Thailand 2012 - Part 3

Last night it was decided that instead of being at the home starting at nine, we would go for 7am. Most of us are already awake anyways and it's a great way to beat the heat!

After realizing Ovaltine is amazing and finishing up breakfast, we went on our way to see the buddies and get to work!

Just getting on the bus was gorgeous! The sun wasn't out yet and there was a lovely breeze. Getting to the home early meant we were able to get to work right away and not be so exhausted while working in the hot Thailand sun. We hoed up the area where the playground is and levelled it all off.


While the hoeing and levelling was going on, a few of us went with Christal to the office to sort out all of the donations that were brought from Canada. It was a welcome break for the heat. The goal was to sort out donations for staying at the home and things to go to the drop in centre. Then, plan out what we wanted to get for the buddies gift bags. Talking to JK about what the kids like was very interesting....For the girls they like clips (not headbands) and don't really like nail polish either. The boys are harder to buy for and would want something like wallets. Both boys and girls don't like simple toys like yo-yo's. What they do like are more "one use" toys: temporary tattoos, stickers, etc. It's quite interesting how the kids here are so different...or maybe they are the same but our perception of them are different. In Haiti, the girls loved ANYTHING to do with hair and nails and both boys and girls were all over simple toys like jump ropes, balls, etc. When we asked JK about books he said they would probably just rip them apart. It's quite different. When you think about it, we only know to not rip things apart because someone told us not to and explained to us why. We also re-use toys because we normally have  a variety to choose from that, when we get sick of something, we can play with somethings else, then something else, eventually working our way back to the first toy we were bored with. When you are coming from a not stable background, you don't have all the guidance and variety most of us were blessed to grow up with.

I think the most interesting part of the day was the poster I saw in the office. It's a poster that draws awareness to the issue of the child sex trade and encourages people, if they see anything going on, to report offenders. The fact there are posters about it makes you realize really how big of an issue it is in Thailand.


Poster in the office.

After we sorted things out and made a list of the  things we wanted to put in the gift bags we spent more time with Yeem and did more work on the library. Yeem and I had a great talk about the uses for the whole banana tree: The fruit for eating, the leaves to make bowls, the root as a herb, what the trunk can be used for - NOTHING goes to waste which is so rad. I recommended she try slicing up a banana and freezing the slices...I hope she gets around to trying it one day!  One thing Yeem always says is that it is "your design" and you can do whatever you want with it.  She offers helpful ideas and hints to what would look nice but she totally lets you just go with it. You can 100% tell she is a teacher at heart. I had mentioned to Natasha, who I had been helping, that if I had as amazing of a design as Yeem had, I would have a REALLY hard time letting others work on it - giving them the freedom to play with it and express themselves. I'd be more of a "just  let me do it" type. I am amazed at how she is such a giving person.


Soup to the left. Main course to the right.

Lunch today was delicious. On top of the meal we had a special soup made especially for us. We ate as much of is as we could but we couldn't quite finish. We asked JK what to do and his response was to eat it. DEAD SERIOUS....or very sarcastic....you can never really tell with JK.  He said to eat it or have the guilty conscience of throwing away food in from of the children. Let's just say, a few teammates really stepped up and ate..A LOT!



It was another amazing day and, as strange as it is, I am OK with waking up early knowing where we are going and what we will be doing.