Giving hill tribe children a home of their own

Malaysians make a connection with needy children in Thailand’s far north through the Dhammagiri Foundation.

The Venerable Ajahn Cagino, a Malaysian monk of the Thai Forest Tradition, took some hill tribe children to a restaurant. But when the food was served, they just sat and stared at everything at first. It was a case of culture shock, it seems.

“Actually, they were so poor that four to five of them shared food from one bowl. We had to teach them to eat individually from a bowl and with proper utensils,” says Cagino.

The children, from Thailand’s northern province of Mae Hong Son, have been learning many new things since they moved into a new home built with donations.

The children are very happy with their new surroundings, according to Cagino.

“They say, ‘We have a playing field, a big paddy field and a river. Previously, we were crowded and had no place to run and play’.”

To this boy at the Mae Hong Son orphanage, it is a luxury to have a bowl of noodles all to himself, as he is accustomed to having to share one bowl with several children.

They are orphans, abandoned children, and children of single parents, says the monk, and they were basically left to their own devices in the hill villages they lived in. It takes months to teach them basic living skills, such as how to use a flush toilet or not to litter indiscriminately.

“Some of these children rarely took baths in the past. They had to be taught to bathe and change their clothes.

“We even had a case where two brothers had only two sets of clothes. When we found out, we took them to shop for new clothes.”

The children’s new home is a project of the Dhammagiri Foundation set up in 2009 by Cagino. The foundation began when local Buddhists asked a group of forest monks passing through the area to help the tribal communities.

While Mae Hong Son province has been visited by tourists for many years and has its own airport, its location – in a deep valley, surrounded by misty mountain ranges – means that many hill tribes live in isolation. For the children, moving down to the more populated area where the home is (fairly close to the airport) can be quite a shocking change.

The home is green, literally, as its concrete roof was built flat to contain a vegetable and herb garden.

In fact, five children from the new home had to be sent back to their guardians because they could not adapt. Three were also sent away because they had behavioural problems.

“The young children, especially the girls, cry because they feel like strangers in a new place. They lack a sense of security and are not used to living with others. But most of them learn to adapt,” says Cagino.

Some 130 registered for a place in the home but not all could be taken in; currently, there are 41 children, aged seven to 21 years old.

“We only accept children of schoolgoing ages as we don’t have childminders to care for the much younger ones.

“These children can stay on until they complete their tertiary education, and we will help educate them. If they are not keen to study, they will have to leave this home when they come of age to fend for themselves,” Cagino explains.

Four workers – two men and two women – run the home and see to the children’s needs. And the children also take turns to cook their meals and do their own laundry so they can learn to be self-sufficient. They also are taught to tend to padi fields and grow organic greens, including potato and soya, to augment their food supply.

Ajahn Cagino (left) with landscape architect Ng Sek San (centre, in black) and architect Chris Wong (right, back to camera) discussing plans for the home.

On weekdays, the children are taken to schools some 5km away. They leave about 7am and return by 4.45pm.

Twice daily, at 5am and 5pm, the children devote 30 minutes to chanting and 10 minutes to meditation. During summer school holidays (from the end of March to the end of May), the boys are initiated as novice monks and follow the forest monks into the jungle to meditate.

All of this support for the children obviously comes with a price tag. And Cagino finds himself in the position of fundraiser, and an effective one, too.

Cagino, 46, a former professional photographer, held a few exhibitions of his photography work in Malaysia in 2011, hoping to raise RM250,000 to build the children’s home; at that time, the children were living in rented accommodation.

But unexpectedly, RM500,000 was raised.

Some RM370,000 went towards the purchase of a 3ha plot of land, leaving only RM130,000 to build a house, says Cagino at a recent interview; he had returned to Malaysia with several monks from the Ajahn Chah lineage for Wesak celebrations in May.

The home’s designers wanted to create a feeling of community by putting the children’s double-decker beds together in dormitories. The sturdy bamboo and plywood structures will stand up well to all the wear and tear active children can impose on them.

During those exhibitions, Cagino met many former college mates – he is a graphic design graduate of the Malaysian Institute of Art – whom he had not seen for 20 years.

“Some of them, bosses of their own advertising firms now, wanted to help too, and they also roped in an architect and a landscape designer to see the land,” he explains.

A plan for the children’s home was drawn up but the costs for the proposed building with space for up to 100 children were beyond the foundation’s budget.

Cagino was worried, feeling that, as an ordinary monk, he would not be able to raise the money for this more ambitious plan.

But his worries were allayed when these wellwishers brought together a group of professionals to help. The volunteers include award-winning landscape architect Ng Sek San; architect Chris Wong; landscape contractor Lau Jian Pyng; professional photographer (and Cagino’s former lecturer) David Lok; graphic artist (and Cagino’s former classmate) Joseph Foo; and film director Tan Yew Leong.

They not only helped to raise further funds, they also found a donor who gave RM1.3mil; the anonymous benefactor is a Malaysian developer who is a Buddhist.

The plans called for one long, sinuous, poured-concrete structure measuring 160m by 70m, a playing field, and padi fields, all set close to a river. The building has girls and boys’ dormitories with 80 beds.

There is a hall that can accommodate 120 people, an office, a kitchen, and a basement for storage. There is also a roof terrace for herb and vegetable gardens.

Part of the home — a poured concrete structure — includes an airy hall where the children spend some time every day, chanting and meditating.

On higher ground nearby, there are kutis (quarters) for five monks, including three novice monks. Three wooden huts have also been built to accommodate anyone who wants to stay on retreats. The huts can accommodate up to 100 people.

Ng, who travelled to the site, explains: “We built the children’s home like a big corridor (similar to the longhouses of Sarawak) to get the children to live together as a community rather than in private rooms in houses. Some of these children used to stay in schools, which is not ideal as they would live alone.

“The double-decker beds, tables and shelves are made from bamboo and plywood boards that can last up to 10 years. They were cheap and fast to build with and easy to replace.”

The home is connected to the local electricity grid and it has sewage tanks; drinking water from a well is piped in while water for other uses, such as cleaning, comes from the river.

The home took one-and-a-half years to complete, says Cagino. When construction began, the children helped on weekends and during school holidays to help defray costs.

Cagino says: “The public is welcome any time to come and visit these disadvantaged children.”

He hopes donors will give books in the Thai language for the library in the home. Used children’s clothing in good condition can also be donated.

Funds continue to be needed, of course, not only for running the home but also for improvements.

“We still need funds to build proper paved roads. Now, the paths are very dusty in the summer and muddy in the rainy season.”

Cagino also approached his sister, Crystal Lau, 37, a developer, to help the very poor hill tribe children. No stranger to giving, she pledges a portion of her salary to charity work. Yearly, sometimes twice yearly, she travels with a nephew and her mother to countries like India and Thailand, taking toys and clothing for the needy.

Lau, who also helped the children of Mae Hong Son and met them, says: “It’s good that they now have a proper place to live, eat and be educated. Previously when they were staying with their kin or guardians, their meals were uncertain. Some days, they even went hungry.”

Indeed, instead of facing a bleak future, these children have hope for a better life ahead. In this place where the mountains are misty the whole year round, there are many rainy days – but sometimes, the sun shines through, just as hope shines for these hill tribe children, thanks to Malaysian wellwishers.