Boy, 9, in odyssey to find his parents
Nine-year-old Billy Chaowandee, who fled his grandparents' home in Khon Kaen in a desperate attempt to find his parents in Bangkok, has been discovered in the capital after begging for 19 days.
Billy claimed he left home because he was afraid his grandparents would punish him for setting fire to a neighbour's hut and straw stack and he now refuses to return. His grandfather Thong-on Sriboonmee and grandmother Thongyoon Sudngooleum alerted the authorities and the boy was finally found by a Bangkok social worker in Nonthaburi, north of the city. Officials visited Billy's grandparents and concluded that the age gap explained the boy's reluctance to return home. According to the boy, he embarked on the 400km-train journey to Bangkok with no cash, begging for money along the way and then paced the capital's highways looking for his parents. He said his mother left him when he was three while earlier this year his father told Billy not to contact him again. In Khon Kaen, Billy received just Bt5 a day to go to school and had to help his grandparents with housework and farming duties. Billy claimed he was regularly beaten and his grandfather said he had left home on at least three other occasions to look for his parents. Kanong Chumtok The Nation
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