The public is directly questioning the reliability of the Thai government after the story of a 4-year-old girl who has to take care of her one-eye blind grandmother went viral. The most important question is whether the child and grandmother will receive the care they deserve if the story did not hit the spotlight.
Suthemmon Jindasri, Toei, 4, is a second-year kindergarten student from Ban Makham Thantawan School, Ta Sao Sub-district, Huai Rat District, Burirum Province. She lives with her 68-year-old grandmother, Sao Jundasri, together in a dilapidated house.
Her grandmother walked her to school with a cane on a parent meeting day on Friday, June 9. With tears in her eyes, she approached her class teacher, Aum, and asked her to pay for the grandchild’s accident insurance of 180 baht at the school. She will return it when she receives the pension.
Teacher Aum then decided to pay her a visit to Toei’s house. Seeing the girl’s living conditions, Aum recorded a video of the girl washing dishes and posted it on her TikTok account, briefly describing the girl’s living conditions. The post went viral and the girl initially received a donation of 20,000 baht.
After Toei’s story broke in the media, authorities such as the sheriff, health officers, local leaders and social workers paid a visit to the granddaughter and grandmother and brought them the necessary supplies. They also brought Grandma Sao for a check-up of her glaucoma and set a budget to repair her house. In addition, several individuals and private companies donated money for Toei’s education.
Toei and her grandmother told the media that they are very grateful for the help and would like to thank everyone. Although many people on social media are happy that the couple now has better living conditions, many asked the authorities and community leaders why they did not notice the couple’s plight and helped them before the story went viral. It is reported that local people were always aware of the couple’s living situation.
The story became even more convoluted when Toei’s father turned to Channel 3’s news program and claimed that he worked in Rayong province and regularly sent money to his mother and daughter. He stressed that he had never abandoned his daughter and had never hoped for a donation.
However, the grandmother insisted that she had raised Toei since she was 8 days old and received no support from her son. Aum, Toei’s class teacher, said she had never known Toei’s father and had never had any contact.
