A company had bought 80% of the lake and it had evicted those who lived on it. Beng Kak Lake is an important part of the city's lung, though the lake is so polluted by the people who live around or on it. This company is building a mall. They could have cleaned the lake up and build malls around it, but no, they are filling it with sand.
Yesterday, I went to teach a class of children affected by AIDS, whose fathers or mothers had died from the disease. They live on part of this lake, inside tin covered roof and wood slated walls nailed to sticks that can fall apart. On the water are these garbage floating to shore, rotten shoes, condoms, organic matters, shits and piss all go into the lake. The children swim in it and take shellfish from it to eat.
Our class was held on this shack on the lake. I gave the children some paper and colored pencils to draw their lifelines. They ended up drawing whatever they wanted, their house in the countryside with lots of trees and earth where they could run and play.
One kid did draw his life. I had to leave because I felt so sick due to the smell. I did not get to ask the children to talk about their drawing. I will during the next session.
Next door, a man was sleeping as if he was dead. I tried to see sign of his pulses and found that he was still breathing. He must have collapsed from sheer exhaustion. He may have been drinking. His hair curled in the sun. He was not conscious of anything around him. The children came in and out of the house to pee. Below is water and the man is floating away in his dream.
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