Mae Fah Luang: The Saga Continues

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OK, this post is for those of you who have been following the story of Sophie’s citizenship and my adoption of her. So, basically, we had to go back to the Province of Mae Fah Luang to get a few things that our lawyer said we needed to file the guardianship paperwork.

1)    there is a paper that gives her a resident alien number but the names of her parents listed are really her grandparents. So, we needed to change that to reflect her real parents.

2)    We needed to get her birth certificate, or whatever paper was filed with the government when she was born to show what her real birthday and year are.

3)    Change her place of residence to Chiang Mai so she could continue to study until college and so that if she is stopped by the police, she is not in Chiang Mai illegally, and will not be arrested. This needs to happen as soon as possible so she can study through high school.  

4)    A letter from the government showing that even though her mom had several names registered in different places, they are all the same person and she passed away, so we can get the money she left Ahngun out from the bank and use it for Ahngun’s future.

We needed to go during the week that Taw Saeng was closed so Ning and I could go take care of as much as possible. Our lawyer was supposed to go with us, but he ended up having to be in court that week, so we had to go on our own, unfortunately. I decided to rent a truck from a place recommended by several people. It was expensive, about $45 a day, but great on gas mileage and almost brand new. We needed a truck instead of a car because we had not been able to get ahold of the people from Sophie’s village by phone because all their phone numbers had been changed!

Just a recap: Sophie was really born in a small village about an hour down a dirt road from the main highway of Chiang Rai city. However, for some reason, her mother registered her birth with another tiny village in Mae Fah Luang province, so we trekked there last year to talk with those people. We needed people from both villages to go with us this time to explain her story and vouch for her as a person born in Thailand.  We couldn’t get ahold of anyone from either village for the longest time, but our lawyer was able to get the phone number of the village chief from Mae Fah Luang, so we finally talked to him before we left, but still had not spoken with people from Sophie’s actual village.

It started out as quite a fun weekend for us, actually. We picked up the truck on Saturday, October 6, and Sophie and I spent the night at Ning’s house with her older sister and her cousins. Sunday was election day for most villages in Northern Thailand, so Ning and her cousins were going up to their village to vote. We piled in the car, Ning, Sophie, Ning’s cousin, her husband and their 2 year old. I was a bit nervous driving a car with a baby not in any sort of car seat and much of the time riding in the front seat, but since car seats don’t exactly exist in Thailand, there wasn’t much I could do, other than pray for safe travels and drive as safely as possible.

The truck drove like a dream! It handled nicely and because it used E20 ethanol gas, we only used half a tank for the entire weekend! I normally do not gush about cars, but I’ve been driving old beater cars of my friends my whole time in Thailand, so this was a nice change.

Sophie at her family's rice fields

We got to Ning’s village about 10am and she voted, then we went to her family’s house for brunch. YUM AKHA FOOD!! I love Akha food, though it is quite spicy. We ate our fill and then headed out to find people at Sophie’s village, not knowing how long it would take to talk to them and convince them to come with us. God was with us that day though, and we found all the people we needed to talk to, and got everyone’s new phone numbers stored in my phone this time and written down on paper so they would not get lost if Sophie lost her phone again. The family who “bought (stole)” her land (see post from Feb 2012) agreed to come with us and finally told us all the people who were listed on her mom’s family tree with the government.

Here is where the story gets even more complicated. I know, you thought that wasn’t possible, yet here we are. OK, so really, all her mom’s brothers and sisters died before she was born, however, when her mom tried to get citizenship for herself and Sophie, she basically added herself to someone else’s family book. So, as far as the government is concerned, there is this whole other family who is related to her and all of them are alive! Crazy times.

After we spoke with this family, it was only 1pm, and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves! We decided to stop at a Buddhist retreat not far from Sophie’s village and walk around a bit. It was sweltering, so we didn’t stay long, but we took in the scenery and attempted to take some jumping pictures. You can see how that turned out. Then, we went to the Chiang Rai mall and ate KFC and Swenson’s ice cream because we were so happy that things had worked out so far and so confident that they would continue to work out. I was not prepared for the crushing disappointment that would come the next day, but I should have been, with the way everything else has gone so far. 

After lunch at the mall, we drove up to Doi Tung, on the way to the government office in Mae Fah Luang. We found a cute little place with a free room for only 400 baht (about $13.50) It had three comfy beds (well, Sophie slept on the floor) and a great view with air conditioning and hot water and a TV! Of course, Sophie was in heaven. After getting settled, we went out to find a restaurant that the hotel owner suggested and spent some time praying together about the following day. Then we ate some really good food and just chatted for a while about stuff that happened last year before Ning left Taw Saeng and about Sophie’s future and just life in general. It was really nice and relaxing. 

The next day, we got up early and drove up to the government office and got there about 8am. The family from Sophie’s village got there the same time we did, but we waited for a while for the village chief from Mae Fah Luang. Finally, we called him and it turned out he had forgotten the papers, so he had to turn around and go back to get them. By the time he finally arrived, it was 10am, so we were at the back of the line. We sat there for a while, they finally called Sophie’s name and the three of us went to talk to the official. We sat down. They called us again. We sat back down. This went on for a while, so most of the time I stayed seated, since I had nothing to contribute anyway. Just before lunch, they called again and Ning asked about the second thing on the list, Ahngun’s birth certificate. She spoke with the head official and he said he would check into it. Sadly, they are not quite in the digital age yet up in the mountains, so they can’t just pull it up on a computer. Everything there is paper files. They still use typewriters. TYPEwriters! We went to lunch while the official worked on the paperwork. At this point, we were starting to get worried that we would get only one thing accomplished and not get back in time to return the truck that night.

We all ate lunch together, and Ning spoke at length with the village chief from Mae Fah Luang, who is very “tjai dee” or kind and understanding. The other family of course, kept talking about money, money, money. The village chief was not happy with them when he found out they basically sold Sophie’s land out from under her. He thought the same way we did, that it should be kept until she was older because she may want to live there some day or sell it herself. Anyway, we came back from lunch and got the paper that changed her parents’ names to be correct. Yes, one thing down! Only 3 to go, and it was 2:30pm. We needed to leave by 3pm.

Ning tried to get the address thing changed, but they just changed the laws for what you need to do it, and of course, we only had 3 of the 4 things with us. We didn’t have the paperwork of our landlord. Argh! So frustrating!

Ning also found out that there is no record of her birth in Mae Fah Luang. Something that I don’t quite understand about going to Bangkok to formally request it from the head office for Thailand or something. Ning tried to explain, but I don’t know the words in Thai and she doesn’t know the words in English, so we were stuck. We could not get the form about her mom’s names either, not without the lawyer present. Not only that, but because of the number they assigned her, it labels Sophie as a resident alien, and she will never be able to get citizenship unless they change the laws. This is all the more reason I am trying so hard to get her US citizenship, but I can’t even start that process til I have legal guardianship.

We rushed back, picking up Ning’s cousins on the way, and made it back to the rental place at 7:30pm, a half hour late, but the lady was so gracious. “It’s already forgotten,” she said when I apologized and explained about our long day at the government offices. I had told her when I rented the car what we needed it for, so she understood, and said to call if we needed to go again in the future.

The next day we just stayed home and rested (well, cleaned the house) and I met with the lawyer on Wednesday. He said he thinks he has enough to file our case now, finally, and was planning to do it today (the 15^th) but had to push it back a week for reasons I don’t understand. We also got more info about what we needed to change her address, so then we went to meet our landlord. She was very accommodating and gave us copies of all the stuff we needed. So, now all we need to do is go back again soon, with our lawyer, and try again to get all this stuff done. Continued prayers would be greatly appreciated. I feel like for every incremental step forward we take, we are knocked back 5, which is very disheartening. My friend Sacha said something very wise, that because it’s such a long and difficult process, I should look at every tiny accomplishment as a victory or else it will overwhelm me, and I think she is right. On my better days I am very optimistic and trust that everything will work out in God’s time. On my worst days (which are not many, thankfully) I am not quite so glass-half-full.

Next time: Pai! And other stories.