Nantica Tepa
Age 11, P 3
Soong Men, Phrae

Nantica Tepa used to be a fairly happy child. She did not have many of the materialistic things enjoyed by city children, but she was fairly content to be living in a run-down wooden shack with her father and mother, and younger brother and sister. Her grandfather also lived in the same compound, in a larger house behind her shack.

But then one day it seemed as if the sky fell on her. One tragic event after another happened, and turned her into a quiet, withdrawn child.

First, her father fell into a well and drowned. Nantica was devastated by his the sudden death - but little did she realise the further tragedies this would trigger for her and her brother and sister.

Nantica's shack stands is a family compound. All members of the family, including her father are part owners of the plot. With the passing away of her father, greed took over some of her relatives. They wanted to force Nantica's family out of the compound and take over the whole plot of land. The fatherless family was regularly abused by the grandfather.

The abuses doubled when Nantica's mother remarried. The grandfather vented his anger on the little family with renewed fury. He finally succeeded in forcing Nantica's mother and her new husband out of the family compound. Realizing that they would lose everything if they all moved out, her mother insisted that Nantica and her younger brother stayed in the family house, to prevent it being taken over by the grandfather.

That was the beginning of a new nightmare for the frail Nantica. At the young age of 11, she had to run the household by herself, in addition to being subject to regular abuses by her own grandfather who scolded her morning and night, still intent on forcing her out. He regularly threatened to destroy the little wooden shack. A sympathetic policeman living nearby warned him not to carry out the threat.

Nantica's mother moved with her new husband and baby daughter into a nearby empty shop owned by her sympathetic employer. She is threatened with physical violence if she attempts to enter the family compound. Every morning and evening, cooks food for her children and takes it to them to eat in front of the family compound.

The mental pressure on the waif-like Nantica was enormous. She had to look after her little brother, clean the house and do the washing in addition to her normal school work. She still managed to come eighth in a class of 26, however. Mentally she became very quiet and withdrawn and physically she became very thin and frail. When asked about the condition within her house, she was too frightened to answer. It her grandfather is always looming menacingly behind her, like a dark and all-encompassing shadow.

The future seems dark for 11-year-old Nantica and there seems to be no way out for her and her family. It seems that she is carrying the whole family burden on her frail shoulders as she walks to Wat Sri Dok school early each morning.