Sticky Rice With Salt

By Diane Verburg

This book decribes the life of a young girl born in a primitive village in Thailand who grew up on an isol

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diane Verburg
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781915206343

Book preview

Copyright © 2021

All Rights Reserved

Table Of Contents

Dedication ........................................................................................

Acknowledgment .............................................................................

About the Author .............................................................................

Introduction ......................................................................................

Chapter 1: My Earliest Memories of Life ......................................

Chapter 2: I Made My Own World in the Jungle Land.................

Chapter 3: How the Villagers Slew a Cobra ..................................

Chapter 4: We Invaded a Crow’s Nest ...........................................

Chapter 5: My First School in the Buddhist Temple .....................

Chapter 6: My Brother’s Heroic Act ..............................................

Chapter 7: The Horrible Night on the Jungle Farm .......................

Chapter 8: Life in Ban Chiang ........................................................

Chapter 9: What It Meant to Be a Scoundrel’s Daughter .............

Chapter 10: Fighting a Bully in Ban Chiang..................................

Chapter 11: The Legacy of My Aunt Who Eloped .......................

Chapter 12: Education after Fourth Grade .....................................

Chapter 13: How I survived My First Rape Attempt ....................

Chapter 14: Another Lustful Man...................................................

Chapter 15: Pyroon Becomes Chadarat..........................................

Chapter 16: My First Ever Visit to Bangkok .................................

Chapter 17: Life in the War Zone, Loas.........................................

Chapter 18: The Story of My Family Tree and First Job ..............

Chapter 19: I Grew into an Attractive Woman ..............................

Chapter 20: My First Marriage to a Tax Collector ........................

Chapter 21: Becoming a Single Mother .........................................

Chapter 22: A Female Manager Deprived Me of My Job.............

Chapter 23: I Found the Love of My Life ......................................

Chapter 24: I Became a TV Commercial Actress .........................

Chapter 25: A Tribute to My Grandmother ...................................

Chapter 26: Interesting History of Ban Chiang .............................

Chapter 27: Aunty Deary (My Mom’s Sister) ...............................

Chapter 28: My Greedy Half-Sister................................................

Chapter 29: Typical Thai Male Chauvinists ..................................

Chapter 30: My Father’s Life Story ...............................................

Chapter 31: About My Mother .......................................................

Chapter 32: My Mother and the Merchant .....................................

Chapter 33: How My Parents Got Married ....................................

Chapter 34: The Thai Holiday ........................................................

Chapter 35: Conclusion ...................................................................

Dedication

My book is for everyone who touched my life in a way that made it better.

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge the many people who, through the years, have been a part of my life story and helped me to achieve the wonderful life I enjoy today. In writing this book, I am grateful to my wonderful children and my friends for their constant encouragement and positive contributions.

Also, this book would not have been possible without the assistance of my husband, who transformed my rough writing into readable English, and my good friend Paul, who provided valuable computer expertise, which I sorely lacked.

About the Author

Chadarat Rouchochai was born in Ban Chiang, a remote, primitive village of Thailand. At a very young age, she embarked on a journey that led her through experiences many would deem unfit for a young girl.

Born in a farmer’s family, Chadarat’s childhood was a challenge through and through. She was twelve years of age when she left her village to pursue education, something her drunkard father was typically against. However, Chadarat never let any man dictate to her how to live her life. She dealt with every curveball that life threw at her and marched on with tremendous zeal that finally paid off in ways she couldn’t even imagine.

This book is a recollection of memories that span decades and teaches an important lesson: no matter what the odds are, never give up. Place faith in destiny, strive for the best, and you will be rewarded in life.

Introduction

This book is about myself and how I grew up on a jungle farm surrounded by a variety of birds, strange creatures, and beautiful natural surroundings. I was born in a primitive village into a poor family whose head was a carouser, gambler, drunkard, and abu ser.

I am writing this book based on my memories only, but I’ll try to do justice to the life I experienced as a child.

I did not have much formal educational training. A big reason for that was our weak financial background. When I was nine years old, I had to work to help my family survive while making my way through elementary school. So, I did not get proper nutritional food, enough rest, or time to play as a normal child would.

I was twelve years old when I had to leave my home village to pursue higher education in the city and solicit work as a maid in exchange for a place to stay while continuing education from the fifth grade. In my village, Ban Chiang, most children studied for only four years in school and became farmers. However, I had seen my parents’ brutal struggle to make both ends meet; therefore, I did not want to follow in their footsteps. These are the reasons why I like to share my harrowing life experiences with the world, especially my children.

I write this book without any evidence to prove the accuracy of my memories. I did not have any special skills or any successful career or special training while growing up in Ban Chiang or when

I was in the cities. I struggled to survive and hung on to school until I finished the tenth grade. In this book, I have recollected my memories from my extraordinary life while I was on the jungle farm and in the cities.

The experiences of poverty and struggling to survive in Ban Chiang and in the cities were real and authentic. I left Ban Chiang searching for a different life instead of succumbing to my below-the-poverty-line life, and I desperately wanted to finish tenth grade instead of fourth grade, so I could become a teacher or anything but a farmer. Some of my good friends and acquaintances wanted to read my book. These people were one of the major impetuses behind writing a memoir focusing on my childhood after all those years.

Before we move on, let me ask you a question: Are you really interested in reading it? Here’s a disclaimer. The life you come across here is the opposite of your life in America. Back in Thailand, I did not have adequate education in any area of life.

When I was on the jungle farm, I started first grade at a Buddhist temple. I did not know how to behave or that I should act polite, know how to talk, and how to socialize with others. But I remember that I had a good life on the jungle farm with my parents.

I was the first child. I was too young to know that my father was a scoundrel until I was eight to nine years old.

I have tragic memories of the period from when I was nine through twelve years old. I had seen constant quarreling between my mom’s family and my father. My life consisted of oppression and emotional abuse from the age of twelve until eighteen. After that, it became a little better, but I always found myself sinking down again and again in different episodes. The most fearful time in my life was when I was seventeen, and I became a victim of the war in Laos. While working in Vientiane, I saw fighting in the streets and people escaping from bombs and running to find cover, myself being one of them. Luckily, I managed to escape alive.

A few months after I escaped from the Laos’ war, I got married, and God gave me three innocent daughters to look after. Before I knew it, I had the responsibility of three lives, and I vowed that I would never let my daughters suffer like I did when growing up. I was eighteen to twenty-two years of age when I brought them into the world, and it was my responsibility to arrange for their survival.

While searching for work for a few months, I met some Americans involved in the war in North Vietnam. One of them gave me a job, and there I met my wonderful husband.

After coming to America, my life changed drastically because this land gave me great opportunities. I strived hard to learn the English language until I was able to communicate with other Americans. I persevered in colleges and universities, but I was disadvantaged in English comprehension and grammar. Then, I

became a self-educated person and continued learning in whatever capacity I could. I achieved sufficient education to be certified as a substitute teacher in my home state. I did not have confidence in my basic education for teaching children at an early age, but now I teach children with full zeal.

Turning to a different direction, I created a rental business that brought me a comfortable retirement. As a result, I enjoy a great life in America. I reached out for this life, and I got it. If I had remained in Thailand, Thai people would have put me down everywhere, and I would have ended up in a miserable position.

I would like to conclude this section with a note on why I am writing this book. It is because of my children, grandchildren, and my desire to share these stories with my American friends that I decided to pen it down. I had plenty of things to share about myself, and if you are willing to read about my life, I will try with all my ability to present it to you based on whatever memories I have of it. I did not have any notebook, or baby pictures, or feedback; the only feedback I had is in my head.

Sticky Rice with Salt – The Story Behind the Title

Sticky Rice with Salt was the name I gave to honor my mother, who gave me moral support to live a better life and encouraged me along the way. One of them concerned Sticky Rice with Salt. My mother was born in a primitive culture in Ban Chiang village, Udon, Thailand. Being a daughter, she did not

receive any education because she had to be a caregiver for her parents. I had seen her brutal life as she was treated with cruelty by her parents and her husband (my father). I had seen her experience a traumatic life from when I was a toddler until I was twelve years old. I was nine years old when our family faced a tragedy and became desperately poor. I supported them by selling candy and pudding before and after school. I worked tirelessly, and I did not have the life of a normal child. I saw my father maligning his reputation and that of our family by gambling, squandering and abusing my mother.

Finally, I became fed up with my father for being such a selfish husband and unappreciative person to my mom and me, so I left Ban Chiang to attend fifth grade and hopefully find a better life instead of marrying a farmer as per my father’s advice; I disagreed about being a homemaker as well as a farmer. My mother encouraged me to strive for a better life in the city. In a primitive village in Thailand, ordinary people did not have any other choices except to become farmers.

Before I left Ban Chiang, my mother knew that I must journey into the wide world on my own. So, she told me a couple of phrases that have been stuck in my memory since I heard them.

No. # 1, Sticky Rice with Salt was a phrase that my mother often used. It meant I should never work as a prostitute in any

circumstances. And if I became desperately poor, I should eat sticky rice with salt—this phrase I chose to be my book’s title.

No. # 2, Do not let any man touch you! He will make you pregnant! For six years, I struggled to live with strangers in different places. They tried to take advantage of me as a teenager, but they failed because I heard my mother’s voice every time I confronted bad situations.

And #3 Do not give up Hard work will not kill you! My mother envisioned that I