This was my first encounter with Horm, Dee's daughter, which I was naming mistakenly as Dee. Horm who is born in the same month and day as her mom, who is as tall (or better to describe - short) as her mom, having as strong willpower and wish to succeed as her mom had, and who has dedicated her newly-built homestay to the memory of her mom, who passed away a year before. During three days while I am in Thaton I am spending a lot of time with Horm who becomes my friend, and I hear so many stories about her mom who seems to be still in the centre of Horm's life. Almost fairytale-like stories, unbelievable but real. And I want to share them with you (as my dedication to Horm).
From Horm's personal archive,
Dee was born once upon a time. It is not clear for sure when exactly, because at those times, for those people (Dee was born in a family of Shans, which is a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia), and in that country (Burma) it was not usual to note down the exact day and time of the birth. However, later, when Horm asks her dad if he really does not know when exactly the mom was born, he says that it was late August, and the day of the birth was exactly the same as Horm's. I knowingly smile because their horoscope sign is Virgo, exactly as I presumed, because of the strong character and willpower of these women.
Dee's Escape from Burma
As a Shan being born in Burma, Dee experienced discrimination in her country and had to leave it. From 70s Shan people had to face extensive human rights violations in Burma (from the source -http://www.burmalink.org/background/burma/ethnic-groups/shan/):
According to SHRF & SWAN (2012), the largest and most intensive forced relocation program was carried out in 1996-1997 in central Shan State where more than 300,000 people from over 1,400 villages were forced out of their homes into relocation sites. Most of these villagers are still not allowed to return home, and over half are estimated to have fled as refugees to Thailand (SHRF & SWAN, 2012).
It is estimated that Burmese army oppression, forcible relocations, and persecution have driven an estimated 300,000 Shan across the Thailand-Burma border. Shan refugees in Thailand are particularly vulnerable as they are not recognised by the Thai government and have not been allowed to set up camps in Thailand’s soil.
But for Dee's parents it was just a short-term home, as they fled to Chiang Rai, and further.
Dee's Shelter in Pig Sty
The beginning of the Dee's life in Thailand was very tough. They did have neither money, nor home where to stay. Both Dee and her husband were working as auxiliary workers for different farmers but it was not enough to have their own house, and not even enough to rent a little room where to stay. One farmer from whom Dee and her husband asked for a shelter, suggested to use his pig sty. His old pig just died and the place was empty. It only had to be cleaned and then it could be used for living. That's how Dee got a shelter in a pig sty.
Dee's Bamboo House
Dee was a hard worker - she wanted to have children and to ensure them a good life. She decided that she would not stay an auxiliary worker for all her life but she would work even harder to buy land and to build her own house. Dee's first house was a house made of bamboos; she built it by herself and her husband (that is the reason why Horm decided that her homestay dedicated to her mom would be consisting from 3 such bamboo houses, similar to her mom's first house). Later on when Dee and her husband obtained more and more land for agriculture, they also built a brick house, but the house made of bamboos was always in their warm memories.
Dee's Children
Dee had four children: three daughters and one son. She wanted that her children would receive good education, then would create their families and have a good and traditional life close to other family members. However, among her children her daughter Horm did not fit into this model - she did not want to return to her family village, she wanted to travel and to see the world. Though always quarreling, both mom and her daughter were similar like two rain drops: both tough, independent and strong. Despite their love and hate relationships, it seems that Horm was the dearest one for her mom.
Dee's Forebodings
Dee felt that her time on this earth in her current body is coming to the end - less than a year before her death, while padding rice, she reflectively revealed that she was not sure if she would be around when the rice would be ready for eating. Her relatives got upset about her speaking such a nonsense but she was contemplating further.
About 6 months before she died, Dee dreamt that she was lying in the cemetery (where Buddhists burn the dead body) of her hometown in the Shan country. This was the first bad sign. After that, she was noticing more and more signs that soon she should die, therefore, she prepared herself carefully - Dee bought a cover for dead body; and she requested to buy a motorcycle, which had to be donated to the temple after her death (now her motorcycle is in the temple where monks and villagers can use it for temple-related issues; once, as one monk told, a villager took her bike for his own mundane business, and it immediately broke down).
Dee's Death from the Wild Mushroom
One day Dee decided that she had to go to pick mushrooms. Neither it seemed to be the right weather, nor the right time, but she was very stubborn - she wanted to find mushrooms. She went alone to the nearest hill next to the village but she came home without any of them found. Then she requested that her son would take her by motorbike to the other side of the river, to the hill where the temple and pagoda is located. After not very long quarrel, the son agreed to take her there, and soon she returned with several mushrooms for soup.
The soup was very tasty and all family members enjoyed it, but soon after having it, everyone who ate it, became very sick, including Dee herself. But Dee was laughing in the face of sickness - when everyone was throwing up, she ascetically endured her stomachache and was teasing others about being too weak.
She was the only one who did not vomit, and she was the only one who died.
Dee's Rebirth
Family members and villagers believe that Dee was reborn in her granddaughter, the daughter of her oldest daughter. Only few months passed after Dee's death when her daughter unexpectedly became pregnant. All villagers concluded that it has to be Dee herself because, as one villager told, some weeks before passing away, Dee's older daughter and her husband has begged Dee to come to live with them in Chiang Mai. If Dee's daughter would make an abortion, maybe Dee would still be alive but now she is in different body in Chiang Mai and lives happily ever after.
That was the story of Dee.