By Cheri Stutzman | Editor Debbie Stutzman EM Coordinator
Early every morning, DeeDee puts on her clean school uniform and goes to school, learning all the important things second graders learn.
One of her favorite things in school is coloring. In a wrinkled yellow folder, her mom stowed away all the pictures DeeDee drew, colorful pictures, the blues, pinks, greens and yellows filled in carefully with colored pencils.
DeeDee lives in Baan Jaru, a slum community on the outskirts of Kalasin, one of the poorest regions of Thailand. There, poverty puts on the stark face of rusty tin shacks lit up by dim lightbulbs, and trash thrown along the banks of a river.
Their house is wood and cement, with a tile floor that weaves bumpily up and down, made up of tiles in many different shapes and colors. They laid the floor themselves, trying to use what they could find to make something beautiful.
In the middle of the house, a cement platform rises three feet off the ground, covered in blankets and random articles of clothing. After three feet of muddy water flooded the floor of their house, DeeDee’s grandfather came up with the idea to build a cement platform that would keep them and all their important possessions dry in case of another flood. Like many in her community, DeeDee’s dad is a temp worker, finding work directing traffic at events happening throughout the city.
Across from their house, chickens cluck in a chicken coup made out of tin and a little bit of chicken wire. The eggs provide their family with food and also a little extra money when they can be sold.
For her and many of her friends, going to school isn’t something that’s guaranteed. Sometimes they can’t pay for the costs of books, uniforms, school supplies and even transportation. DeeDee’s family found themselves in this exact situation. Between her and her younger brother, money didn’t stretch far enough. Education Matters is able to help with gas money for transportation to and from school.
This will keep Donut in school so that she can continue to learn to read and write and add and subtract, and color her beautiful pictures, learning the skills she needs to get a good job when she grows up.
By Cheri Stutzman Edited by Debbie Stutzman | Education Matters Coordinator
By Debbie Stutzman | Education Matters Coordinator
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