Diary : 18 May 2011

Today started on a low note.

The children at the chiang mai centre woke up at 5am only to realise that 2 kids (Kua & Kig) had packed all their belongings and left the streetkids shelter while everyone was asleep. And they were nowhere to be seen.

Their guardians have been informed and a police report will be made in the next few hours.

I'm terribly disappointed. Kig is one of the more promising kids on the programme although he comes from a background of substance abuse and gangs. But he wanted that chance in his life to break away from stigma.

Since Kig arrived in Chiang Mai, he already ran away twice. Kig has a tendency to run away when he faces problems in schools or in relationships with his peers.

Today is the first day of school and was supposed to be a fresh start for all the 11 kids. And the 2 boys probably ran away because they were just too fearful of competing with Thai students, and having to face the stigma of being a hilltribe kid.

The staff took months just to negotiate with the school to accept these kids and give them that credible chance. And now months of effort is about to go down the drain.

Such a heartache and while sometimes I want to knock some sense into these kids, but if you see it from their eyes, they are scared. And after all the years of being looked down upon, they have a reason to be fearful.

But i guess this is the nature of working with street children with shattered backgrounds. Pray alongside us that the kids will understand that if they do not fight for their future, they will never be able to fight off that stigma on their lives.