torrenova Posted September 20, 2012 Report Share Posted September 20, 2012 To be honest, out of the hundreds we employed, most girls with kids only thought of them sparingly, just as they sent money sparingly, whatever the public face perception they gave out. For some girls, they never mentioned it, over the fact that they had one or more, somewhere up in Nakhon Nowhere. Some invited their kids with various parents or more likely grandparents to visit Pattaya once in a while but they were the slim minority. Others truly shut out their kids and did abandon them, first temporarily when working in the bars and then somewhat more permanently, when they hooked a long timer or were given their overseas exit ticket. Go abroad, back to your country and if you dig beneath the surface, if you can, you will hear tales of kids being left behind, dumped and forgotten, as the BG got on with her new life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted September 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 Beat me to it, and I don't think he is the only one ! Actually, I wasn't drinking. I was trying to post using my iPad. Notice how the first line makes sense then its nonsense after that? Clumsy fingers on a glass keyboard. Whenever I get a garbled email from someone whom I know can speak and write English well, I check for the tell-tale "sent via iPad" or Blackberry or whatever. On a discussion board, I don't think its evident what sort of device was used to make the comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted September 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 To be honest, out of the hundreds we employed, most girls with kids only thought of them sparingly, just as they sent money sparingly, whatever the public face perception they gave out. For some girls, they never mentioned it, over the fact that they had one or more, somewhere up in Nakhon Nowhere. Some invited their kids with various parents or more likely grandparents to visit Pattaya once in a while but they were the slim minority. Others truly shut out their kids and did abandon them, first temporarily when working in the bars and then somewhat more permanently, when they hooked a long timer or were given their overseas exit ticket. Go abroad, back to your country and if you dig beneath the surface, if you can, you will hear tales of kids being left behind, dumped and forgotten, as the BG got on with her new life. Sad. I am no missionary, but when I hear or encounter this (stay here long enough and you will), it really makes you - well, at least me - very cynical about BGs and, frankly, much of Thai society. It's not only BGs that have this attitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passingthru69 Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 This is true, Not just bg abandoning their kids. At the family house, we have what I will loosely call a daughter in law. Adopted son hooked up with her and she got knocked up. He bails, she stays and has a son. Well the family takes him in and raises him. Mom still there, but she looks at him with disdain. sp? My wife and I have talked several times about trying to adopt him and bring him to the states with us. We send money for him to go to private school in LOS He's a bright kid and just loves it when we come for our time there. Met the father several times and he says that he can not raise him and wants us to give him a better life. Last we heard about him was he was in north los and my wife's half brother fired him from a job he got him, due to the fact he got hooked on "ice" and stole from his boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 I've seen the forms that children in Bangkok's schools take home to be signed. Where mine always said to the parent or guardian, the forms in Bangkok say something like "to the person responsible". A large number of children are being raised by a grandmother, since the father has scarpered and the mother is working in a factory somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 We are definitely paying a price in Oz for a generation of kids without fathers - I cant see how Thailand will be any different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 There was a hit Thai movie in the 1970s called "Khao Nawk Nah" (Rice Ouside the Field). It told the story of two daughters of a BG who were abandoned by their mother; both had GI fathers. The half-white girl was adopted by a wealthy family and had a happy life. The half-black one grew up in the orphanage and ended up in the bars. Lots of good songs in the flick, songs you heard in the bars for quite a while afterwards. The most memorable was "Gliat Khon Suay" (I hate beautiful people), song by the half-black gal. Be interesting to see that film, though didn't find much on Google about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 Be interesting to see that film, though didn't find much on Google about it. Yeah I also looked and didn't find much. Pre-YouTube Days? More important, it sounds as though this is not a recent phenomena in Thailand. My hunch is that, with a slight bit of probing, you may find cases where this has happened over generations (I wonder if any Thai sociologists have done studies?). I also suspect that more than a few BGs come from 'families' where this had happened over generations. It would explain the blasé attitude here about this. Even more curious, the kid (leuk-krueng [sp?]) who stayed New Jersey could grow up to be a bible thumping born-again or, with his NJ 'family values' background, seek out his step brother. As mentioned in the OP, the family NJ were born agains and the BG was, briefly after her return to Thailand, one too. This could form the basis of a movie similar to "Twins", which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, although if it's true to life, I don't see a happy ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 "Khao Nawk Na" was a big hit around 1975! I've looked for it in video shops and not seen it. It has seen apparently been made into a musical play. Download the Songs The only criticism I heard at the time was the film spent too much time on the rich sister living it up with her adopted family. More time should have spent on the poor half-Black one. The song Chiwit Khon Dam is about her. Too bad the songs don't include Thammai Mai Pai Yoo America. The BGs love that one. Who says Thai music wasn't good back then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted September 23, 2012 Report Share Posted September 23, 2012 "Khao Nawk Na" was a big hit around 1975! I've looked for it in video shops and not seen it. It has seen apparently been made into a musical play. http://www.mediafire.com/?qnkjtwyiizm Thanks for the link, am listening to the songs now. Will just have to try and imagine what the film was like lol Yeah I also looked and didn't find much. Pre-YouTube Days? Yes, I've seen a very few Thai films from the 60s, 70s and 80s that have been ok quality when transferred from film and digitised in the last few years. And I've seen others where the film seems to have already degraded and the transfer is of poor quality, Presumably things are not helped by Thailand's hot humid climate. Would hope that KHAO NAWK NA got transferred ok and a good copy is, or will be available soon. Guess there might be some interest in it (from Westerners at least!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.