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By the time Tuin came to us, he had already been damaged by the cruelties of life. Born with only one eye, he had been the subject of ridicule for as long as he could remember, and when his father died and his mother eventually had to turn to doing tricks for young men and boys, just to survive, it only made matters worse for him.
He never left her side however… even when she laid down on the job and he may even have contributed to the act at times, just to earn a dime. |
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His mother eventually grew ill, like his father had done before he died, and when at last they were evicted from their one dollar a day work space, they had no option but to seek refuge at a Buddhist Wat. The monks did all they could for them but, because Monks are not allowed to touch a women, Tuin was left with the job of bathing and messaging his mother when ever she was in pain. When the screams became more then even the Monks could endure, they bought her to the Wat Opot Project to die.
She actually improved in the first few weeks and with the pressure off of Tuin to care for her, he had more free time to be a regular kid... but that was not so easy for him. His ability to relate to children his own age was hindered by his handicap and his own feeling of worthlessness, and the constant calling of “Khvack!” or “One eye” kept him in his place and often resulted in fights. When angry, he would at times become out of control .
He slept with his mother every night, even as she grew weaker and the muscle and joint pain returned. They were the only thing in life that either of them had to hold on to. She was concerned because she knew she was dying and would no longer be able to protect him from this evil world. He also knew she was dying and while he tried everything he could to make her comfortable, he often failed, not because of doing anything wrong... but just because the pain she had was often more then she could bear.
As her condition grew worse and the pain increased, so did their frustrations. Tuin would at times leave the room in tears after his mother screamed at him for hurting her while he was trying to massage her. One time I found him hitting his head forcefully against a cement post with tears of frustration rolling down his cheeks. At another time the children came running toward me saying Tuin had a stick and was hitting his mother with it. I ran to the ward and removed the stick from him and then tried to calm his mother while he ran out of the room. He refused to go back in that night and for the first time in his life, slept alone.
When I checked on his mother the following morning I saw that her body was shutting down and went out of the room to find Tuin; he was sitting quietly under one of the trees. I told him he should go in and see his mother but he refused to do so and so I added, “Tuin, your mother is dying.”
He stood up and ran to her room and when he got to her side… he got very close to her face and with his one good eye, looked deeply into the widening pupils of his mother’s eyes. Then he kissed her gently on the forehead. There was a long moment of silence as tears rolled down her cheeks and then her eyes gently closed as she let go of her physical existence. |
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Tuin lit the cremation fire beneath his mother’s body, which is the usual procedure here; it makes for an almost immediate acceptance to the death. I was however worried, as I watched him, because I realized that he was now my responsibility and the uncertainties of how damaged he was emotionally concerned me. It didn’t take long however for him to be included in the ever broadening circle of children who, like him, had lost their parents to AIDS. |
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Thear came to us a few weeks later in the back of an ambulance with a woman he said was his mother. She was unconscious and it looked like she may have been beaten. There were rope marks around both of her wrist. Thear was also missing two of his front teeth but we could not tell if it was from natural causes or if perhaps they had been knock out while attempting to protect his mother. She died three days later without ever regaining consciousness. |
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Thear started crying when we asked him to light the cremation fire beneath his mother. As soon as Tuin saw that he was having a difficult time… he went over to give him support. |
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Life can be cruel at times, especially on innocent children, yet it is from out of these evil experiences that the Wat Opot Children’s Community has grown into what it is today. |
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Evil is a substance from which Goodness can be made when surrounded by the warmth of LOVE! FOR YOUR COMMENTS
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