Norm Writes
  • Home
  • Who in the World
  • Blog
  • Postcards
  • Why I write

The difficult and dangerous journey of school children around the world. 

7/24/2016

3725 Comments

 
​An easy ride to school every morning for our kids is something that we often take for granted, but many children in poor nations around the world don't have the same luxury. In fact, there are about 60 million kids around the globe that don't get to attend school at all every year, and many more drop out after only a few years.

The challenges are often economic, as families need their children working to feed everyone or can't afford books, tuition, and school clothes, etc., but sometimes, geography gets in the way, too. According to UNESCO, children living in a rural environment are twice as likely to be out of school than urban children, and when you add in jagged mountains, isolated valleys, raging rivers, and flooding in the monsoon season, it can be almost impossible for some kids to get to school.

ALMOST impossible. As they 25 examples in photos will demonstrate, some kids will do just about anything to get to school, risking their very lives just to get an education because they know it's their only chance at a better life.

We can all draw inspiration from their sacrifice and dedication, and the next time your kids complain about getting on the school bus, just show them this blog!

With love,
Norm  :-)

PS Contact me if you're interested in helping kids like these and others around the world get an education. 
Picture
​These kids have a perilous journey to the remote school in the world in Gulu, China, following a 1-foot wide path for five hours through the mountains just for the opportunity to learn.
Picture
Picture
​When the Ulnas River in Western India floods every monsoon season, some school kids need to walk a tightrope to get to the other bank of the river and on  to school while other ingenious scholars get creative with their transportation!
Picture
Picture
​There are no school buses in this rural province in Myanmar, so this resourceful girl hitches a ride on a bull to get to her classroom every morning!
Picture
​In Nepal, the mountainous landscape makes travel difficult, or sometimes impossible. But undeterred, these school kids ride a sitting zip line over a river to school every day.
Picture
This Palestinian girl lives in a refugee camp in Shuafat, near Jerusalem, and when Israeli forces clash with Palestinians in the streets, she has to walk right through them to get to school.
Picture
In Lebak, Indonesia, school children can either walk four hours out of their way or take their chances crossing the river on an old suspension bridge that’s literally falling apart.
Picture
Picture
A chance to go to school is worth a wild ride outside Bogota, Columbia, as these youngsters have to cross the raging Rio Negro River on a half-mile steel cable high above the waters. Attached by a pulley, she travels at up to 50 mph for a minute and can only slow down using this tree branch as a brake! Even crazier, she’s actually carrying her younger brother in the sack!
Picture
In the rainy season in Rizal Province, Philippines, youngsters in search of knowledge take a ride across the river on inflated inner tubes every day. 
Picture
These kids have to traverse these treacherous mountains for 125 miles to get to their boarding school Pili, China every term. With the help of the headmaster, the journey takes two days and includes wading through four freezing rivers, crossing a 650 ft chain bridge and four single-plank bridges. 
Picture
It takes a lot of focus to keep their bicycle from falling off this foot-wide plank bridge in Java, Indonesia, but it’s a shortcut that saves at least 4 miles on the way to school every day.
Picture
Picture
With the help of their teacher, these schoolgirls get across the wall of the 16th century Galle Fort in Sri Lanka on a flimsy wooden plank.
Picture
To get from their remote island to the nearest school on the mainland in Pangururan, Indonesia, these children pile onto the roof of this boat every morning and afternoon.
Picture
Likewise, these kids in beautiful and lush Kerala, India ride to school in a wooden boat every day.
Picture
When the bridge over the Ciherang River in Indonesia went out during flooding a few years ago, the village children had no way to get across and attend school…until they started floating to the other shore daily on makeshift bamboo rafts. 
Picture
But these elementary school students in Vietnam don’t even have a raft to cross the river to their schoolroom, so twice a day they take off their school clothes, putting them in a bag to try and keep them dry, and swim across the deep rapids.
Picture
The region around the village of Mawsynram in India is one of the wettest places on earth, with an average of 467 inches of rain each year. Due to the high precipitation and humidity, wood bridges will rot quickly, but the locals have trained the roots of these rubber trees to join and grow over the river, forming a natural and safe living bridge for the kids to cross to school every day. 
Picture
These pupils have a beautiful but difficult canoe ride every morning through the mangrove swamps o to their school in Riau, Indonesia. 
Picture
It takes the 20 intrepid pupils of Batu Busuk Village in Sumatra, Indonesia hours hours to walk the seven mile route to school, culminating with a dodgy tightrope traverse 30 feet over the river.
Picture
These kids from Zhang Jiawan Village in Southern China have to climb hundreds of feet up a sheer cliff on these dangerous unsecured ladders to get to their classroom.
Picture
Picture
Crossing this dilapidated and icy bridge in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, China, this mother and daughter risk their lives for her education.
Picture
A ride to school is a precious thing since it helps avoid a long, hot walk, so these well-dressed scholars pack onto a horse cart in Delhi, India. 
Picture
During the monsoon season in many Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, the rains flood the countryside and city alike, often cancelling classes if kids can’t find a way to wade, swim, float, or boat to their school.
Picture
Picture
Floods won’t even stop the children from bicycling to school, though it’s dangerous because they have no idea where the road is beneath the waters.
Picture
Picture
At that point, getting the young ones safely to school could be a whole family affair. They'll do anything to give their children a better life!
Picture
3725 Comments

My charity BUGraiser in Cambodia (Yes, I really ate all of these crazy insects!)

4/4/2016

0 Comments

 

You've seen a lot of fundraisers before, but have you ever experienced a BUGraiser?

Picture
Watch me eat these beetles, crickets, roaches, frogs, larvae, and a bunch of unidentifiable critters from a street stall in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - all for a good cause to raise money for several amazing charities! 

If you got a kick out of this video PLEASE consider donating $100, $25, or even $10 to the charities I introduce below, Connecting Hands, Willow Tree Roots, and the Children's Improvement Organization. These are all charities I personally help out and see first hand the work they do to better a lot of lives.

Thanks - and get ready to be grossed out!


-Norm  :-)


To donate, just click on the PayPal link below and tell me which charity you'd like to help.
​It's quick, easy, safe, and I'll make sure the money gets to the appropriate charity and you get a receipt.
​
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Cabbages & condoms? A perfect pairing for a great cause at this Thailand restaurant

3/15/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
​If you’ve spent enough time in Thailand, very little will shock you, and yet I had to do a double take when I saw the sign across the street from my hotel in the Hu-Gwang Bay area right outside of Pattaya: “Cabbages and Condoms.”
 
I was not mistaken; nor was I hallucinating – that was really the name of the restaurant (that adorned the Birds and Bees Resort, appropriately.)
 
Amid all the idyllic white-sand beaches, tropical islands, Buddhist Pagodas shrouded in incense smoke, spicy street dishes, local Thais warm smiles and plenty of Muay Thai camps where they are trained to knock out someone’s warm smile (I was there for something like the latter – a karate training camp) lies the bacchanalian madness of Pattaya. 

Picture
​In fact, Pattaya is like the Las Vegas of Thailand; and consider that Thailand is like the Las Vegas of the world; that actually makes Las Vegas the Pattaya Super Light of the United States.
 
But if you scrape beneath the cliché tourist facade you’ll actually discover fragments of a fascinating and meaningful culture, and that was the case when our karate Shihan (instructor/master) and longtime Thailand resident, Judd Reid, brought us to Cabbages and Condoms for our celebratory last meal of the training camp.
 
It definitely defied easy definitions when we first walked in. A path led us into the jungle like explorers of yesteryear wielding machetes to cut back the bush on their way to an epic discovery. As we meandered deeper into the grounds (which is also a resort with great villas and a beautiful infinity pool) we passed tropical gardens, flower beds, bamboo foot bridges about streams with tropical fish, and saw chickens and even rabbits running free on well-manicured lawns.

Picture
Picture
Picture
​As we walked along the footpath under rustic bamboo hanging lanterns, I stopped short more than a tuk-tuk in Bangkok traffic, intent on snapping a photo of almost every sign along the way. Some of them listed self-help mantras, anti-government rhetoric, famous poems, quotes by notable human rights activists, and even prompted us to make philosophical and political choices depending on which way we walked.
 
Once we reached the restaurant there were even mannequins dressed in garments pieced together with hundred of condoms (sans wrapper) – a bizarre fashion show with prophylactics the wardrobe.
 
I barely had time to process it all as we arrived at the restaurant and ended up at a series on outdoor decks that staggered down the hill and jutted over the ocean, with a view of locals joyfully playing in the waves on the sliver of private beach below. 

Picture
Picture
​The only thing better than the view as the flaming sunset slipped behind the horizon was the food - which far surpassed expectations.

What on earth is this place, I thought – both one of the most beautiful and paradoxical settings I’d ever witnessed.

Picture
In fact, Cabbages & Condoms is not just one restaurant but a chain, with establishments in Chang Rai, Khao Yai, Krabi, Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand, as well as two locations in the UK.  (Note: Although the Bangkok restaurant is the original, I had friends eat ether and said the food was subpar.)

​It was originally the brainchild of one man named Mechai Viravaidya, a half-Thai, half-Scottish national who grew up and was educated in Scotland and Australia with a focus on family planning and social advocacy. In 1965, Viravaidya returned to Thailand, where he began working to curb the substandard medical care for women, ignorance as to proper family planning strategies, and traditional norms that were prevalent in the country.

Picture
At that time, condoms were still very much taboo and not at all popular (and expensive), and so locals rarely used them. Socially transmitted diseases - and later HIV and AIDS - spread unchecked throughout the population, and family planning and modern women’s health was almost nonexistent among the poor, uneducated, and those living in remote rural communities.

​Noting that you could buy cabbages in any market, shop or restaurant, Viravaidya declared that getting condoms should at least be that easy.
 
“You can go to any shop around Thailand and you will always find cabbages,” he explained years later. “Condoms should be like cabbages which are ubiquitous and accessible to everyone.”
 
Hence, the origin for the name of his restaurant, Cabbages & Condoms, was born.

But this restaurant wasn’t just a novelty. Cabbages and Condoms was actually the keystone initiative of a non-profit service organization called the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), which aimed to better the lives of the country’s poor. Viravaidya left his civil service job in 1973 to found the organization (called the ‘PDA’) and enlisted some creative measures to popularize condoms and remove their stigma, including condom blowing contests for school kids and gave condoms to taxi drivers to disseminate (pun intended!) to their customers.


All of the profits from the newly formed restaurant, Cabbages & Condoms, went to support PDA programs focusing on primary health, birth control, education, HIV/AIDS, environment, poverty eradication and water resource development, eventually becoming one of the biggest NGOs (charities) in Thailand with more than 600 employees and 12,000 volunteers.
 

Viravaidya gained admiration and respect for his efforts and went on to serve as the deputy minister of industry, minister of tourism, information, and AIDS, and even on the Thai senate in 2004.
Picture
​His legacy is still gold-plated in the Kingdom of Siam, where condoms are still sometimes referred to as “mechais,” a tribute to the first name of “Mr. Condom.” More importantly, even as HIV and AIDs spread rampantly in many developing countries around the world in the 1980s and 90s, reaching epidemic proportions in many African and other Southeast Asian countries, Thailand reacted quickly thanks to the tireless work and social progress Viravaidya. Not only were HIV and AIDS levels normalized, but the average number of children in Thai families decreased from 3.7 to 1.5 during his tenure – a testament to education, family planning, and the societal acceptance of condoms.
 
In 2007, Mechai Viravaidya was honored with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Gates Award – including a $1,000,000 check - in recognition of his life’s work of family planning, HIV and AIDS awareness, women’s health, and advocacy for the poor.
 
That explained why there were photos of Viravaidya posing alongside Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Warren Buffet, and other philanthropists, celebrities, and heads of states adorning the restaurant walls; not at all what you’d expect from a restaurant with the slogan, “Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy.”

 


1 Comment

15 Things you didn't know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and MLK Day

1/14/2016

5 Comments

 
Picture
​1.         We know the iconic man as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but that was not his given birth name. In fact, MLK Jr. was Michael on his birth certificate, named after his father (hence the Jr.). But after a trip to Germany in 1931, Michael Sr. decided to change his name to Martin Luther to pay reverence to the historic German theologian of the same name. His son, Michael Jr., was only two years old at the time, so the elder King decided to change his son’s name, too. Thus, Michael King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr., as we know him.
 
2.         It was a tragic day for America and the human race when Dr. King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, but he wasn’t the only one who died at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis that day. In fact, Lorraine Bailey, a hotel worker and wife of the owner, passed away from a heart attack after hearing of King’s shooting. Lorraine was working the hotel phone switchboard at the time and suffered an incapacitating heart attack after seeing King shot, later dying from the coronary. Since there was no one else working the switchboard, that caused a long delay in calling an ambulance and getting King medical treatment, though it’s unclear if that would have helped him survive the shooting.
 
3.         The fateful day in 1968 wasn’t King’s only brush with an assassination. A decade earlier on September 20, 1958, MLK was signing copies of his new book, Stride Toward Freedom, at a department store in Harlem when a female patron named Izola Ware Curr approached him and asked if he was indeed Martin Luther King Jr. King answered yes, at which she replied, “I’ve been looking for you for five years.”  She then took out a seven-inch letter opener blade and plunged it into his chest. MLK was rushed to the hospital but the doctors couldn’t operate for three hours, as the tip of the blade was pressed against his aortic valve. When the blade was finally removed safely, the doctor told King that if he had even sneezed during those three hours, he could have ruptured the aorta and died instantly.
 
While recovering in the hospital, King reaffirmed his philosophies of non-violence and stated that he bore no ill will or anger towards the mentally ill Curr.
 
4.         A young King was not only a born leader, but prolifically intelligent. In fact, King bypassed the 9th and 11th grades altogether, entering Moorehouse College at the tender age of 15 in 1944. He graduated with distinction by 19 with a degree in sociology, the first of many degrees and accomplishments in higher learning.
 
King attended graduate school at Boston University and earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology. He also attended divinity school and got a doctorate from Pennsylvania’s Crozer Theological Seminary at the age of 25.
 
5.         Over his lifetime, Dr. King Jr. was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and a Medal of Freedom. But few know that he also won a Grammy Award in 1971 – out of context for a civil rights activist – for Best Spoken Word Album for “Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam”.
 
6.         King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of 35, the youngest person to ever win the prominent award at the time. When the brave and inspirational Malala Yousafzai won the Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, she became the youngest ever, a torch MLK would have been honored to pass down to her.
 
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize came with a sizable $54,123 payout (about $400,000 today). But instead of pocketing the money, King donated every penny to the Civil Rights Movement. During his acceptance speech, King During his acceptance speech, said, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”
 
7.         Martin Luther King Jr. Day is now a national holiday observed on the third Monday in January. This year, it will fall on Monday, January 18, though his actual birthday was January 15, 1929.
 
8.         Only two other people in American history have a national holiday commemorating their birthday, George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Therefore, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the only native born American to have a national holiday honoring his birthday.
 
9.         Congressman John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, introduced legislation for a holiday commemorating the deceased Dr. King only four days after his assassination. But getting Dr. King’s birthday approved as a national holiday was not an easy road by any means. The bill was repeatedly stalled, and Coretta Scott King, Stevie Wonder, Rep. Shirley Chisholm  (D-NY), President Jimmy Carter and other prominent politicians and Americans had to fight for it over the years, finally presenting 6,000,000 signatures to congress in 1982.

10.       Finally, in 1983, Congress passed the bill and President Ronald Reagan officially signed legislation creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday, despite opposition from Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), who attempted to block it.
 
11.       But some states still resisted observing the holiday. As of January 16, 1989, only 44 states observed Dr. King’s birthday as a holiday. In 1992, Arizona finally approved the holiday only after a tourist boycott. In 1999, New Hampshire changed their Civil Rights Day to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and finally, Utah acquiesced in 2000, the last of all 50 states to observe.
 
12.       There are now more than 700 streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. all over the country, as well as plenty of schools, libraries, and other civic buildings.
 
13.       Over his career as a civil rights champion, Dr. King was arrested 29 times on record. He was often arrested and incarcerated on trumped up charges during his campaign of civil disobedience, a tactic used by local law enforcement and segregationists to try and scare Dr. King and dissuade the movement (it didn’t work.)
 
14.       Few people realize that on the fateful day Dr. King was shot on that motel balcony in Memphis, he was actually standing out there to smoke a cigarette. In fact, MLK was a regular smoker, though he always hid his habit and never appeared in a photo with a cigarette because he didn't want to set a bad example for his kids or to advocate or popularize smoking in any way. Before Dr. King was loaded into the ambulance after being shot that day, one his associates, Reverend Kyles, tossed away the fallen civil rights leader’s cigarette butts and removed the pack of smokes from his shirt pocket.
 
15.       King’s impact on the black community went far beyond the Civil Rights movement that caught the national attention. When Nichelle Nichols, a young black actress on a new sci-fi television program, wanted to quit after the first season amid harassment and threats, Dr. King, a fan of the show, encouraged and persuaded her to stick it out. She did, and became a pioneer in the industry, the first black television character portrayed as intelligent and capable, respected as an equal with her white actors and peers. (Up until then, black actors usually played maids, servants, or other diminished and stereotypical roles.)
 
The show went on to be a smash hit and Nichols’ character portrayal served as a positive role model for many black kids who went on to achieve great success, such as actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg and astronaut Ronald McNair, the second black person in space. Nichols even had the first interracial kiss ever shown on national television in America.
 
By the way, her character was named “Uhura” and the show, Star Trek.

-Norm   :-)

***
5 Comments

The faces of child poverty in Asia.

6/6/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
As I travel around the world, I see so much poverty that it can become routine, a kaleidoscope of suffering always spinning in the background. But when I stop for a second and talk to these children, the beggars and hustlers and vendors on the streets who approach you for change or try and sell you a bracelet or bubblegum, I see their big, eager smiles, the glint of hope that hasn’t been burned out of their eyes quite yet. And when I chat with them you realize they’re just as funny, imaginative, and bursting with energy as our children here in the United States.

So I’ve compiled a few photos of poor street children from my recent stint living in Cambodia and the Philippines, two of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. This is just a very small sample of the children I’ve encountered and happened to shoot photos of. Every time I do so I ask permission, and/or give some money or food to them. Most of the time they’re thrilled, and want to look at their own photo in my phone or camera. I focus on helping children because they haven’t done anything to warrant their circumstances - they're not guilty of making bad choices. Instead, they’re born into the curse of poverty, and can’t fight for themselves. 

Picture
There are far too many children in the world who eat like this - rooting through the trash to try and discover a few edible scraps that aren't too rotten, fighting off the rats and insects and sometimes, other people, for their supper. 

In fact, more than 1 billion children are living in poverty, according to UNICEF. 1 in 5 children around the world don’t even have clean drinking water, and around 1 in 4, enough food to eat. An alarming number of children don’t get the proper immunizations and die of easily preventable diseases like malaria, measles, and diarrhea – the three biggest killers of children that end about 500,000 young lives each year.

The statistics go on and on, but if we only quantify child poverty by numbers and statistics, our perceptions tend to slip from compassion to calculation, and we start defining them as problems, not people. So let’s focus on a different statistic: one. The number one is the only way to define each of these children. Each as their own person, their own mind and spirit, just like you or me.

Picture
90% of the children affected by food insecurity end up suffering the effects of malnourishment, on both their bodies and minds. So some of these kids look like they’re 8 years old and then I’m shocked to hear they are 13, or something similar. They are lucky if they get one meal a day, usually a ball of rice or some mango or enough scraps to fill themselves up with 1,000 calories or so, and a sit down dinner with utensils and plates might be a very rare and special event.

I try not to give out out money to street kids. Too often, they’re sent out by gangs or even their own parents. The kids are forced to walk the streets to sell things or beg all day and night, only to turn over the money. Handing over money to kids who are sent out by adults only perpetuates the cycle.

So I ask if they are hungry and offer to buy them some food. Usually they agree happily, and point out the closest food vendor on the street or corner store. But I even have to be careful buying food, as the kids will try to run game on me. Inside the store, they ask if they can buy these big cans of condensed milk formula. At first I thought they wanted it because it was so nourishing, but I found out that bring the cans of milk back to the store later on for a refund, walking away with the cash after all.

Picture
Picture
Picture
When I go in a corner store or mart with these kids, I make sure they buy food that they’re actually going to eat. I usually tell them they can get one thing only, because if you buy more than one thing for one, all the rest want the same . The most popular choice is a big bowl of instant noodles, followed by ice cream. Kids all over the world love ice cream, no matter where they are. They always try to sneak a can of Coca Cola or Red Bull up onto the counter for me to pay, but I make them buy a big bottle watered or milk to drink, instead. 

Picture
Picture
It goes without saying that these kids are homeless, sleeping in public parks, bus stop benches, or right on the concrete of the sidewalk. They have no blankets or pillows, only a piece of cardboard, a sweatshirt, or the curb to rest their head. They wash in the sprinklers at the park, in an unused hose at a store, or in putrid water from an irrigation line. They own one pair of clothes and bathe and make their toilet right on the street; there is no modesty in poverty. 

Picture
The little things that you and I take for granted are unimaginable luxuries to these kids. These little street girls in in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia, were amazed to see their own reflection in a car mirror, and giggled embarrassingly at their own vanity when I snapped a photo of them.

In poor countries, there are no government programs to help; no social security, food stamps, welfare, free medical care, or anything else for the poor. So these kids don't get the simple vaccines and immunizations that our kids enjoy. They are rife with worms and malaria and infections.
 
They hope for the charity of NGOs, orphanages, schools, or community centers that receive foreign aid or are set up by great, caring individuals. But corruption is also rampant among international NGOs, and even the good ones can only help a few.


Picture
Picture
They live in the trash, some in communities that are built right on the city’s garbage dumps. There they walk barefoot, climbing piles of garbage and human waste, picking out metal or glass or things they can recycle for a few coins – or food to eat. Every year, tens of thousands of children around the world die in these dumps.

Picture
Drug abuse is rampant. Too poor to buy proper drugs or alcohol, these kids starting sniffing glue, gasoline, paint thinner or other cheap toxic substances. It gives them a quick high and suppresses the hungry ache in their bellies, and is probably the only thing that gives them a break from the suffering in their lives. I see kids huffing rags or out of Baggies all the time, sometimes with their mothers doing it right next to them. Often times the kids are working the bar streets where tourists party, so they’ll drink the alcohol left in discarded beer cans. Eventually they graduate to Yabba, or ice, a cheap and deadly combination or meth, speed, and other horrible shit.

Picture
They’re also starving for affection from parental figures, as most of them are raising themselves or their parents are off working all day and night. 

This little gangsta of love on the right is a homeless toddler who followed me about 4 blocks on my way walking to the riverfront to exercise, pestering me to pick him up and carried him the whole way. I thought we were looking for his mom but he brought me to the soda vendor because he wanted a drink. He then hung around through my workout and terrorized me afterward, whacking me on the head with a water bottle until I lifted him onto the jungle gyms repeatedly. I don't think you adopt kids in southeast Asia - they adopt you! 

Picture
Too often, I see 6-year old children carrying around and raising their baby and toddler brothers and sisters, still expected to beg for money in traffic on the hot, polluted, and dangerous streets. 

If you happen to be up at 3am in any of southeast Asia's cities, you'll probably see more little street kids out hustling and working than you would at 3 in the afternoon.
Picture
There is no shortage of schwag with these kids, as they try to emulate popular culture, or even their favorite hip hop fashions. These girls in the Philippines were doing their own impersonation of Tupac, complete with tongue rings (I scolded them and told them to take them out but of course they won’t) though they just looked like little kids again when I bought them ice creams.

They give each other nicknames like my little homie, Michael Jackson, in the Philippines and talk about “their style” when they see foreigner’s clothes and haircuts and glimpse the occasional YouTube video on someone else’s phone.



Picture
Picture
They wear whatever they can salvage from the trash or what they find discarded, often with hilarious, comical, or in the case of the little girl to the left, beautiful results. 

Little kids often don't have any clothes at all and just run around naked and dirty, and most kids go barefoot unless they're lucky enough to find a pair of old flip flops.
Picture
They’re amazing salespeople, striking up a conversation, pitching their product, handling objections, closing, and gaining commitment with the acumen of a 50-year old used car salesman. Whether they’re selling little hand woven bracelets or chewing gum, they’re real goal is to get a customer to buy something but also tip them generously, so they know how to look cute and make you laugh. I really think Fortune 500 companies from the U.S. should send their salespeople over to the streets of southeast Asia to observe how these kids do it.

Picture
One consistent thing is their humor. Just because they are poor, these kids are no shrinking violets. Quite the opposite, they are bursting with personality and spirit. More often than not, they have me laughing like crazy at their wild antics and hilarity. They love it when you joke around with them, just like any youngsters.
Picture
Picture
These street kids are vulnerable to some really bad shit: violent gangs, sexual exploitation by adults who force or sell them in prostitution from young ages. So most of the time, the kids don’t walk around and beg or dig in the trash  by themselves, but work the streets with other kids in little hungry packs. So when they one kid finds food or gets a donation from a tourist, they all can eat. There’s also safety in packs and frankly, being among other kids is more fun for them than being alone all day and night. 

Picture
Picture
Picture
They are smart, yet they don’t go to school. Most of them haven’t spent even one day inside a classroom, but their school is the streets, and they are apt pupils. Quick witted, razor fast and perceptive, I encounter little kids all the time who speak three or four languages conversationally, just so they can try to engage foreign tourists and fill their bellies. In developing countries, even public schools aren’t free. You have to buy a uniform, schoolbooks, transportation, food at school, and bribe the teacher, who is paid miserable wages, to show up. It’s actually quite a costly affair, a luxury just for the rich and small middle class, so poor children are raised working the family job right alongside with adults – or in the streets.
Picture
Poor little girls, especially, are kept out of school and put to work, picking mangos in the field, farming rice in the hot sun, or helping out with domestic tasks. Whether out of necessity to help feed their families or out of greed by an exploitative adult, these kids are sent out in the most dangerous and unhealthy of conditions: to sell flowers in busy traffic, shoeless on the hot pavement, to pickpocket drunk foreigners, chew up razor blades and juggle fire for the tourists, and walk the streets late at night going through the trash for empty beer cans. 

They even engage in scams, distracting a bar patron so another kid could steal his iPhone off the table, or sending a fall guy to get caught trying to steal a drunk tourist’s watch so others can rifle through his pocket.

Picture
Picture
Indigenous people get the raw deal, no matter where you go in the world. Whether these Ati children in the Philippines, Aborigines in Australia, or Native Americans in our own U.S.A., the most ancient cultures in the world are abused and thrown away like garbage. In southeast Asia, like many parts of the world, there is also extreme prejudice based on skin color. Darker skinned people are considered lower class because they have more indigenous blood and might be dark from the sun from doing manual labor outdoors. A beautiful woman is called ugly and teased because no man will ever want to marry her just because she has brown skin. Asia’s terrible obsession with skin tone is big business, as you can barely find a skin crème, after shave, or lotion that advertises skin-whitening benefits.

Picture
Once you treat them like any other kid – having fun and joking around but also laying down clear boundaries - I’ve found them to be incredibly polite, appreciative, and respectful. They want to eat, but they want to be your friend, too. Once I help them, they see me coming way down the street and run to say hi as if I was Santa Claus, high living and recounting the details of our meeting with surprising accuracy. Of course they want me to buy them food again, and of course I don't say "no." But they also want someone to look at them like human beings, not dismiss them as gutter trash.  Just like any mischievous, fun-loving kid in the U.S., they think they’re little superstars, just waiting to be discovered.

I tend to agree with them.


-Norm   :-)


0 Comments

Visiting an orphanage in the Philippines with a donation of toys, food, and school supplies in hand.

5/13/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
I’m wrapping up my 6-month stay in southeast Asia in the Philippines, a familiar place with old friends since I’ve been coming here since 1999. With the help one of those local buddies, I set out to find an orphanage where I could be of assistance. Every country I visit, I try to do something to connect with the humble people in need, which is a great way to experience the real culture, say thank you for being my gracious host, and hopefully leave it a little better than I found it.

We found an orphanage in the Malabanias neighborhood, tucked in a local neighborhood in between colorful markets and surprisingly nice western apartments. Our trike drivers helped us carry the shopping bags and boxes into the orphanage.

They greeted us at the gate since they knew we were coming, having visited once before to scout it out and make sure they were a good and worthy organization. A couple of the older children led us back into the main courtyard, a roofed in open area with a basketball hoop and plastic tables where they ate meals, communed, and spent most of their time. On the way, I noticed that the floors were all wet, freshly scrubbed to honor our arrival.
Picture
Picture
The Duyan Ni Maria orphanage, or Children’s Home, is run by an order of nuns, the Sisters of Mary of the Eucharist. They take care of 49 children currently, all the way from a 2-year old baby to older kids of college age. They revealed that their focus is keeping these kids off the street and giving them access to a good education and job skills, as the only other alternatives waiting for them are homelessness, drugs, begging, prostitution, and too many unwanted teen pregnancies.
Picture
Picture
The children were busy playing at the small playground set up in the dirt, partially shaded from the brutal sun. I walked over and said hi to them, pushing them on the swing set and taking a few photos. A pair of twin girls with bowl haircuts posed for the camera, while another little girl tugged on my arm, showing me a photograph she carried of a little boy. Through a translator, because the kids spoke more Filipino than English, she explained that the boy in the photo was her little boyfriend, so she carried it everywhere. She wanted me to snap a picture of her holding the photograph of her boyfriend, which I gladly did while laughing. 
Picture
Picture
Together with the nice ladies who worked there and even the trike drivers, we unpacked all of our donations, including 60 hamburgers and soda from Jollibees, a popular fast food chain here. The children were called over for lunch and they each came up to me to say hello, first taking my hand and touching it to their foreheads in the traditional sign of respect for elders.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The children filled up the green picnic tables and then made a formation of plastic chairs, since there were only enough tables to fit about half of them at a time. I walked around with the box of burgers and served them, the teenage girls the hungriest, grabbing two burgers each. 
Picture
Picture
Everyone dug in and ate, even the elderly nun who kept thanking me, one of the kindest and most warm-hearted people I've ever met. During lunch I chased around a chicken that walked freely around the orphanage, though the children thought I was crazy for taking its photo.
Picture
After the children were done eating and scooping up seconds, we set out all of the donations on a couple tables in front of their chalkboard. We had notebooks, drawing paper, pens, crayons, and tons of different toys – rubber basketballs, dolls, toy stethoscope and doctors kits, jump ropes, bubble makers, airplanes and trucks, miniature billiards sets, plastic bowling pins and balls, painting kits, and miniature toy animals and dinosaurs – but no toy guns, at the orphanage’s request.

We took a couple of group photos with the kids in front of the donated items, and to my surprise, they sang a minute-long thank you song with warm smiles and angelic voices. After the song was over, they just stood there, unsure of what to do because they weren’t used to having material possessions yet alone getting gifts, and were all too respectful to touch things.

Picture
Picture
 But after I encouraged them to go ahead and dig into their new stuff, they grabbed toys in a flurry of activity, laughter, and a few tug of wars over their favorite toys – one of the most joyful sights I’ve ever witnessed.
Picture
It’s a constant struggle for this orphanage to stay open and provide for the kids, and hamburgers and a few toys do a lot more to make the giver feel good than it makes a real impact in their lives. But as they waved goodbye to us, yelling thank you with big smiles, at least they knew that someone cared.

Walking out to the trike, I stopped and snapped a photo of something that broke my heart. A big bookshelf in the hall served as the toy chest for the entire orphanage up to that point. It contained a dozen or so ratty and dirty stuffed animals, nothing else. If nothing else, at least those shelves will be full now!


- Norm   :-)

P.S. I don’t write these blogs to try and raise funds, because it’s up to you what you do with your money and how and when you give. More than anything, I just love sharing the experiences and the people that have enriched my life. But already a few friends –from both the United States and the Philippines – have made donations to the orphanage, which I really appreciate. But believe me, you don’t want me to sing you a thank you song – we’ll leave that to the kids!

If you’d like to help these kids, please contact them or send any donations to:
Duyan Ni Maria Children’s Home
Administered by Sisters of Mary of the Eucharist
359 Leticia St. Josefa Subdivision, BRGY, Malabanias,
Angeles City, The Philippines.

Or contact me if you’d like me to bring them something personally or help arrange the donation.

4 Comments

They get by with a little help from my friends.

3/28/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
"Hi Norm. I saw your photos and read your blog about helping the children in Cambodia. I know we've never met, but I'd like to send you some money to give to them, too."

You'd be amazed how often I get Facebook messages or emails along those lines. Hell, I'm still amazed every time someone reaches out to me and wants to give. I mean, since my focus the last couple of years has been on trying to make this world just a tiny bit better through my writing, I've received so much support from my friends it's crazy.

I guess "crazy" is a good word for it, for what else could you call sending your hard-earned dollars all the way across the world to come to the aid of people you've never met in countries you'll never set foot in? And many of you have never even met me, the instigator of this whole experience. Sure, I've broken bread (and drank beer) with many of you, but some are friends of friends, have read my books or blogs, or we don't even remember how we first connected, but we've never had the pleasure to say hi face-to-face. For all you know, I could be squandering your money by dining on escargot with champagne every night, staying at resorts that have 1,000,000 thread-count sheets, and purchasing luxurious hair care products...ok, the hair care product part is off the table, but you know what I mean.

Either way, you're trusting ME with your money because you care so much about perfect strangers in need. You have empathy for those you can't see or touch, and that's a rare and beautiful thing. Believe me, I treasure that trust and try to live up to it every day. 

Picture
Picture
Last week, I posted some photos of a poor hospital I visited here in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, where I went with my friend-in-charity Cowboy Bart to help a young woman who was the victim of an acid attack, and others. Tragically, she passed away in the ICU the very next day, but the photos and blog stirred a handful of you to reach out and PayPal some donations over for me to distribute to others in need.

So back at it, Cowboy Bart and I rode a tuk tuk out to the Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh on a scorching Friday afternoon. I was armed with a pocket full of $10 and $20 bills to give out to people I found in need, with the help of Siman - our Cambodian tuk tuk driver - acting as translator. 
Picture
In desperately poor Cambodia, there is no free healthcare or any sort of governmental social safety net. Hospitals are archaic, ridiculously understaffed, and they lack even many of the basic resources, medicines, and technology even the most humble hospitals in the United States enjoy. I'm sure you can guess who built the Soviet Friendship Hospital, a monstrous boxy compound with open-air buildings around an overgrown grassy area. When someone gets sick and needs to go to the hospital, usually on a very long journey from far-off provinces on the public bus, their family needs to bring them there. Of course they can't afford a hotel while they wait out the treatment of their loved one, so the whole family moves into the hospital with the patient. 

Some of them sleep right outdoors in the bush, hoping for the shade of a palm tree. They cook their food over wood fires and hang their laundry their to dry. Many others share the hospital bed with their loved one, sleep on the floor on bamboo matts or on the bare floor near them, or camp out in the hallways and stairwells, for days, weeks, or even months. If they're lucky, they'll have enough food, though most drink dirty water out of the hose bib and live off of rice and slices of mango. A big 30 lbs. bacg of rice, which costs about $20, can keep a couple people alive for a month if need be. 

Picture
Bart and Siman led us upstairs to the oncology ward first, to visit a child with a horrible tumor on his eye they were already helping. It was difficult for me to walk into the patient rooms - a jumble of hospital beds and bodies swirled in heat. Rooms that were designed for 2 beds had 7, and rooms meant for 4 beds had 10 or more. The beds were ripped and stained, sheetless unless the families brought their own. People slept in silence except for a few moans of pain and discomfort. There was no air conditioning so people tried not to move and hoped to catch the breeze of a fan.
Picture
Picture
But they lit up when we walked in, eyes peeled and big smiles for the unheard of occurrence of a Barang (foreigner) coming into the hospital unless they worked for a nonprofit or were part of a medical mission. Bart and Siman visited with the toddler with eye cancer and talked to his mother. Bart remarked that the boy looked much better and the tumor had shrunk significantly. They gave them some money to help pay for food and the treatments they couldn't afford at the hospital. 

While they chatted, I walked around the room, saying hello and visiting with the other sick children in the room. Of course I couldn't communicate with them other than bowing and saying "sus-day" - hello in the Khmer (Cambodian) language - or "sok-sa-bay" - wishing them good health. But it's amazing how much you can say just with your eyes and smile and a well-timed thumbs-up.
Picture
As I met the other patients and their families in the big white room, I called Siman over to translate at times. No one was alone - everyone had family with them. I noticed that they didn't see it as a burden to help their sick loved ones. A daughters massaged her grandmother's back to ease her pain. Mothers fanned the flies away from their sleeping children. An elderly Khmer woman, nearly skeletal in her only outfit of pajamas, mustered unimaginable strength to tend to her dying husband of all these years.

Their custom is to take a photo of someone handing them the gift, so they started to sit up their sick and sleeping loved ones. But I told them to just let them be - it wasn't necessary for me to be in the photos. Let the children and sick and elderly, who could barely open their eyes to see us, sleep in peace.

Picture
In the sick rooms, no one asked me for money, but most received a donation of $10 or $20 - an unexpected gift that would go a long way. I'd visited the money changer earlier to break my $100's from the ATM into smaller bills so it would be easier to give out. These were the donations from my friends - from you. 
Picture
Picture
We went room to room and toured the hospital. One doctor rushed by without questioning us, but other than that we rarely saw anyone who worked there. No one questioned us and we passed through without scrutiny. Khmer people are so proud and routinely endure hardships we can't even imagine, yet never complain. They know that is what there life will be and don't expect otherwise. But they are passionately dedicated to their loved ones and extended families. No one came out and asked for money, but a sick family member's caretaker would join their hands and give a slight bow in the sign of greeting or Buddhist prayer, inviting us to come over and visit. They introduced us to their ailing loved one. 
Picture

And they are appreciative. The looks of gratitude on their faces will be with me forever. It wasn't just the money, though I know that completely changed their outlook. But there was another commodity, just as important, that were were sharing that day: hope. They knew someone cared about them. Incredibly wealthy and privileged strangers from a far-off heavenly country took the time to come say hello and help them. I've learned that to acknowledge someone as a human being, with respect and equality in your heart, is the biggest gift you can give. 

Stomach problems, children with cancerous tumors, accident victims, and so many more that were key diagnosed, who waited patiently sleeping in the halls and floors of the hospital waiting for a glimmer of hope. Folding leather stretchers - discarded donations from war times, and tolling medical trays stood sentry among the silent people, a few syringes, vials, and empty pill boxes the scattered evidence that there was little that could be done. 

There were many families and sick people who couldn't get a bed, a room, or even inside the cool hallways of the hospital to stay. They camped outside on the patio, the fiery afternoon sun beating down on them. A ingenious teen girl with a bright smile hung a bedsheets from an IV stand to shield her sister, who had been in a bad motorcycle accident in the province, from the heat. 
Picture
Picture
On our way out, we wandered through many wards of the hospital: those dedicated to those suffering from malnutrition, diarrhea, the ICU, and finally, a pleasant surprise - the neonatal unit. It was shocking that we could just walk in and there were not even glass barriers or germ-free sanitized environments to protect the premature babies. But their mothers stood watch over them,  loving for their newborns with visions of angelic perfection that only mothers can see. Each mother called us over with a big smile so she could proudly show off her baby.
Picture
My pockets empty, we had made the rounds and it was time to go for the day. The hardest part was that I had money to some people but not to others. But if I had just started passing it out to everyone I encountered, the money wouldn't have last two hospital rooms. So I tried to focus on children and those who looked really hungry or sick in the poorest parts of the hospital. 

I was no doctor and I wasn't arrogant enough to think I knew them or their stories just by looking, so it made my heart ache to know that I would leave so many suffering. 

But I reminded myself that these people had problems before I arrived and would have problems long after I left. And there were billions more I never could reach, even if I worked tirelessly the rest of my life. But these people weren't thinking of it like that. They weren't expecting anyone to solve their problems. The money I had given them - your donations - had made a huge difference for them today. The hungry would eat. They could pay for medicine. A doctor's visit. A needed bus ticket. Get a bed instead of the floor. Or buy a small fan.
Picture
It wasn't fixed; it wasn't right; it still didn't make sense; but it was better. Better. That's a good way of thinking of it. You, my friends, had made things better for these people, and that's a hell of a good thing. And if they could speak to you they would say, "Thank you." And you'd feel it even more than you heard it. Trust me on that. 

- Norm   :-)

2 Comments

    RSS Feed


      Receive a digital postcard from Norm every month:

    Yes, I want a postcard!

    Don't miss Norm's new book,
    The Queens of Dragon Town!

    See More

    Norm Schriever

    Norm Schriever is a best-selling author, expat, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. He travels the globe, telling the stories of the people he finds, and hopes to make the world a little bit better place with his words.   

    Norm is a professional blogger, digital marketer for smart brands around the world,  and writes for the Huffington Post, Hotels.com, and others.

    Check out South of Normal his Amazon.com best-selling book about life as an expat in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

    Cambodia's School of Hope explores education and empowerment in impoverished Cambodia, with 100% of sales going to that school.

    The Book Marketing Bible provides 99 essential strategies for authors and marketers.

    Pushups in the Prayer Room, is a wild, irreverent memoir about a year backpacking around the world.  

    Follow Norm on Twitter @NormSchriever or email any time to say hi!

    Categories

    All
    Advice For Writers
    Amazon
    American Exceptionalism
    Anthropology
    Asia
    Backpack
    Basketball
    Best Seller Lists
    Blogging
    Book-marketing
    Book Review
    Book Reviews
    Cambodia
    Charity
    Child-poverty
    Cloud 9
    Communications
    Costa Rica
    Crazy-asia
    Culture
    Dumaguete
    Education
    Environment
    Ethics In Writing
    Expatriate
    Favorite Song
    Festivals
    Fraternity
    Funny
    Future
    Geography
    Give A Photo
    Giveaway
    Giving Back
    Health
    Heroes
    History
    Hugo Chavez
    Human Rights
    Humor
    India
    Islands
    Itunes
    Laugh
    Maps
    Marijuana
    Martial Arts
    Memoir
    Music
    Nature
    Nicaragua
    Non Violence
    Non-violence
    Ocean
    One Love
    One-love
    Our World
    Philanthropy
    Philippines
    Population
    Positive
    Positivity
    Postcard
    Poverty
    Pura Vida
    Pushups In The Prayer Room
    Race
    Reviews
    Safety
    San Juan Del Sur
    Science
    Screenplay
    Self Publish
    Siargao
    Social Media
    Southeast-asia
    South Of Normal
    Speech
    Sri Lanka
    Story
    Surf
    Surfing
    Tamarindo
    Thailand
    The Philippines
    The-queens-of-dragon-town
    Tourism
    Travel
    United Nations
    Venezuela
    Work From The Beach
    World Health
    Writers Forum
    Writing
    Writing Forum
    Writing Your First Book

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

Norm Schriever

Email:     [email protected]