This was the first time volunteering with kids in Thailand, so I didn´t really know what to expect. What I found in Mae Salaab, was an absolutely amazing bunch of kids and it has been a lot of fun to “work” with them for a while.
As I found out pretty quick, there was no schedule for volunteers you had to follow, just be out and about with the kids all day.
I brought some games over with me, a jigsaw, a memory and some bubbles, which the kids liked a lot.
So we played a lot of card games, ping pong and badminton.
When the kids are at home, they have to do one hour of community work in the morning, so when I was there, we did a bit of gardening, which was fun!! 
It was sometimes a little hard to communicate, as some of the smaller kids are only at the beginning of learning English, but they make the effort, which is brilliant to see.
What I also liked a lot, where the meals together.I was absolutely amazed, to find out, that the kids, set the tables, wash the dishes afterwards and that, all without moaning or anything.
They´re just one big family and every single one appreciates being there and helping out a little. That´s how it felt for me.
When they´re going to school, there is one hour in the evening when they have to sit down and do their homework or study.
And they just do it!! For me this is fantastic to see, as I have a little sister, I saw her growing up and I know, how kids can be when it comes to studying
Anyways I felt very welcome in the Stratton ABC Foundation, I would always do it again (hopefully I´ll find time soon) and I can recommend it to everybody, as it is a fantastic experience.
With John, these kids found somebody, who would probably give his last shirt, to keep up the Stratton Family. It was great to see, that there is people like that out there!!
Same, same for Boon and the lovely house mothers
Well thanks to everybody for a GREAT time and I hope to see you all very soon.
{ From all at Stratton House…..thank you you very much for the time you spent here and we really hope we will see you again}
First, apologies for a long delay in updating but we are still waiting for onsite internet connection.
Heather arrived last Thursday, along with a couple of bags of clothes collected in Australia, and was very keen to get on with anything to help us progress with prepping the home. Amongst other things she helped with giving the walls a good scrub in the kitchen/eating area.
She also got her design head on and went to work producing a model of how our playground may end up. This was very useful and inspirational and we decided to immediately go ahead with the ‘pencil’ fence.
Heathers partner Luca, and his daughter Chloe arrived on Monday, the same day as the Bamboo and we soon had a good bit of team work going.
All these posts then needed priming and then glossing in a variety of colours and everyone pitched in with this.
