Weaw's Home

Spent 2 nights at Weaw's home. The home is poor but not very poor, I saw a poorer area of Thailand my first trip back in 1996. The neighborhood is clean and well kept with a paved road leading from the highway. Behind the houses are farming areas with rice fields and various animals. Weaw's father who is a farmer has 2 large and noisy pigs (one pregnant) 2 disinterested cows (one pregnant) and a few dozens chickens, there are also a couple of noisy roosters who woke me up each day with their crowing.

Why do roosters crow when its still dark?

The family also have 2 lovely dogs, Angel and Bong. The people who live in 2 houses are Dad, Mom and Grand mom. Grandma likes to hear me speak Thai (maybe I sound funny!) and laughs at my silly jokes. I told her one the other day (speaking and acting it out) about 5 barking dogs (one with saliva hanging out its mouth) who scared me and came close to biting me at the local Buddhist temple. She thought it was funny because Thais ignore the dogs and just march in, where as I was sort of fending them off with my 4x5 camera mounted on a tripod.

The people in the the neighboring houses treat Weaw with respect and kindness, maybe a bit of sadness as well. She has been honest with her neighbors and told them all she has HIV. I liked the fact they did not stare at her because she was blind, in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai I saw many Thais staring at her for long periods. In her own neighborhood it is different they remember her from when she was a little girl, they joke and talk to her as she walks past their homes with her cane and glasses.

Weaw is a strong lady and I tried to show her strength as well as her sadness/loneliness when I made portraits of her. I never really realized how important eyes are. I think we all know and we all say we know eyes are important but until you see someone you know and care about walking into things, talking to people who are not there, crawling on the ground trying to find something, you really never know how important they are. I will never underestimate the importance of eye sight again.

Made photos of a few people in the neighborhood and of Weaw, her father and grandmother. I also did a few pics of the animals and the farm.

One more note, enjoy your hot showers! When I stayed at Weaw's home I could not take a hot or warm or semi cold shower, the only option was freezing bite your tongue off COLD!!!!!!