“I want people to know about the Karen people.”
Malida is a 29 year old woman from Chiang Mai Thailand. She works with Daughters Rising and the Chai Lai Orchid Foundation. She lives in rural Chiang Mai with her husband, cats, and baby on the way.
**DISCLAIMER: this interview has been translated, transcribed, and condensed for clarity purposes. The final article was reviewed by the Daughter Rising team to ensure accuracy and integrity of the original interview was kept.
Tell us a bit about yourself!
I am Malida, I am 29 years old and I am from a rural village in Thailand. I was born into a big family. I am the middle child with three brothers and three sisters. We are from a rural area with no electricity, no internet connection. When I was about five years old I went to live with my grandparents so I could go to school. Their house is 6 hours away from my home village.
What was it like living away from your parents so young?
It was very hard for me. I felt like I was too young to be away from my parents like that. I still wanted to be with them. I was with my older brother and he’s very sweet, always taking care of me. I knew my grandparents loved me, but I felt like they favored my brother. Every morning she would give money to him but not to me. But he would give half of his money to me. I was sad because I would feel like, why don’t they love me? When I was in grade six, my parents came and built a house in my grandparents village and I lived with them until I graduated high school.
Did you go on to higher education?
Yes, I feel that education is very important. I continued my studies in University as an English major. It was a good experience and I made new friends. I didn’t like living in the city though, I prefer the jungle, so I came back to rural.
What makes you happy?
The thing that makes me happy are my family and my job.
What do you dream of for the future?
I hope in the future I can stay with my parents and take care of them. I want to spend more time together.
What do you like to do for fun?
I like to go bamboo rafting and play with my cats.
[/col_inner_3] [/row_inner_3]What is your role at Daughters Rising?
In the past, I was a receptionist at Chai Lai Orchid, but now I’m a part of the Daughters Rising staff working at the kid’s house. My main job is planning the workshops and being a mentor for the kids. I go to the kids house every day after school, we talk a bit, they ask me questions, sometimes have dinner together. Working with kids is my dream job. Especially because some of the kids don’t have parents or their families are very poor and cannot support them in school. So I feel that they deserve to feel special and they are very loved. Every kid needs love and we can love them like that.
Working with kids isn’t easy though. When I was working as a receptionist, you just follow the plan. You know how many people will come and check in that day, how many will come for a tour, you just follow the plan. But when working with kids, you don’t have it like that. You have to use your all and whole heart for this work.
What are some of the challenges in your work?
The most difficult part is getting the kids to trust in you. You have to use your whole heart to help them trust you and show love to them. Each of them are coming from different backgrounds and when they come to stay together its difficult to adjust. We have to teach them how to stay together, how to share, how to respect one another. Also, working with different ages. Sometimes their moods or feelings change or they don’t listen to you. They may sometimes feels like we don’t love them when we stop them from doing something that is not good, but everything we do is because we love them.
Can you talk more about what the kids house program is?
The main goal is to help the children get educations to give them a better future. We teach them the importance of education and getting a job you want.
It started when a woman who had many kids came to Alexandra. She was from Myanmar and came to Thailand illegally. Her children were born in Thailand, but because she didn’t have any ID for herself, she couldn’t get it for her children. Without an ID card in Thailand, you cannot attend school. Alexa met the woman’s 5-year-old daughter and just fell in love with her. She invited the child to come live in her home and tried to adopt her so she could get an education. So that was the first girl. Then another young orphaned girl came from Chiang Rai. She was staying with her grandparents who were trying to get her married at age 12. Alexa didn’t want to see that and invited the girl to come stay here and go to school. At school m there was another young girl who had a 7 hour commute to school from her parents home. She was invited to come live at the house as well. From there, it grew. Alexandra started a Chai Lai Orchid Foundation and the people around here began to know more about it.
How many kids live at the kids house?
We have 10 kids right now. There is a house mom and a house dad who live with them. The mom takes care of the food by cooking for the children morning and evening. The dad takes care of the maintenance around the house and garden.
Do they kids go see their parents from time to time?
Some of the children don’t have parents but some have parents, they just cannot support them to go to school. Yes, if they have parents they will go to see them maybe once or twice per year.
[/col_inner_3] [/row_inner_3] [row_inner_3] [col_inner_3 span__sm=”12″]You guys do a lot of cool things to provide education further through workshops and events. Could you talk a bit about those?
Yes! One of the workshops we recently did was about mental health. Because the physical body is important but the mental health is too. We taught them each how to take care of their mental health how to work with their feelings. A lot of times, these kids didn’t have anyone to talk about things with in the past so they would just keep everything inside. They dealt with depression but didn’t know it. So this workshop helped a lot of them to open up their minds and find someone they trust to talk with. Now, I feel like the kids are happier than in the past. They know their own feelings and how to communicate them and what to do when they feel it.
[/col_inner_3] [/row_inner_3] [row_inner_3] [col_inner_3 span__sm=”12″]What’s something you’d like people to know?
I want people to know about the Karen people. They are very kind, gentle, and pleasing. They don’t know how to say no. if if they don’t want to do something, they will do it if you ask them. Also, we are very happy when we see foreigners wearing Karen dress because they’re made with love.
[/col_inner_3] [/row_inner_3]“I have deep gratitude to Malida for being my buddy throughout my time volunteering with Daughters Rising. She taught me so much, translated, took care of me. We had good laughs and I am happy to have found friendship in Malida. It’s crazy because of all the spotlight profiles I’ve ever done, this is the first one I’ve ever done in person! We are excited to highlight her and shine that spotlight.”
-Alexa
For more information, visit Daughters Rising and Chai Lai Orchid.
Alexandra pham
founder of daughters rising and chai lai orchid
Daughters Rising
non-profit organization
kham hom
Daughters Rising staff and scholarship recipient
Win
Daughters Rising program director
