" AI (spelled like ɑɪ), come let's play" I invited her to play Jenga with me after I finished my lunch. At first, I don't know her name but everyone at the hostel calls her AI. She is the daughter of one of the housekeepers at the hostel. In this place, most of the female housekeeper are from Myanmar and they are Burmese. From what I gathered, Ai's mother has been working at the place for seven years and Ai herself is a nine year old girl now.
Since I saw her almost everyday, one day I was curious about her education. " Is she not going to school?" I asked to the other older Burmese girl who is also a housekeeper in the place. " She went in Myanmmar but she can't go here in Thailand. Her mom didn't want it"
I was taken aback and filled with questions. But I toned down my curiosity because I know that Myanmmar isn't in a great condition politically and I am sure that it's a long complicated story for them. So, I do not want them to be offended nor feeling uncomfortable to share their story. But knowing that, I feel a pang of sadness as Ai should go to school instead of hanging around at the hostel and helping her mom once in a while.
Despite everything, Ai likes to interact with the guests. She didn't really speak much English other than Yes, No, and some " Oh my gosh" and " what is your name?". It took me a while to get to know her and by now, she is comfortable playing Jenga and I was teaching her how to play chess.
When we're playing, we speak mix in Thai and English but nothing further than yes, no, or can not. In Thai, all these are
Chai= yes
Mai= No
mai dai = can't
Then, when I showed her google translate, after weeks, I finally knew her name! It's Ai but Nong Ai.
When we played Jenga, I told her about some easy words like mosquitoes, colors, and things that are available at the hostel. With much curiosity and determination, she repeated what I said and was asking me, " what is this?", " what about that?" by showing me the things and I told her in English and she repeated it.
Some of the guests at the hostel were smiling and heartily laughed when AI speaks the English word out loud.
" She'll be an expert within days" The Spanish guy across the table chimed in and we laughed.
Then when the moon was out, I pointed up and told her, " That is the moon"
" moon moon" AI repeated what I said with much enthusiasm.
I told Ai to wait and I fetched my camera. When I got back to the common room, I showed her the moon picture.
" wow, moon" she said and smiled.
Then, I handed her my camera and was teaching her how to use it. She was taking my pictures and was happy with the result. She was indeed a quick learner. Then I taught her how to adjust the zooming and while she was amazed, she also tried it herself. We stopped taking pictures because I was running out of battery and eventually it was time for AI to prepare for bed and her mom was waiting for her.
We bid good bye and I told her Thank you while she also said, ขอบคุณมาก which in romanized would be khopkun Mak (K̄hxbkhuṇ māk).
It was such a nice interaction that despite things haven't been going well in my life, it was the moment and experience that brought joys to me and it is filling my heart. I still hope that AI could go to school in Thailand and I am sure that with proper education and chances, she's such a bright girl and has a life ahead of her. I definitely wish for a brighter future for her.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
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I nearly was going to dv another post that uses AI!!!!!
So Nong Ai basically grew up in Thailand, pity about the schooling condition, let's hope if she at least mingles with more travellers, her foreign language skills will be very good, probably end up multi lingual as well!!
hahahaha I honestly thought about that after posting it. AI(I)sounds like AI that we know today 😅. I am sure she'd grow up speaking more than two languages. At least now, she knows Thai and Burmese. It won't take her long to speak English if she learns daily. But yeah, it's just unfortunate that she doesn't go to school especially at her age where I think it's important to receive either formal or informal education.
Same, I met a lot of Burmese young girls working in hostels when I was in the south of Thailand. I actually met a girl in Myanmar and she told me how lucky Filipinos are when they work abroad. Because Filipinos got help from our own government. But if there's a problem with Burmese workers in a different country, no help at all.
Considering the way their government is operating right now, I am sure that it's a challenge to them to work abroad as well. There are also many refugees from Myanmar spreading across Asia, it's an unfortunate situation for sure. I am sure there are also many Nong AI's which deserves education but can't due to their circumstances.
Very sad, hoping your friend Nong AI can get an education in Thailand.
Awww AI sounds like a very sweet girl, i wish she can go to school.
By the way is "Jenga" the name of the game in general or that is what you guys call it in your country? because i am a huge fan of it😊
Jenga is the name in general and I didn't know the origin of it until you asked. Apparently it's derived from Swahili, Kujenga which means to build morea about it here. Do you have that board game over there?
I think you can be Ai's savior by convincing her mother to enroll her in school or get any formal education. As someone who likes being with kids most of the time, I think AI is such a sweet young girl.
Though it may sounds easy and would solve the problem, I am sure it's not like that here since I don't know their immigration status which I don't think I would really ask since it's too personal and might offend them. However, from what I read migrant children can attend public schools but again, there are many factors that I don't know about. So yeah, I just hope that one day she'll go to school. Maybe one day when I come back here, I'll see her becoming a student and that would be even more awesome thing to witness.
I totally understand and I can even relate to this. Also the girl being a migrant also makes her case a complex one. Like you just said, it'll be awesome seeing her being in school. Let's hope the parents draw their attention to her education as earlier as possible
Some things seems so unreal, happens only in movies until it’s happening right before your eyes.
I hope you see Ai again
I hope when I see her again she'll be a student 😊
I hope so too
I’m glad that you had this nice interaction with the girl! It sounds like she can be quite the kid if she’s given the chance to get some education. That’s the fascinating thing about kids, they are incredibly smart! I’ve seen it in my own, where he will learn something he likes at such an incredible pace but if he doesn’t care for it, he drags his feet. It’s certainly me as a kid, because I think I was the same way lol.