The arrival of the Chinese New Year brings a touch of spring and a sense of joy to the little border town in southern Thailand called Friendship Village. Of course, the ones that are most excited and merry, jumping with joy, are the village's children. The parents dress their children up in beautiful costumes, and the children's innocent faces blush and smile brightly. The gleam in their eyes reveals anticipation, as they wait for the once-a-year New Year's Eve feast. And after dinner the men of the village pass out red envelopes bulging with money.

Friendship Village was established by the Thai government in order to settle Malaysian Communist insurgents. [These partisans, mostly ethnic Chinese born in Malaysia, are remnants of an insurgency dating back to the 1950s who took refuge in neighboring Thailand to evade Malaysian government forces.] In April 1987, the Malaysian Communist Party and the government of Thailand reached an agreement for the cause of collectively building up the country. In little groups, Malaysian Communist partisans laid down their weapons and came out of the jungles, abandoning their protracted military struggle in the jungle and beginning a new campaign--the practical campaign of life....

In the early days, the villagers' lives were extremely arduous. They had to survive on the scanty subsidies handed out by the Thai government. They lived in big bungalows built of bamboo. Hundreds of people ate communally from a single "big rice bowl." No longer did they carry in their hands guns and amunition; instead they carried hoes and sickles to make the dense jungle "metamorphose" into verdant gardens and orchards. Some of the villagers began to spread out, some even moving as far away as Bangkok to set up new lives. Gradually, the villagers' living conditions stabilized and began to improve.

Because of factors beyond their control, the villagers who formerly belonged to the Malaysian Communist Party are not able to go back to Malaysia to visit relatives. Because of this, when the village had just been established, many relatives from Malaysia were willing to make the long and exhausting trek to seek out their families. Deeply cherished recollections, warmly aroused upon meeting, instantly dissolved into tears and heartfelt inquiries into each other's welfare. At every festival, group after group of kinfolk surged into the village. In an instant, the quiet little village changed into a boisterous and noisy place. With the passage of time, life settled into a routine, and those joyous and emotional occasions no longer repeated themselves. It is only at the Lunar New Year that relatives can be seen arriving from distant places, carrying packages big and small up the mountain slopes into the village to reunite and celebrate with their loved ones.

After seven years of struggle, the villagers could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel; last year the Thai government formally approved their request, admitting them as citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand. They had waited for thousands of days, burdened with worries for their own identities and the future of their children. Spring had finally arrived, and they could finally lay aside the weight they had carried in their hearts. They and their children had citizenship and a guarantee that they could rightfully build a new life on this land which was once a foreign territory, and which is now their own home in their own country.

The children's innocent faces crinkle with simple and carefree smiles. They have no way of comprehending the bitter struggles, the heavy burden, and the complex emotions of their parents' generation. In order to give their children greater competitiveness, parents don't begrudge paying the higher tuitions for an education in a private school, in hopes that they will gain language abilities in Thai, Chinese and English. Children are not only the future hope of their parents; they are the investment of their parents' blood and life.

Spring is upon us, and I wholeheartedly wish that the folks both young and old who live on this piece of earth can grasp a future as bright as the new year!

The bear protection symbols used by international conservation groups as "save-the-bears" activities sweep the world. Large animals are always the first to suffer from environmental destruction.