A woman who won “outstanding youth” awards twice after a contentious upbringing by her mother tried to inspire other youths to practice ethics and morality in their daily lives at a seminar organized by the Human Help Network.
HHN Director Radchada Chomjinda opened the Oct. 22 workshop at the “Morals and Ethnics for Youths” workshop at the Diana Garden Resort.
As head of the Human Help Network Thailand and the Child Protection and Development Center, Radchada has become a central figure in Pattaya’s network of social-welfare organizations and has held seminars for youths and officials from organizations including the Child Welfare Protection Institution, Pak Ping Kum Pai Foundation, Father Ray Foundation, Baan Jing Jai Foundation, Fountain of Life Foundation and more.
Baan Jing Jai director Piangtha Chumnoi receives hugs from children under her care.
A total 246 people attended a lecture given by 24-year-old Orapim Raksapol, known as the “the gratitude and gratefulness chaser” who won the Outstanding Youth award from the Council of Social Welfare in 2003, and the same prize from the National Filial Piety award in 2008.
The topic of her speech was “Youths, Ethnics, Morality and a Positive Mind”.
“Not everybody can achieve their goals and/or become rich, but the important thing is that you have to be yourself and be there for somebody that needs you,” she told the audience. “That person will then see where you stand and how important you are to them. As long as you are a good person, be grateful towards your parents and do your very best, you will overcome the sins that you have committed and will learn from your mistakes. You must do your best to maintain your life and love others around you before it’s too late.”
The objective of the seminar was to raise awareness among youths and remind them that everybody counts and to always think positively. Ethics and morality are important amongst all communities and similar training methods are conducted regularly to develop stability within young people.
Orapim Raksapol tells the tragic story of her mother that changed her life.
Orapim later told the attendees a brief story of her life: She said that since 7th grade, her mother always dropped her off at school, which has always made her angry, as she felt her mother was being over-protective. As she grew older, they grew apart and Orapim stayed at school a train ride away.
One day, Orapim received a phone call from her mother who asked her to return home. She had a bad feeling about it as she hadn’t been home for nearly two months. But her mother said she had chest pain due to worrying about Orapim.
On the way to pick her up, her mother got into an accident on the motorbike and was hospitalized with serious injuries.
“At that very moment, all the anger that I had for my mother disappeared and I broke into tears. My mother stood up as I approached her and the first thing she did was apologize for not picking me up at the train station,” she said.
“It shows how much love a mother has for her children and her husband, not wanting to be a burden.”
Orapim then decided to spend all her time looking after her mother. She greatly regretted all of her anger and behavior.
Orapim told the audience that she made a promise that she will be a good person, focus on her education and come back to look after the woman she loves the most.
Many youths couldn’t hold their tears after hearing the brief life story of Orapim, the lecturer.
