Boot Camp

The last couple weeks has gone by really fast and very buisylike. I've been spending a few days helping to paint a building in a nearby villiage for CCD that will work as a home base for a Community Based Rehabilitation project that they are doing. Most of CCD's work is done with the disabled children who have been abandoned, but the idea of this project is to work with the poorer families in the villiages around Bangkok who are trying to raise disabled children. We send staff there to educate the families on the disabilities and the needs of the children, encouraging them not to give up on the child. It's a great project and I've been happy to be able to help out in a small way with it. Spending a hard day workin and being able to see some progress at the end of the day is also nice for me. Most of my days I work hard with the guys that have cerebal paulsy, but it's very difficult to see any immediate progress.

Last friday we took some kids after work to see Disney on Ice. It was a lot of fun for the kids. I was looking after one of the kids in a wheelchair. Not only was he such an amazing little guy to get to know, but his wheelchair scored us a couple front seat passes to the show. He really liked it and waved to all the actors as they were entering and exiting the ice. It was a blast to be there. I also have to say I'm thankful to all you guys who helped to contribute some money for me to be able to be here. It's nice to be able to take the kids to events like that and treat them to some overpriced cotton candy without putting myself into debt. I'm sure the kids really enjoy all the places I've been able to take them so far, like to the zoo, and to the movies. You guys really made it possible for me to be here doing this and I thank you.

Boot Camp!

Last weekend we took some kids on a retreat to a navy base on the beach a couple hours away from Bangkok. A buisnessman named Koon Visit, who I've had the opportunity to get to know here, has an amazing heart for the orphaned children around Thailand and brought 600 of them from around the country to a vacation at a navy base! He really likes the kids at CCD and we took about 50 of them or so to the retreat. Some of the kids we took had never seen the ocean, so it was an amazing opportunity to bring them along. 6 of the kids we took were guys I work with. They were so excited to be there and loved the all you can eat food court that was brought in for the kids. For me the weekend was completely exhausting filled with running around taking care of the guys that we brought along with the other smaller children that CCD had taken to be there too.

2 of the guys that I work with have Cerebal Paulsy really bad and don't have the ability to walk. We had to carry them into the ocean so they could swim. They loved it! Behind me in the picture you can see the human chain set up by the navy guys to keep the kids from going out to far. That beach gets really deep really fast, which I later understood to be crucial for the Navy since they can bring their large ships right up to the beach!

The navy brought this warship to the beach and took all the kids on a ride around the ocean on it. It was pretty cool for the kids to see. This happened on Easter Sunday, so while we were holding our worship service on the beach for anyone that wanted to come, this ship was docking in the backround. It made for an interesting easter service.

The first night we were there someone told me we'd be waking up at 8 or so in the morning which I thought was nice. I'd been had. We got up at 5:30 every morning to shower the guys and get ready for the day. The sun wasn't even out yet! I've never understood the concept of waking up before the sunrise...unless you were only doing it to see what it was like. But then, there's a lot that is foreign to me here. Me and a guy from Belgium were the only two white guys in the whole place. We stick out a lot, but that's not all bad. All the food venders would see us pass by and give us some of their food to eat to see if we liked their cooking. I gained 2 kilos that weekend alone!

Everyone, staff included, has been pretty worn out since that trip. We've been working with the kids for a few weeks nonstop now and are in much need of a break. All of us volunteers are taking friday off to go down to a nearby island and chill out for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to that, though I have to wake up in 3 hours to leave for it. The next couple weeks will be busy also. We have a staff retreat next week which will be nice to spend some time with the staff that we don't usually get to see in a normal week. After that is the Thai New Years which everyone around here seems to be excited about. It's the biggest holiday in Thailand, everyone runs around throwing water on each other. I'm excited to see what that's like. Then it should be back to normal after all that is done with. I'll get back in touch with you guys next week after I'm back. Thanks for reading this far!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Well, I didn't get any pictures of it, but I showed up to work yesturday wearing a very green hawaiian shirt that I got on Sunday. It's the kind of shirt that the people here wear for the Thai New Years that they are celebrating next month, so naturally, everyone was wondering why I was a month early wearing the shirt. I told the kids I work with about St. Patricks day and all the traditions that go along with it, such as drinking green drinks, dying the chicago river green, and beating up all the rebels who choose not to wear any green on such a day. The beating up the rebels bit I was able to show them by pointing to the example of Nin and his not wearing green. After the thrashing I gave Nin on St. Patricks day I think he learned his lesson. I showed up for work today and Nin pointed out to me that he made sure to wear a green shirt today. Better late then never. After I helped him eat some lunch he said he wanted to drink some green pop, so I bought him some green Fanta to celebrate St. Patty's day. I figured it was OK since it was still technically St. Patricks day in America.

After work today me and Sethi (belgium guy) went to go play badmitton with some of the staff. I haven't played in years and it showed. I also sweat a lot seeing as the temperature is in the ninety's (36 degrees celsius today for you international types). It was a lot of fun to hand out with the staff after work, and it was good to get a bit of excersise in as well. We're supposed to go back tomorrow and play some more. I won't forget my shoes then since I had to pay 1.50 today to buy socks to go with the 2 sizes too small shoes that they made us borrow.

Monkeys, Birthdays, and Lasagna

It's been a pretty busy week here, and definitely a bit interesting. Monday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of the volunteers at the house. Since my birthday was friday, we walked into the house and he assumed the surprise was for me. His birthday was in January so it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to him when they said his name in the Happy Birthday song. It was a lot of fun though.

Monday they asked me to take care of a highly autistic kid living in the government house for about an hour a day. The staff that works with him seem to quit shortly after their assignment, so someone (who shall remain nameless) decided I would be a great candidate to walk him around. Noone seemed to give me any info on the kid, or even tell me of my new assignment until the morning I was to start, so I wasn't too pleased about the idea to begin with. If I knew much about autism it might be different. But I don't even think I know how to spell the word right, and I defintitely have never worked with this kid before or knew what I was even supposed to be doing. I didn't find out till after the first day (which only lasted 20 minutes or so)that the kid loves to bite the new volunteers. Fortunately I strong armed him away from any attempts. The second day only lasted 15 minutes before he tore apart some poor guy's (and probably hungry guy that day) food sending it flying all over the place. I haven't seen the kid since that day and expressed my frustration with the whole situation so we'll see what happens. I hope they can find the new staff that will take care of him soon.

Saturday we took some ten kids or so to the zoo to see all the animals. Average age of the little ones was about 4 I guess. I was in charge of a little girl named Anna. I did have to chase her down a couple times, but I never lost her for too long. She did however manage to acquire a lollypop from somewhere...I don't even want to know how. I wouldn't have given it too her (she might've known that part) so she was able to get someone else to open it up for her. Most of the kids from the orphanage are like that since they always have random people coming in and giving them stuff. They never grow up with parents or anyone close enough to them to teach them the little things in life, such as taking something that isn't yours in the government wards might help you to survive (or at least be happy), but in the real world that's stealing and not really permitted.

This is me with Anna showing her one of the Hippos at the zoo. I think she liked the tigers the best. It was a ton of fun being able to work with the little kids for a day, since I don't usually see them too much. They tend to bite, pinch, cry, and run away more than the guys I usually work with who have cerebal paulsy. The kids were really cute though and it was great to see them getting excited at all the animals. Some of the other volunteers planned the trip and I was glad to be able to come along and help with one of the kids.

It was also my birthday on Friday. One of the girls that volunteers with the kids around the government homes brought a cake for me to the zoo. We had a short party/cake break with all the kids there. On friday I didn't do too much. One of the guys with cerebal paulsy gave me a t-shirt for my birthday which was really nice since they don't have much to begin with. I was just thankful to be here with the guys and spend it with them. Friday night I spent with a couple of the volunteers here, then the zoo all day saturday with the kids. Saturday night we went to an American lady's house in Bangkok. She volunteers time for CCD, mainly working in the office doing fundraising things. She made us all lasagna which tasted great. I'd been craving lasagna for a while now so it really hit the spot. After three pieces of that and 6 pieces of garlic bread (I like bread) they brought out a surprise birthday cake for me that one of my bosses had made for me. They also brought a couple pies. I haven't been that full since I left America!

Buriram

I've made it back from Buriram last week without a problem at all. Getting there was looking at first like it wasn't going to happen after we kept getting lost trying to leave a nearby city and ended up making a 5 hour car trip in about 8 or 9 hours. Thai people love to give you directions to where you want to go (pressumably because it makes them look smart) even when they have no idea where you want to go. Consequently, we arrived in Buriram at the church across the street from the families house around 2:30 in the morning. I slept upstairs above the church while the family slept in their house across the street. The family was poor when they were living in the slums of Bangkok, and now for the last 9 months they have been living in a villiage, still poor, but with a seemingly better quality of life. It's quieter at least. I was able to meet a bunch of people from the small villiage that would come to church, or that would know the family. I stuck out pretty badly as the only white guy around. Not to mention that I usually never have to look up to see someone in the eyes. That's a picture above of me and the family. We went to a lake nearby for some lunch and to relax at a restaurant on the beach.

I can't remember these guys names, but I'm sure I'll be seeing them again. They all go to the small church here that P Charlee (the father of the fam) leads. The first guy is a carpenter that was putting a small room on the back of P Charlees house when I arrived Friday, the next guy farms a rice field nearby (an impressive looking field at that) and the last guy asked us for a ride into town the first day. We never did give him a ride back even though I was pretty sure we were supposed to wait for him. He's still alive anyways.

P Charlee teaches at the church on Sunday mornings and leads a bible study there on Friday nights. He spends a lot of other nights at prayer meetings or praying for the people around the villiage that come and ask for help. His days are spent farming a rice field. Most of the guys around here work 7 days a week without a break. It's a pretty poor villiage. The church they have is small, being as most people are Buddhist. There's about 30 people or so in the church. P Charlee's daughter, Cherry, and son, Peach, help with the worship on Sundays. Usually there's another couple guys there for guitar and singing, but they were out that day so I got to help play the guitar with the kids. It was a great time getting to play with them. When I stayed in the slums with them the kids were usually so shy with me and Keith and hardly talked to us. Now at 10 and 12 years old they are leading worship for the church, playing keyboard, bass, and drums. It was a lot of fun.

This is a picture of me and a lot of the children from the villiage who went to church on Sunday. We're standing on a place they are hoping to be able to build an actual church someday. Now they meed in the bottom of a house across the street from this land, but P Charlee is trying to get enough money together to build a small church here along with a place that they can teach the bible to the local Thai's who want to become Pastors and future church leaders. P Charlee is also hoping to someday transform the front of his small house into a free internet cafe for the children in the slums to help with their homework. He really cares for the people in this villiage and seems much happier to be there instead of in the slums. The people in the church are also hoping to do something for the children of the slums who want to continue on with their education after the age of 15. The government stops paying for their schooling then and the families in the villiage are predominantly poor and can't afford the $300 a year to keep the kids in school. Many of the children leave for Bangkok looking for work. I'm planning to go back in the end of my stay here and see if they're is anything I can do to help get some kids the opportunity to stay in school after the government stops paying. I'm hoping we may be able to get something up through the church their for the kids in the villiage. God willing.

All in all I was amazed at the generosity and kindness of the family and the people in the villiage towards me while I was there. They refused to let me pay for anything (including my bus ticket back to Bangkok) even though they don't have much, and they treated me as one of their own. It was a really great experience and I look forward to being able to make one more visit before I get back to America.