Taiwanese officials have arrived at a village in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, to help repatriate a seven-year-old Taiwanese boy whose mother abandoned him there, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The ministry said it learned about the boy from a letter sent by a Thai woman in October last year and has been negotiating with the Thai government over the issuance of a visa for “little Ma,” who does not have identity papers.
The boy’s mother, who took him to Thailand when she went to join her Thai boyfriend in March 2010, returned home without him, and he ended up being taken care of by the villagers, the ministry said.
The ministry said it is also trying to obtain a proxy from the boy’s family, as the woman who wrote the letter said she has a friend who is willing to bring the boy to Taiwan.
Although Little Ma’s mother has not contacted him since she left him, his grandfather, who said his daughter became ill shortly after returning home, told the Chinese-language United Daily News that he wants to bring the boy home, even though he does not have much money.
“If he can come home, we’ll bring him up no matter how hard it will be,” the grandfather said.
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