On top of the high mountains, Doi Bo, Chiang Rai, there are two La Hu villages, Ja Fu and Ja Ka, where people live and try to stay alive. Not many people know they are there. They have neither electricity, hospitals, land to farm on, nor schools to attend to Schools, what are they? Why do we need them and why are they so important? School is a place for children to learn and grow, a place for teachers to provide knowledge that is needed for living and education that makes people communicate with other people in more than one language. It also helps them understand why things happen as they are. Not only children want to learn in schools, parents and older people also want to learn, so that they can do more trading and earn more for living, and so that they don’t get exploited and cheated by city people while doing trades. Everyone should have the right to get educated regardless of his or her nationality, and regardless of where he or she lives.

Most children in the city have the opportunity to go to schools and too many choices to choose from. Unfortunately, this is not always the case in places such as Ja Fu and Ja Ka. Because there are no schools in these villages, children have to walk more than twenty kilometers to the nearest school, and only when the weather permits. Some villages are too far for children to commute in a day, so some kids have to go and live in a boarding house near the school. These houses are far from the villages and there are only two people who take care of about forty kids at one time. Yet, the children still have to walk to school everyday from these boarding houses.

Ja Se, a 9 years old La Hu boy from Ja Ka village, had to also stay at one of these boarding houses. He had just started school in the second term at Ruam Mit School and had just learned all the Thai alphabets. Although his parents have Thai citizenship, Ja Se along with his other siblings, unfortunately, didn’t receive the same kind of privilege. His parents went to visit him at the boarding house often, but it was a hard walk from the village and due to the weather it was often impossible to do so. Ja Se was always helpful at home; he had good manners and was unique with his lighter skin colour. Everybody loved and missed him.

It was almost time to go home for Ja Se; the second term was almost over. On the 24th of March 2003 Ja Se and his friends slipped out of the house after finishing their lunch, and while the caretaker was taking an afternoon nap.

The boarding house is very close to the Kok River. There is only a road separating the river and the boarding house. The four boys were bored and had nothing to do so they decided to go for a swim in the river. All of the boys didn’t know how to swim and did not know how deep the river was and how fast the water was flowing, so they just jumped in without thinking. Unluckily there was no adult anywhere to supervise them at all. Ja Se struggled to keep his head above the water but the river was too strong. Finally he lost his last fight to the river. The other three boys were scared and shocked. Because they where so young, they ran away and didn’t tell anyone. The next morning Ja Se’s parents came to pick him up but couldn’t find him anywhere. That day they frantically asked people to help find their son. The morning after the accident Ja Se’s body was found at Pong Na Kum village further down the stream.

After this tragic incident, the whole of Ja Se’s family moved down from their old village, Ja Ka, to a lower village called Ja Tor Ber, where their cousins had already been living. They couldn’t stand anything that reminded them of Ja Se. Why did they choose this village? Simply because there was a nursery nearby for their younger children. There was still no school in that village so her older kids still don’t have any school to go to.

Na Long, Ja Se’s mother, completed the forth grade when she was young. She can listen, speak, and write Thai a little bit. Her second daughter doesn’t go to school so when they have time she teaches her daughter some of what she knows.

If there was a school in Ja Ka village Ja Se wouldn’t have to die. Please use his death to save others. We are trying to find money to build a school in Ja Ka village so the children nearby don’t have to walk down to school or not go to school at all. Not only do the children want to learn, the adults also want to learn at this school if they have the opportunity. This school will have many uses for many kids like Ja Se’s older sister and about fifty more children that have not gone to school at all up in Ja Fu and Ja Ka villages. The money that you donate will be used to pay for the teacher’s salary and school supplies while the villagers will provide labor and material to help construct the school.

We would like also to take this opportunity to thank any of the former donators. Your money have been used to do many goods to the people up here and with the help of all of you we all can raise the living standard of our brothers and sisters up in the high mountain of Doi Bo.