Twelve-year-old Asila is a popular storyteller in the schools of Yala where she helps her two aunts bring cheer to children who have lost their parents to deep-South violence.

But Asila has her own story of sorrow. Last month she lost her father to the insurgency.

He was shot dead by militants as he gathered feed for his herd of cows.

Asila was in Bangkok yesterday with aunts Korepoh and Patimoh Pohitaedaoh. When she related her story of grief to a discussion of the deep-South crisis she ended it in tears.

The girl said her 16-year-old brother dropped out of school after the death of her father and she remains unsure of her own future if her mother can no longer afford to continue her education.

Her school has been closed for some time as a result of the violent insurgency.

Asila wants to participate in her aunts' dream of helping orphans and those who have lost loved ones in the troubles.

"I would like to work with children like my two aunts do. I would like to make orphans smile," the young girl said.

Korepoh and Patimoh brought 70 children from Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat to Bangkok to discuss the problems there. All the children have lost a parent to or been orphaned by the violence.

While they all keep smiling their stories are distressingly similar and repeat a tale of never-ending loss that started when violence re-emerged in early 2004.

Korepoh, 25 and Patimoh, 24, lost their three brothers within a year. Asila's father was the last. "Now we have four sisters and the 13 children our brothers left behind with us," said Korepoh.

Being victims of the loss themselves, the two sisters decided they would work for others, especially the women and children. Apart from the children of their own families the sisters shelter 14 orphans from Yala and help find them financial supporters.

"These supporters send us Bt600 every month," Korepoh said.

With the support of the Siam Cement Foundation the two sisters launched their "Market of Dreams Project".

Young storytellers like Asila visit schools to read and tell stories of hope to the young of the three southernmost provinces.

Korepoh and Patimoh now have 78 young volunteers working with them in Yala. They share a dream of bringing peace to their land and promoting a spirit of forgiveness.

"Two orphans I met at the Sufficiency Economy Village [the Widow Village in Narathiwat] built by Her Majesty the Queen told me they would take revenge for their fathers' deaths. I told them if they did others would do so too, and the violence would never end," said Patimoh.

Although money is scarce Korepoh and Patimoh will not give up their dream of bringing hope to those who have lost loved ones.

Yohan, from the Rotan Batu Widow Village recalled the September 2004 day his father died. "That day he brought me to school and told me he would pick me up in the evening. I was studying at Grade 11 at the time."

Yohan returned home to learn his father had been shot dead.

"The person who killed him didn't think he had a big task to take care of his wife and children," he said.

Yohan's smile is back now and his life is moving on at the village that operates under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen.

However, many other fatherless children and widows struggle with uncertain futures in their home villages.

There are many stories to tell. Matoo, a young Muslim from Pattani, said the conflict could not be explained on a piece of paper.

Meanwhile, Asila is crying again. She has more stories to tell.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation