Special moments with Deon during our 2 year trip (Sept. 2011 to July 2013)
This is first time that De and I will be on a long trip. And of course, I want to document all but most especially, the extraordinary moments we have. The pictures and these articles will help make the memories live on even for Deon.
As I do this, I feel some sort of emptiness because I missed documenting the special moments I had with Kel and Jo. I wish I have been able to do the same for them. Realizing what I have missed inspired me to take time out to document this travel with Deon. Yet, at the same time, I realize that back then, when they were younger, my priority was making ends meet, putting food on the table, investing on their education and facing all the other challenges common among solo parent. This time that I have with De is a privilege for which I am thankful.
I know that Kel and Jo understand the big difference in our lives then and now and thus will not mind what I am doing this.
Disclaimer: Deon’s statements are as he said them.
- first time to be with Deon on a trip
- want to document these special moments because the events won’t happen again but the articles will make the memories live on even for Deon
- there is the feeling of having missed on some similar moments with Kel and Jo that served as inspiration to do this with Deon -> preoccupied with earning a living to support the family
- Kel and Jo: to understand the difference between then and now: the focus then was to make ends meet; wish that they could write and capture these moments again with them
- Anything in “ “ are RAW exact words
Deon is very $$ conscious – March 2012
For lunch today, De asked for pizza, so we went across the street to Pizza Hut. After he ordered his medium-sized pizza, the cashier said, “425 baht” (14 CND).
De’s eyes rolled and whispered to me, “Should we leave?”
I said, “No, it’s OK.”
Then, he said, “Thank you sooo much, Mom” in a very grateful tone.
Then, the cashier asked if he wanted a drink too, but Deon said, “No, thank you.” He knows that commonly, my bowl of noodle for lunch or dinner averages only 25 baht (80 cents).
I left for my noodle next door while he waited for his pizza. When I came back, he was eating his pizza, looking so glum, so I asked him why he didn’t want a drink. He said that because the pizza was so expensive already, he didn’t think he should get a drink, too. I said, “It’s OK baby, you can have a drink.”
Then he said, “OK, I will take water then.”
I said, “OK, but FYI, coke and water cost the same.”
Then he said, “Oh then, of course, I’ll take the coke instead.” LOL.
I wonder how many 10 yrs old would have this kind of money sense??
Deon’s passive income
I discovered “Kiva Gift Card” as I was surfing the internet and saw their website. Kiva is an organization that deals with micro-financing, that is, extending small loans to people in less developed countries to help them start up their own business to, eventually, improve their living standards. I decided it would be a good idea to get a gift card as gift for De for his upcoming birthday since he has already been getting trained to underwrite loans for me over the past 3 days. This will give him a chance to learn to manage his own account and choose who he wants to support instead of doing these under my guidelines. I figured that this is a good time to start introducing “entrepreneurship” and the “passive income” concepts to him, even at 10 years old. And at the same time, I can instill in him, even at this early age, how much he can affect the world by making a difference in the lives of people around him, even those that he doesn’t know.
The deal we agreed on is that the principal is mine. But for every loan that gets paid, he will get to keep $5/loan as his lender fee, therefore it is important to management risk in terms of the payment ability of potential borrowers. The other income he will see is a 12% per annual in interest on the principal amount he lends out. Loans to Kiva are actually interest free but I made this offer so that I can introduce the concept of “passive income” to him. I was impressed that it only took him less than 5 minutes to understand what I was talking about.
By the time I got home from dinner one evening, he’d already lent out 10 loans from his own account, which he set up by himself after receiving my gift card that morning. I asked him what his top 3 priorities were when he decided on the borrower. He enumerated the following:
- Short term ones. This way he can have his money back sooner and re-lend it to others since he gets paid $5 per loan therefore the more loans he gives out, the more money he can make on the per transaction lender fee. He realized that the interest is the same regardless of how many loans since the lender fee is based on total O/S amount only.
- No currency risk. Choosing short term loans will not have him worry about losing money on the exchange rate at the time the loan gets paid off. Haha. I didn’t even think of this when I underwrote my own loans.
- The business the borrower wants the loan for. If it’s a game that he thinks is cool, then he will lend more than the minimum amount of $25. His biggest loan so far is $75. LOL.
I think De has good potential to become an entrepreneur when he grows up because he seems very interested in the business talks he and I share while we are traveling. On top of this, his money sense seems very strong too.
Jibjab card business
Inspired by the teachers from Chiang Mai school who loves Deon’s Jibjab cards, De continued to produce jibjab cards and became very famous in the school we volunteered in for being the Jibjab Specialist. He also trained the computer teacher there to do it because the teachers loved all the jibjab cards he had made.
So I suggested that he should get into that business, making jibjab cards for people and start calling himself the “Jibjab Specialist.” So he took $12 from his red pocket money to pay for a 1-year membership at Jibjab which allowed him to select hundreds of different cool cards to create for all kinds of occasions. He could email the final card or post it on FB for his customers. I gave him a lecture on “branding” and “marketing” and on taking advantage of “social networking” to promote his business. But since he cannot advertise as advertisements are not free, he can just say “JibJab Specialist” and offer to do it for FREE. “Donations” are most welcome, of course. Hahaha.
I only want him to think of targeting family and friends in the meantime. He’s only 10, and I need to give him room to develop and enhance his skills or else I will run out of things to teach him soon. Haha.
It’s the entrepreneur and marketing concepts I want to teach him now. So I told him that people can send donations to my Paypal account, then I’ll just give him the cash since he doesn’t have his own Paypal account yet. In reality, of course, I won’t actually get my family and friends to pay. I will just give him the cash and say it’s from them.
He is already coming up with different offers such as discounts if they order 5 or more and a bunch of other things, too. Hahaha. So cute!! He is so happy that he got 3 customers so far and 9 cards ordered. He decided that $1 a card is fair, so that’s $9 income which is 75% of what he had paid for his annual membership. And that’s just in one day. Hahaha.
And the best is that he’s so happy about it!!
Deon’s Cute Moment – March 2012
Deon has matured a lot lately. During our walk home from a swimming lesson in Chang Mai, all of a sudden, I would hear words like “my perspective of it is…” or “I need to do deeper thinking before I answer…”, etc. etc. So cute! LOL!
I told him, “De, I’ve really enjoyed my journey with you over the last 5 months.” Then he said, “I feel exactly the same, Mom. Also, I love you so much that it doesn’t even make sense.”
Oh, but then the child in him still shows every day:
Deon: “Mom, all I want is one French kiss, or a tongue to tongue with you”.
Me: Those are for lovers only.
Deon: “But you are my lover because we love each other so much”.
Me: Mothers and sons have a different kind of love for each other.
He disagreed…
Me: Let me ask your brother to see if he agrees with you. If he says yes then I will reconsider.
Deon: “Oh no, don’t do that or else I will never hear the end of it from him.”
LOL…. And I thought that that was the end of it. But…
The following day, he said “OK, why don’t you tell me what it would take you to do just one French kiss with me?”
Then, I said, “I won’t, ‘cause mothers just don’t tongue to tongue with their sons.”
Then he said, “Not even for 20 wish coupons?” He said this because instead of gifts, I have started giving all my kids “wish coupons” as their awards for good work at school or for birthdays and Christmases since 5 years ago.
Deon’s photography
While we were in Chiang Mai, we went for an ATV ride. I asked the shop owner to help me take a few photos. It turned out that he is a professional photographer. The close up shot he took of Deon and me were the best shot of us among the thousands of pictures we had taken together. I liked it so much that I got inspired to encourage Deon to get into photography on that same day especially on the “shallow depth of field” area (meaning, the focus is on the subject while everything else is blurred. This results in a 3D effect and the subject stands out). I figured that, one, he can learn an awesome new skill, two, he can help me take nicer pictures in the future and three, he can claim it as his “fine arts” subject for his online school. LOL
I am so impressed with the shots taken by Deon. He is such a quick learner! He watched 2 videos on cameras from Brain Pop website and a 3 minute video on YouTube today. Then I spent another 10 minutes teaching him the little I learned in my 10 weeks of “beginner’s photography” class a year ago. I feel like I so got my money’s worth now. LOL
Witnessing how quickly Deon learned things over the last 5 months, I can say that he is clearly a very smart kid. But I also recognize the fact that I need to find a way to handle his “patience level” next. Yeah, his patience level and mine are very similar.
Indeed, Deon and I have woven so many “good times” together during this journey and they will all become “memories” which will be with us forever. I am so grateful I made the decision to travel with him…. It’s been such an amazing experience. And I am convinced this trip might be the best gift Deon will ever receive from me. It’s so priceless!!
I hope that all other parents can have this privilege and do the same.
