Where Are They Now?
Transforming the lives of children
When we began our children’s homes 15 years ago our goal was to provide at risk-children an opportunity with a safe, loving environment where they could get an education.
It is not an easy task taking in 45 children from difficult backgrounds and creating a family. As you can imagine, there are a lot of bumps in the road. But we love what we do and are committed to our children and their futures. What we have seen over the past 16 years is a transformation in our children. Yes, they are getting an education, but we are now seeing so much more reward from all of our work! Our children are transforming into confident, happy, and well adjusted young adults. They are reaching for and achieving dreams this opportunity has provided for them. |
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Nipa
She comes from a remote mountain village accessible with a motorbike or 4wheel drive. Grew up with no electricity and when the one room schoolhouse closed, needed a safe place to attend school.
We found her through Suda, our first child, who came from the same village.
Suda needed regular medical care for a chronic illness and her family asked Warm Heart to take her. Within a couple of years, the village asked us to take Nipa, along with six other children; all from families too poor to have an alternative for school.
Nipa joined us in 3rd grade and quickly caught up in school. She was accepted at vocational high school in Chiang Mai and just started her first year at university level studies in hospitality management.
We found her through Suda, our first child, who came from the same village.
Suda needed regular medical care for a chronic illness and her family asked Warm Heart to take her. Within a couple of years, the village asked us to take Nipa, along with six other children; all from families too poor to have an alternative for school.
Nipa joined us in 3rd grade and quickly caught up in school. She was accepted at vocational high school in Chiang Mai and just started her first year at university level studies in hospitality management.
Jambo
Jambo came to Warm Heart from a village near the border with Myanmar, right in the traffic route of the drug trade.
The Thai military “red berets” had placed all the school aged children outside of the village except the last 8.
Through our cable serviceman, they learned about Warm Heart and asked us to take them. It was our second year of the Children’s Home and we had not raised the funds for more than 10 children.
This would make 18.
We buckled up and they settled in with the other children, representing 3 different ethnic groups. They all learned Thai to communicate and created a polyglot language that the adults could not understand.
Jambo did well in school and was accepted at vocational high school in Chiang Mai where he is studying electronics.
The Thai military “red berets” had placed all the school aged children outside of the village except the last 8.
Through our cable serviceman, they learned about Warm Heart and asked us to take them. It was our second year of the Children’s Home and we had not raised the funds for more than 10 children.
This would make 18.
We buckled up and they settled in with the other children, representing 3 different ethnic groups. They all learned Thai to communicate and created a polyglot language that the adults could not understand.
Jambo did well in school and was accepted at vocational high school in Chiang Mai where he is studying electronics.
Joy
Joy is from the first hilltribe village to consider placing children at Warm Heart. The mountain village was two hours by rough dirt road to the valley and school.
The village had no electricity and her family had one solar cell given out by the government to provide light in the evenings.
Her parents worked hard farming rice on steep hillside terraces. The family had enough to eat but not much left over. When her father died, her cousins stepped in to help her mother on the farm.
Her father had told us, when he was ill and dying, that he wanted his two girls to get through school and make a better life for themselves.
We have been able to support them, and they have studied hard to graduate from university. Joy graduated just as the hospitality industry was recovering from the pandemic. She found a position as a receptionist at an up-and-coming hotel chain.
She still takes time off to bring in the rice harvest, but now she can help support her mother.
The village had no electricity and her family had one solar cell given out by the government to provide light in the evenings.
Her parents worked hard farming rice on steep hillside terraces. The family had enough to eat but not much left over. When her father died, her cousins stepped in to help her mother on the farm.
Her father had told us, when he was ill and dying, that he wanted his two girls to get through school and make a better life for themselves.
We have been able to support them, and they have studied hard to graduate from university. Joy graduated just as the hospitality industry was recovering from the pandemic. She found a position as a receptionist at an up-and-coming hotel chain.
She still takes time off to bring in the rice harvest, but now she can help support her mother.
Nat
Nat came to Warm Heart when his parents got divorced and his father left home.
His mother, from a hilltribe farming family, with no legal rights of inheritance, needed a place for the children to be safe while she went off to work to support herself and the children.
Nat and his younger sister came to Warm Heart.
He has a great sense of humor and had everyone laughing whenever the children put on performances.
He nearly dropped out before finishing 9th grade, but a distant male relative came and talked him into finishing and continuing to vocational high school.
Nat thrived in a hospitality program and wanted to work on a cruise ship.
He took the preparatory courses and had started his internship, when the pandemic hit, and all the hotels and cruise ships shut down.
He’s been working on the Cambodian border and is saving to study English abroad.
His mother, from a hilltribe farming family, with no legal rights of inheritance, needed a place for the children to be safe while she went off to work to support herself and the children.
Nat and his younger sister came to Warm Heart.
He has a great sense of humor and had everyone laughing whenever the children put on performances.
He nearly dropped out before finishing 9th grade, but a distant male relative came and talked him into finishing and continuing to vocational high school.
Nat thrived in a hospitality program and wanted to work on a cruise ship.
He took the preparatory courses and had started his internship, when the pandemic hit, and all the hotels and cruise ships shut down.
He’s been working on the Cambodian border and is saving to study English abroad.
Little Aom
“Little Aom” was our second child. Aom had been abandoned by her mother soon after she was born and was bounced from relative to relative.
When she was 10, her aunt left her to move to Bangkok and her grandmother asked us to take Aom. It took several years until she felt safe and could see a future for herself.
She started high school but had some health issues and dropped out when she got pregnant. And then things started to change for the better. Her mother had moved back to Chiang Mai and settled down with a husband and had a son.
By the time Aom got pregnant, Aom had reconciled with her mother, and we all felt that she could provide a safe home for Aom.
We were still active in checking on her and Aom would call if she needed advice. Aom was 17 when she had baby “Jake”, the same age as her mother had had her.
This time, Aom could be the mother she never had, and her mother was delighted to be mother and grandmother. When Jake was a couple of years old, Aom married and now lives happily with her husband and two boys – Jake and her new son.
Grandma lives around the corner. Aom practices her English with the boys and joins in taking care of the farm and small businesses she has built with her husband and his family.
When she was 10, her aunt left her to move to Bangkok and her grandmother asked us to take Aom. It took several years until she felt safe and could see a future for herself.
She started high school but had some health issues and dropped out when she got pregnant. And then things started to change for the better. Her mother had moved back to Chiang Mai and settled down with a husband and had a son.
By the time Aom got pregnant, Aom had reconciled with her mother, and we all felt that she could provide a safe home for Aom.
We were still active in checking on her and Aom would call if she needed advice. Aom was 17 when she had baby “Jake”, the same age as her mother had had her.
This time, Aom could be the mother she never had, and her mother was delighted to be mother and grandmother. When Jake was a couple of years old, Aom married and now lives happily with her husband and two boys – Jake and her new son.
Grandma lives around the corner. Aom practices her English with the boys and joins in taking care of the farm and small businesses she has built with her husband and his family.
Akanit
Nit is starting her graduate studies in social work with a scholarship to an Erasmus University program in Europe.
Akanit came to Warm Heart from a mountain village where her parents planted corn with sticks. Her mother had not been allowed to go to university and she was determined that Nit would have a chance to go.
She enrolled Nit in any weekend enrichment camp she could find, Buddhist, Christian, government community development. In High School Nit studied hard and was accepted at Thammasat University in Bangkok.
After graduating with a degree in social work she worked with migrant workers at an NGO in Chiang Mai and Jesuit Refugee Services in Bangkok.
She continues to bridge both worlds, going home to participate in village ceremonies and being a role model for her little sister.
Akanit came to Warm Heart from a mountain village where her parents planted corn with sticks. Her mother had not been allowed to go to university and she was determined that Nit would have a chance to go.
She enrolled Nit in any weekend enrichment camp she could find, Buddhist, Christian, government community development. In High School Nit studied hard and was accepted at Thammasat University in Bangkok.
After graduating with a degree in social work she worked with migrant workers at an NGO in Chiang Mai and Jesuit Refugee Services in Bangkok.
She continues to bridge both worlds, going home to participate in village ceremonies and being a role model for her little sister.
Tanqua
Tanqua just finished nursing school and an additional certification in midwifery. She is working in Bangkok.
Tanqua’s parents could not afford to send her to school, but they found Warm Heart. Troubles at home gave Tanqua membership in the “family” of kids who lived at Warm Heart year around and when things are bad, you’d find her with us.
Her high school years were disrupted with family problems. She persevered, however, to complete her university exams and applications. Then she got caught in a government university admissions process that left thousands of students without acceptance at university.
But she persevered.
She found a couple of private nursing schools and got in. It was more expensive but a great education with excellent prospects.
Throughout this, she worried about her mother and younger sister. Her father was ill with cancer and died. Widows have no property rights and are normally expelled immediately.
Initially, her deceased husband’s village allowed her mother to stay and tend his fields, but soon pushed her out. She came to work as the chief gardener at Warm Heart for a while and then remarried. Her younger sister is thriving at Warm Hart and is now in high school.
Tanqua’s parents could not afford to send her to school, but they found Warm Heart. Troubles at home gave Tanqua membership in the “family” of kids who lived at Warm Heart year around and when things are bad, you’d find her with us.
Her high school years were disrupted with family problems. She persevered, however, to complete her university exams and applications. Then she got caught in a government university admissions process that left thousands of students without acceptance at university.
But she persevered.
She found a couple of private nursing schools and got in. It was more expensive but a great education with excellent prospects.
Throughout this, she worried about her mother and younger sister. Her father was ill with cancer and died. Widows have no property rights and are normally expelled immediately.
Initially, her deceased husband’s village allowed her mother to stay and tend his fields, but soon pushed her out. She came to work as the chief gardener at Warm Heart for a while and then remarried. Her younger sister is thriving at Warm Hart and is now in high school.