Street musician reunited with mother after 33 years

Danai Paenkrathok, 33, has an emotional reunion with his mother Chaluay Ploetkhunthod, 56, in Phimai district of Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday, after 33 years apart. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA - A young street musician’s long search for his biological mother has come to a happy ending, more than three decades after he was given to a married couple shortly after he was born.

Danai Paenkrathok, 33, had an emotional reunion with his mother Chaluay Ploetkhunthod, 56, in Phimai district of Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday, in the presence of neighbours and local reporters.

Ms Chaluay had given him to a married couple in Pak Chok district of this northeastern province shortly after he was born. The couple sold charcoal and worked as hired-hands and had moved from place to place before they settled down in Phimai district.

Danai had no birth documents to apply for an ID card, depriving him of the opportunity to get permanent work and social security benefits. But he did develop a musical talent and played guitar at local restaurants to support his foster parents when they fell ill. His adopted mother has a kidney disease.

When he could not get work entertaining in a restaurant, he played his guitar at a weekend market near his home, or hired himself out for casual work.

Danai said he had long been looking for his biological mother, and his search recently gained the attention of local media. After a story appeared on TV news he received a phone call from a woman who was a partially ordained nun at Wat Wang Yang in Saraburi province.

To his great delight the woman turned out to be his real mother, and produced the necessary documents to back it up. (continues below)

Street musician Danai Paenkrathok, 33, and his mother Chaluay Ploetkhunthod, 56 are reunited in Phimai district, Nakhon Ratchasima, on Wednesday. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)

Ms Chaluay said she was formerly Chamlong Ploetkhunthod, a native of Kham Thale So district of Nakhon Ratchasima, but had changed her name.

When she was 23 years old she had worked in Pak Chong district, and became pregnant by her boyfriend. He left her, and she gave birth to a boy at a local hospital on Oct 18, 1984. At the time she was jobless and took her newborn son to Khaek Pak Chong market, where she met a married couple, charcoal sellers Mhad Paenkrathok, now 56, and his wife Som Jaikla, now 70.

With no money to support her baby, she begged them to help by taking care of her son while she looked for a job. Mr Mhad and his wife agreed. One month later she found work in another place. After getting some wages, she returned to visit her son at the couple’s rented room, and then went back to work.

Four months later, she returned to Pak Chong to visit her little son, with baby clothes and other essentials for her child and the couple.

She went happily to their rented room, only to be told by neighbours the couple had moved away, Ms Chaluay recalled with tears rolling down her face.

She was deeply saddened. Nobody knew where the couple and her son had gone. She had looked for him throughout her life, without success. Two years ago, she decided to be ordained at Wat Wang Yang in Saraburi, where she would meditate in hope the merit she made would bring her son to her.

In late July, while waiting for a funeral ceremony to start at the temple, she had watched a TV news story about a young man looking for his mother, and his story sounded very familiar. Full of hope, she immediately called the phone number given on the TV, and later found the couple in whose care she had placed her baby 33 years ago.

Ms Chaluay showed the necessary documents relating to her son’s birth, verifying that he is Thai, not a migrant, and could apply for an ID card, and that she was his biological mother.

The reporters on Wednesday took Mr Danai and his mother to meet Phimai district chief Chusak Chunkor, so he could get information about applying for an ID card.

The district chief examined documents and questioned the mother. She and her son were asked to give DNA samples for testing as a final step. Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital has offered to do it for free.