Hi Selwyn, In case you don't see this I will email you direct also, early this week. I think the best i can reccomend is that you contact the RICD(Royal Institute For Child Development) (http://www.ricd.go.th/) close to Mae Rim. This is an excellent facility with expert Doctors , social workers and all the access and knowledge of the sort of help you ar […]
just seen your last three updates,with all the hard work done by everyone it was good to see there was also time to relax and have fun, thankyou to all who made this possible xxxx […]
Hi John My name is Selwyn Wilson a soon to 66 year old UK pensioner. I have been the only carer of 10 year old Arissa Sompamit from Omkoi since she was struck down with JEV in September 2009. She is brain damaged and has all that accompanies this Disease.I met 2 Thai ladies at the Mc Kean rehab centre where I have taken her for Occupational Therapy until Mar […]
My brother recommended I might like this blog. He used to be totally right. This post actually made my day. You can not consider simply how a lot time I had spent for this info! Thank you! […]
Giving Children A Better Chance in Northern Thailand
"telling someone what they have to learn is a long and tortuous road, often ineffective; giving someone the opportunity to explore what their brain finds particularly interesting at the time opens the gateway to optimization of that individuals potential" anon
Today has been a full day for our Volunteer Emilie. She arrived here at 8.30 and after breakfast of brown rice and chives got involved in a ball came in the yard with most of the children.
Shortly after 9 we all went up to the Foundations land to carry on clearing the overgrowth.
Emilie pitched in with the kids, clearing the straw already strimmed earlier in the week, whilst Tai took over strimming duty again.
With the heat of the day increasing we called it a day a at around 10.30. Tai however insisted on staying on with the strimmer. Leaving Zak with him we allowed him to carry on whilst we took the others home.
I returned shortly after and was amazed at the amount he had got done and he wouldn’t stop until shortly before midday.
I’m very grateful for that extra effort as it reduces the amount left for me to finish over the next couple of days.
Back home, after lunch Emilie interacted with the children in a variety of games and activities, using the opportunity to encourage the children to practice their English language skills through play.
The children’s daily duties were not neglected either and they even found time to change the fish pond water.
As the glitz of Xmas wears off its great to see our creative kids still get just as much, if not more, fun from their own hand made creations as any of the shop bought stuff. With lots of creative input over time the children here at Stratton House can often be found with scissors, glue and card, putting together a new Dolls House, Castle, or even moving parts toys.
Its heart warming to see a bunch of kids not yet so over run by modern technology that they can’t see the worth of the simple things made by their own hand.
Or indeed made for them with love of a sibling. Watch Zak as he plays with the “train” made by his older brother Tai, from old milk cartons and bottle tops.
On Thursday I received a phone call from acquaintances of our friend Pui, saying that they would like to come and donate food for the children this weekend.
We made the arrangement for Saturday lunchtime with me happy that yet more people are stepping forward to help but with no clue as to who these new people were.
At 11.30am Saturday morning I got a very nice surprise as we were treated to a visit from Bpaa Ohm and her generous group of friends.
Prior to starting the Foundation, I had run a business in the centre of Chiang Mai for 2 years and for the majority of that time Bpaa Ohm was my next door neighbour, with her own business. We got on famously then and I have often wondered how she was and remember those times fondly.
She was equally surprised, having no idea that I was running this Foundation. Our old landlords secretary, who worked above Bpaa Ohms shop was also in the group.
So it was a particularly happy welcome to this lovely group of Thai citizens, plus one “Farang” , Ian, who came and donated not only a fantastic lunch of Hang Lay and other traditional Thai food, but also bedsheets, kanom, kitchen supplies, such as cooking oil and sauces , and a generous cash donation of 4000 baht.
We would like to thank them all very much and hope it won’t be too long before we see them again.
The New Year brings renewed determination to get further prepared for the “permanent facility” for the Foundation. First need is to accurately measure the plot once more, in metres in order to go ahead with deigning and producing proper architectural plans.
Thanks to recently made contacts we now have someone prepared to help us with this.
So this week has seen a couple of trips by myself, up to the land with the strimmer and then again Saturday and Sunday mornings with the children pitching in with the job.
I am hoping to get the complete clearance done in the next couple of days so that those all important measurements can be made.
You may have seen a previous post “Funday Sunday” where I mentioned bumping into Ray , Tak and little Mik at San Kampaeng Hotsprings.
During our converstaion there Ray and Tak told us that they would like to invite us all to lunch at their home sometime soon.
Well that “sometime soon” was yesterday, and an amazing lunch it was too.
We arrived at their family home shortly before Midday to a very warm welcome. Mik is fortunate enough to have quite a store of toys, plus bicycles and scooters and it wasn’t long before all the kids were having fun.
Ray and Tak had laid on lots of kanom and pop as well as a fantastic spreed for lunch. As well as Thai food, Kapoaw, there was Spaghetti and meatballs in rich tomato sauce and eggplant bruschetta( I think), with mozzarella, and garlic toast.
Na Na the Huskie puppy was popular with the kids and very friendly.
As well as playing with the many toys and bicycles the children spent quite sometime playing Patong.
Anna and Tom seemed to have a great time too.
Shortly before leaving mid-afternoon we all went for a short walk and spent a little time watching a local fisherman at work in local pond.
We would like to say a very big thanks for a fantastic lunch to our kind host Ray, Tak and Mik.
Our top student, tai, was busy at his homework as usual last night, using one of our old collection boxes as a makeshift fish tank for his latest school project. This meant filling the coin slot and also using silicone to fix a leak at one of the corners.
We had paid a visit to the fish shop on the way back from school to by 2 different sort of gravel.
This morning he was busy arranging the 2 tone gravel, and adding plant decoration and of course a few of our guppies.
I’m not sure what the project was and today Tai, May 2 and bong all went off to The Royal Flora for the day, with the school. Gu’s class had gone on their trip last week and today was a test day.
Unfortunately we had not got a spare camera available today so no photos of the royal flora I’m afraid.
On picking the kids up I inquired after the fish and Tai told me that his teacher had not “marked” the homework yet. Concerned for the fishes welfare over the weekend, I insisted that he brought them home and took them back Monday if needed.
Its been pretty non-stop here this week, its been so good to have the help of Anna and Tom.
With the kids back to school on Tuesday it was a chance for our two volunteers to take it easy in the day time but they wouldn’t hear of it. In the morning they accompanied me up to our land.
Now that we have had sustained dry weather it is an opportunity to get some work done, not only planning for the new build but also to utilise the land whilst we raise funds.
The first thing that needs doing is to strim the overgrowth, which is quite substantial.
As Tom and Anna can testify, even though the rains have gone we are now up against the sun and so it is a case of slowly slowly, doing an hour or so before the heat of the day makes it difficult.
We are keen to get proper plans drawn up for the proposed permanent facility so it is important that we get new measurements in metres to facilitate this. To do that we need to find the borders and land markers, now hidden by the last 3 months growth of weeds.
With Anna and Toms help we cleared the path down to the land and found the first marker on Tuesday.
In the afternoon our to busy volunteers then helped cut posts for our new Re-Cycle storage, and when the heat got too much, set to peeling and chopping sweet potatoes for storage in the freezer.
They were then on hand to greet the kids from school and spend time playing before dinner.
On Wednesday they did take a well earned day off, as Anna had a phone interview for a new job in Australia. All that good Karma they’ve been building up obviously did the trick, with the news that she was successful in her interview.
Slightly sad for us as it means they will be leaving earlier than planned. But we are happy that Anna has secured herself employment for the couples new start in Australia. And they are still with us until Monday so we will all have to make the most of that time.
Today it turned out that the Primary School children had a day off. This changed our plans a little but it was another productive day.
In the morning Anna took care of the girls, whilst Zak accompanied Tom and myself to the land where we did more strimming, with Zak busy with the rake.
We were successful in our target for the morning, clearing down to, and finding, the furthermost land marker.
After a delicious lunch, made by our new House Mother; Zangboon; Tom and Anna came with me on a Re- cycle run, picking up re-cyclables from The American Pacific School Kindergarten, Kwan Wiang Moobahn and our local Garden shop in Sarapee. It was a massive haul from the garden shop, whose friendly lady proprietor has been saving stuff for a monthly collection for the last couple of months now. She stocks a wide range of garden plants, from the simple to the exotic, as well as high quality garden soil and other accessories. She also speaks a reasonable amount of English.
Back home everyone joined in sorting all the re-cyc;ables ; paper, glass, metal and plastic; and bagging it for storage in the new tidy pens I put up on Wednesday(photos coming soon).
Then it was back to chill out and playtime for everyone before dinner.
Once again a full day here with smiles lighting the place up and the sounds of laughter filling the day.
Anna and Tom arrived around 8.30am and after grabbing some breakfast it was time for the mornings work, continuing with the prep for the new shelving in the “workshop”.
Yet again Tai excelled at organising the team and by the end of the hours session the majority of the bamboo needed was cut and prepped to slot together in true DIY furniture kit style.
With the kids back to school tomorrow I asked Tai to draw out how he planned the shelves to be so that Anna, Tom and myself can put it all together whilst the kids are at school. Not surprisingly I was handed a very clear drawing later in the day detailing position and lay out for the shelves. Look out Ikea!!
After the work it was chill out time with a variety of activities going.
After lunch, prepared once again by Anna and the girls, our two volunteers accompanied me and the boys on a run into Sarapee for a few things we were in need of and for the boys to have their school haircuts.
Back at the house it was more fun and games with jigsaw making, Patong, bike riding and other games going on. Everywhere I looked was a beaming smile and the sounds of happy laughter rang out all day long.
Even the car washing session was full of laughter.
Look out for May2 on keyboard, under helpful instruction from Anna.
In between all the Xmas/ New Year merriment there has still been some work going on and I am happy to report that the dog houses are now complete and proving an instant hit with the dogs
