King

King is a 9 year old Thai boy, he is the son of one of the daughters from the funeral I video taped. The man who died was King's grandfather and main care provider. The mother of king has temper issues and is physically abusive to her 2 sons at times. King lived with and took care of his grandfather, he is a very polite young man who is responsible and hard working.

I first met King last year when I came to Thailand to work on a series of photographs. King at that time kind of latched on to me, he has no father in his life (his mother is divorced) and I guess I represented a father figure to him. I have never really enjoyed being around children and have none of my own. King thou was such a polite, quiet good boy that I grew to into liking him. Last year I would watch movies with him and his family, King would normally sit beside me and look at me and smile. This year I came back and King came right up to me and gave me a Wai (A Wai is a Thai way of showing respect, a greeting and way to say goodbye as well, they join there hands together like a christian prayer and raise the hands to their lips/nose with a slight bow of the head, the higher the hands the more respect shown). King also remembered my name and said hello to me with a big smile. Through out the funeral he would follow me around and even ran over to me and gave me a hug when I arrived at the bus station when I returned to Prachinburi for the Cremation ceremony.

I worry now what will happen to this young man. His grandfather who was raising him has died, his mother does not seem to love him and everyone else does not seem to want to take care of him, there was only his grandfather and now he is dead. I was always saddened to see the way King's personality changed if his mother was nearby. If his mother was not in the room he would smile and laugh and ask me to lift him up, he was curious about how all my cameras worked and eager to press all the buttons. When his mom was in the room he would not speak unless spoken to, he would sit silently by himself with not a hint of a smile on his face or even worse he would sort of stand in a far off corner like he was trying to be invisible.

I worry for this child's future, I wonder what he will become. When I return to Thailand in 10 years and he is 19 what kind of life will he have? What kind of person will he be?