Following a plea on social media for help, CityNews visited the home of a woman who is struggling to care for her 81 year old bed-bound father, her 69 year old mother and three nieces and nephews.
Piyamas ‘Pa Daeng’ Somaket is 48 years old and says that she has had to go into 50,000 baht debt to sustain her family and keep her nieces and nephews in education. She used to be a food vendor, scraping enough to care for her large family, but since the pandemic, she has lost her income and is now delivering food, which is not enough to pay for all their needs.
On arrival we saw that her father was paralised after a stroke and unable to leave his bed, her mother currently caring for her father’s needs. The nieces and nephews belong to parents who are away in other provinces and have been incommunicado for many months now.
She said that she just wanted to earn her keep and be able to afford to sustain her family, but it simply wasn’t possible at this time and taking out a loan with no way to repay it was highly stressful. That is why she reached out on social media to ask for help, she said.
Over the past two weeks she has received 800 baht from strangers who have seen her post. But she says that the people she borrowed money from are causing her huge amounts of stress, often calling up to wish ill on her entire family and she would very much be grateful if someone could help her out.
CityNews won’t post her bank account details, but if you wish to help Pa Daeng you can call her directly at 099-727-7062.
