Don

I have a son.

He is from Thailand.

Before all of you jump to dire conclusions along the lines of prostitution and start suspecting the worst of me, I suppose that’s what I’d call the boy I ‘adopt’ or more accurately, sponsor, through the Child Sponsorship Program organised by World Vision Malaysia. It only takes RM50 a month to get the child’s community and him/herself basic amenities, education, and rebuild what’s lost through various devastations, which in the case of my kid, was due to the December 2004 tsunami disaster.

I surprised myself more than to anyone else actually – I’m not particularly a charitable type, particularly when you learned that a large number of beggars and donation-collectors are part of an elaborate syndicate out to cheat people’s moolah and abuse their generosity. But having visited Cambodia, even if it’s just about 4 days, witnessed the pathetic state of affairs in the third world country and kids forced to beg by their parents (Gopi once said it’s the lowest thing parents could do to a child), there is a sense of realisation that awakened in me. Quite like an enlightenment ala Buddha’s.

I used to subscribe to the doctrine that there’s no pleasing the 6.6 billion humans (as of July 2007) populating the earth, and when you can’t even make yourself happy, why bother? Note that this mantra was used once in the book How to be a Happy Teenager wtf and what it basically said was, in the pursuit of personal happiness, you have to be selfish. Sometimes. You can mourn every waking second about the millions of kids dying yearly from famine and AIDS and whatnot, and what you accomplished by mourning without lifting a finger to help amounts to zilch.

This is turning into a regular COME DO CHARITY LOL article but since returning from Cambodia, for once in my life I truly understood what the oft-heard phrase ‘you should be thankful you’re luckier than most of other people’ means. And no I have not been paid by the non-profit Christian organisation mentioned above to write this.

And no I still am not a Christian.

And I digress again wtf.

My point is that having returned from both Cambodia and Vietnam infused me with ideologies (not communism wtf) of general kindred that people should have towards one another. I, being the typical hangat-hangat tahi ayam kinda guy was so pumped up with charitable ideas I was even considering volunteering my time and energy in several organisations. Laziness and said trait in previous sentence effective killed the idea prematurely.

A letter my child wrote to me in Thai wtf. There’s an English translation attached at the back.

Santiparp Rawangngarn aka Don, as he wrote in his letter. Cute little rascal.

It takes only RM50 a month to make a difference in someone’s life and future. I think this is one of the only few ways I can think of to give back to the world of what I reap.