middle of the Golden Triangle.
Arriving at their family village in Laos, they are rejected. The two girls are told that the family is too poor to feed them “Go back to Thailand. Go!” The two little girls manage to return to their Thai village – in an utmost outburst of fear and anxiety they find out the phone numbers of their biological fathers, who are now well to do taxi drivers in Bangkok. “Father! Can you help us?” with fear vibrating the children’s voices, they beg for help. “NO!”
Both fathers are remarried. Both of their wives do not want to have anything to do with children from their past. The answer is a stern rejecting no. Now word of mouth spreads the story of the two little homeless girls. Human traffickers see potentials.
By God’s Grace, also a member of the Avoda Foundation’s branch inside the Golden Triangle got word of Gung and Pu. The experienced rescuer knows that he has to act fast, faster than the human trafficking mafia. He urgently seeks permission from the children’s family to bring the two little girls to Avoda’s children home. The very same night he and his wife take the girls, they drive 580km out of the mountains and Golden Triangle area to Avoda.
Gung and Pu are just two of many thousand children who just want one thing: “GIVE US A CHANCE!” After the ten years at Avoda, they take every chance, every opportunity to help, learn, and develop themselves. Both girls are now members of the Avoda rescue team. They were rescued; they got a chance – now they rescue others and giving other desperate children a chance. Gung will soon study accounting – her vision is to become a certified public accountant (CPA) and Pu is right now an executive secretary and she envisions to have her own business to let her business contribute to rescuing children. Pu will study business administration soon.
Avoda Foundation
We at Avoda are convinced: rescuing children in need and training them the right way is a long term benefit for society. Avoda work is team work. In our team are rescuers, trainers, counselors, administrators, Avoda Ambassadors and supporters. May we invite you to join our team? May we invite you to help make a difference in a child’s life. Let us give children a chance. Join Avoda, because teamwork makes the dream work.
Contact:
www.avodafoundation.org
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +66 55 512 631
Mobile: +66 99 016 3253
