When I left yesterday just before getting into my transport vehicle at the school two young children who I met on day 1 came to see me off. The young girl Doo-aye and her younger brother seemed a bit shy to come near the vehicle but I called them over game them 10 and 5 baht coins and said goodbye to them. I photographed Doo-aye my first day in the dump, she was scavenging for plastic off by herself. What does the future hold for her? Who will she marry? Will she marry at 15 like her sister? ( her sister is Mai from the wedding day, amazing day blog)
http://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/2013/05/amazing-day.html
When I did some portraits of Doo-aye with the 4x5 on the last day, she wore her work outfit, a pink hat, shirt, long pants, flip flops, big white bag for plastic and a iron hook tool for digging she happily posed for me, as her mother and family offered encouragement she went through 4 or 5 poses, laughing with a wonderful white tooth smile. This young girls face and spirit will haunt me, she would have so many possibilities in life if her family had money, she could be anybody, do anything, but without money, living as a illegal in Thailand what possible positive future can she have?
I can still see her sweet innocent smile with the thanaka makeup/suncream on her face (made from ab Burmese tree bark), Doo-aye likes to make a line of straight white thanaka cream from her forehead to the tip of her nose and big white circles on her cheeks.
