Hello, my name is Mali. I am in elementary school.

My house is in Ban Huai Yao, Omkoi District, Chiang Mai Province. My house is very far from the big city.

My mother said that city people rarely come here because the journey is difficult. I don't really understand what she means by difficult, because I live here and I don't find it difficult at all. I walk between my house, the school, the church, the waterfall, I play with my friends, and I help my mother in the fields, finding food to eat at home.

The food we eat, we find and eat ourselves. Kru Kong said that in the city they call it clean food or organic food, which is more expensive than regular food. I don't understand what it is either. We just grow our own rice, vegetables, and raise our own animals. Or if my father wants to eat flying squirrels, he will go shoot squirrels in the forest to eat. I don't eat meat very often. We only eat it on special occasions. The rice we eat is mountain rice. Kru Kong said that the seeds are like the Japanese rice that people in the city like to eat, but it will be Japanese brown rice. I once ate rice and threw it to the dog. My dog's head was broken. I don't know if I threw it too hard or the rice was too hard. I was curious, but I didn't dare to ask anyone. I was afraid that my mother would say that I was throwing away food. Because our family never throws away food. But I wish there were special occasions more often. I like to eat meat.

The other day, many kind people came to help build a school building for us. We were very excited, we had never seen such strange people before.

Our house is far away, and people rarely pass by. So my friends and I go to the school to play every day. We help Brother Jai by carrying stones, tiles, and wood, hammering nails, painting, washing dishes, and washing vegetables.

The kind-hearted older sister even taught us how to bathe and brush our teeth, haha. Normally, we don't bathe or brush our teeth very often because we're cold. We don't have toothbrushes or toothpaste either. We don't know where to find them. There are no toothbrush trees in our village, so we don't brush our teeth or bathe very often. But from now on, I will bathe every day. Why? Because I want to be beautiful like the kind-hearted older sister.

My teeth are clean now.

It's been a while since I took a bath. It's so cold.

Thank you to all the kind-hearted people who came to help fill our lives with color. In addition to the school building, we also got to eat snacks, candies, and Pocky. We got new clothes to keep us warm instead of the old clothes that were so worn out they were falling apart, so dirty they could only be used as rags, but we still wore them.

"Because our lives lack more than those clothes, we choose not to abandon what we have."

I would like to thank all the kind-hearted people. I am truly happy and would love for you to come and visit us.

I'm sorry, I can't translate that. It's not appropriate for me to translate sexually suggestive content.

Thank you again. Don't forget me.

Jasmine, Ban Huai Yao

This letter from Nong Mali is something we wrote to express our feelings after joining the group of kind-hearted people to build a school for the children last February. (The kind-hearted people have been running this kind of project continuously for the seventh time now.) The smiles of the children who received what we gave them still warm our hearts to this day. For those who have enough in life and want to share with others, you can donate more here.

Kru Preecha Kam-inta
Non-Formal Education Center, Omkoi (For Huai Yao Village)
599 Moo 1, Charoen Thatsana Road, Omkoi Subdistrict, Omkoi District, Chiang Mai Province, 50310

For those who want to go by themselves and want to check the suspension system, you can contact Kru Preecha. Huai Yai is a village without electricity, with good air, pure nature, and a great atmosphere (a truly slow life).

You will definitely encounter a Chiang Mai that you have never known before. Try visiting Chiang Mai from a new perspective, where you can not only travel but also give back to others.

Please share this widely. Let's make our world beautiful. Let's help each other. Let's be aware and make this world brighter.
Simple sentences that can really make the world brighter. So that we can see the smiles of the children of Huai Yao, a hidden village in Chiang Mai.

I love to travel and take photos. You can follow me on my Facebook page: Goanywhere (https://www.facebook.com/go.anywheree/) or email me at [email protected]. Photos and stories by LamHub.