KAMPHAENG PHET – A 10-year-old Thai-Bahraini girl who was abandoned and left to live with her impoverished grandmother has received a large sum of money from donations after her story went viral.
The girl, identified as “June” (Nichanan Ladnarao), was living with her 62-year-old grandmother, Thonglueng Khongmuang, in Kamphaeng Phet province. Her mother had gone to work in Bahrain and married a Bahraini man, but she became pregnant and was sent back to Thailand to give birth. After June was born, her mother left and never returned, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother.
The grandmother worked as a laborer and received additional governmental support of only 900 baht per month. They had to pay 800 baht per month for rent, and often had to go hungry. June would go to the temple to ask for food.
The grandmother said that she could only afford to send June to school until the 4th grade. June wanted to continue her education, but the grandmother did not know how she would be able to pay for it.
“I only planned to let my granddaughter finish fourth grade because I can’t afford to send her to school any longer. But she wants to finish sixth grade. I don’t know how I’m going to find the money. We barely have enough to eat. I just want to be able to send her to school. That’s all I ask,” said the grandmother
Following the media coverage of their story, numerous individuals expressed their willingness to provide assistance. By April 1, 2024, June’s grandmother’s bank account had received more than 3.5 million baht in donations.
June and her grandmother were overjoyed by the outpouring of support. They said that they would use the money for June’s education first. June said that she wants to become a doctor so that she can take care of her grandmother.
“I’m so happy today. I feel like a dog with an owner to take care of me. Before, I felt like a stray dog,” she said to her grandmother with a smile and a laugh.
According to a research study on school dropouts conducted by the Office of the Basic Education Commission using the Design Research in Education approach and published in July 2023, the top three reasons for children dropping out of school are: family necessity, change of residence and insufficient income.
The number of children dropping out of school was up to 100,000 in 2022, with the main cause being family poverty. Sompong Chitradub, an education researcher, said that while the Ministry of Education has a program to track children who have dropped out of school and help them return to school, it is difficult to keep them in school until they graduate without a support system. The most important factor is that the children have enough to eat.
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