This is just a short and sweet message to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported our three week trip to Thailand through reading the blog and praying for us.
However, the blog does not end here completely as Emma, who is staying out in Thailand for a year, will be using it once she starts her work in a couple of weeks...
Watch this space!
Friday, 22 July 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Delays, delays, delays.
This is, I'm aware, a blog that was meant to be up several days ago (Monday, date unknown. They tend to become rather redundant out here) but we've gotten ourselves a bit behind in terms of posting. You'll probably get today’s blog tomorrow. Bah. You'll cope.
Monday was spent in two groups. One went white water rafting (Limbs are all still attached, sanity still retained, fun was had by all) and the second smaller group went to Chiang Mai zoo. I was in the first group, so I'll have to rope in someone else to regale you with zoo stories.
Anyway, we didn’t actually split until stupidly-ridiculously-early o’clock, which is 9.30am in English. Then there was a painfully long trip to the rafting site, somewhere up in the mountains, where we weren't so much driving on roads as flat pieces of land that vehicles had to contend for with elephants and seemingly oblivious pedestrians. The ‘flat’ part is a lie as well, really. Nothing is flat once you get past the big towns. There were dips big enough and with enough mud in that I thought the van might be swallowed, and we’d have to clamber out through the windows and find someone to come pull it out. Probably an elephant.
You know you’ve gone a bit native when the sight of an elephant every ten minutes isn’t strange anymore.
Enough on elephants. I’m probably just making you all seethingly jealous, and I can do that perfectly well if I actually stick on topic. Because white water rafting was amazingly awesome. Just so you know.
So, we got there at, I don’t know, 11ish o’clock, waited around for ages (Not the most impressive part of the trip. Tired and bored does not a good combination make) and then got given a safety talk which we listened to carefully. Partly because English speaking Thais still often have an accent that makes them hard to understand, but mostly because of one of the other tourists there who found himself dragged into the demonstration part of the safety talk. According to other members of the team he looked remarkably like Bill Bailey. Kept them quite entertained for the whole thing.
The lunch provided wasn’t very memorable. We won’t talk about it.
Once the helmets and life jackets went on we all turned into children again. Head butting and chest bumping was rife. The paddle went way too far past my nose. And the boats themselves felt like giant sized dingys; the kind that you might use at the beach with your kids. There was about five per boat, with an instructor at the back steering and making sure we were all safe. Even when people fell out (Which did happen, we were a big bunch of amateurs after all) they were calm and collected, co-ordinating two or more boats to get people out. I was personally rescued by Matt Bird and Jake Fawkes, pulling me in by the shoulders of my life jacket. Amusingly (I find it amusing, if you don’t then be comforted by the fact that we all came back with no more than bruises. Mostly from other group members rather than any rapids) I fell out when our boat was back peddling to help get two others out of the waves. Two girls from Australia who we’d never met, though we did get the name of one; she was rescued along with me and sat in the boat with us for a bit. Her name began with a Z. No-one can remember any other letters.
Also, there may or may not have been crocodiles in the river. We’re not sure if our instructor was joking as he walloped the water with his paddle and hollered “Crocodile! Crocodile!” Pretty sure he wasn’t serious.
He laughed at us anyway.
Speaking of strange and terrifying animals, I’m going to grab one of the zoo people. Be right back.
When we went to the zoo it was great fun. We saw lots of animals like giraffes, koalas and pandas. The best bit was the aquarium, we saw lots of fish. We went into a tube and surrounding us were lots of fish. To get round the zoo we went in a tram car, and also went on a monorail which is like a big bus in the sky. I had lots of fun with Alice and Amanda; this was one of my best days in Thailand.
Ellie Fawkes.
And Emma.
With editing by everyone.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
A bit late....
So this is Sunday's blog. And Sunday was church. We all headed out to Jill and Simon's church, City Gate Church. The Church that we at Anderson have the link with. It was great to go and visit and see where Jill and Simon are based at and where we from Anderson our supporting them at. For Kenny, Alice and Emma it was a chance to see some old faces and catch up from last time which was really great.
Henry with some of the team led the Sunday school, teaching the story of Jonnah for the last time. And Pete preached in the main service, bringing greeting from the UK and a challenging message of fellowship.
Thai churches like to eat together after each meal and we joined with a lovely meal prepared for us.
Church signified the end of all the hard work that we had done, with the rest of the time being touristy stuff. We had the afternoon off and some went swimming and some put there feet up, before saying goodbye to Simon and Joanna. Simon is off to Haitti for 2 months, doing some more relief work and then will be spending a month in Cuba (I think!) on a bridge building project. Our prayers go with him for a safe time. He will be passing through the UK in September. Joanna has gonna to Europe to visit her friends, she has gone for a month and again our prayers go with her for a safe and fun and relaxing time.
Well another blog will be posted soon as we are a little behind, but we are all getting ready to head home, after an amazing time. Will be in touch soon
Love
Kenny
Henry with some of the team led the Sunday school, teaching the story of Jonnah for the last time. And Pete preached in the main service, bringing greeting from the UK and a challenging message of fellowship.
Thai churches like to eat together after each meal and we joined with a lovely meal prepared for us.
Church signified the end of all the hard work that we had done, with the rest of the time being touristy stuff. We had the afternoon off and some went swimming and some put there feet up, before saying goodbye to Simon and Joanna. Simon is off to Haitti for 2 months, doing some more relief work and then will be spending a month in Cuba (I think!) on a bridge building project. Our prayers go with him for a safe time. He will be passing through the UK in September. Joanna has gonna to Europe to visit her friends, she has gone for a month and again our prayers go with her for a safe and fun and relaxing time.
Well another blog will be posted soon as we are a little behind, but we are all getting ready to head home, after an amazing time. Will be in touch soon
Love
Kenny
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Im Jai Camp - Day Two
Yesterday was our second day of teaching at Im Jai school, teaching today was rather different from yesterday in the two more advanced groups of children as they cut through the teaching material yesterday like a knife through butter - niccceee!! However the bottom group were rather more like a knife through cheese, or granite. So the teaching plan worked well for them and me and my counter part, Andrew Weston, (better known as the dream team, we have no idea why...) delivered it so as they could tell the time to the precise minute! ;) geniuses in the making! Then as we moved on to the second best group we could tell they needed rather more English conversation than learning the word "Clock" so we played time/ number based games whilst having conversations as well, encouraging English and cruelly punishing any use of Thai, although there was a three strike rule, of course. Finally we got to the oldest, most skilled group of Thai children who preceded to bully and insult us the moment we got in the door, therefore we had a rather funny English group conversation, with some haughty participants even I must say! Then we all stopped for lunch and, feeling rather confident in my new found "Thai skillz" asked a boy if he was enjoying his lunch, he then preceded to get me a chair without reply... not sure what happened there. After lunch we played group games such as 'fetch', 'blow-up-balloons-and-shove-them-up-a-Thai-kid's-shirt' and so on. These were mildly ridiculous, verging on insane as my group began to cheat more and more as hoops etc mysteriously broke - I honestly had no idea! Then it was time for a huge group photo and a tearful goodbye, actually I didn't cry but as you can tell I'm enjoying exaggerating! ;) Then as we left we decided to pop in to a rather handy nearby kfc for some English 'afternoon tea' :)
Finally we all made our selves presentable and headed over to the May's house to watch a christian film. Anyway the end was again rather emotional. So, once we had arrived home, we all slept like logs due to the emotional toll on us during the day.*
*This was, in fact, not entirely true as most of us stayed up to enjoy some jokes from sikipedia.
THE ENDDDDDDD!!!!!!
JOSEPH FOSTER, playwright, Doctor and overall lyrical genius.
Finally we all made our selves presentable and headed over to the May's house to watch a christian film. Anyway the end was again rather emotional. So, once we had arrived home, we all slept like logs due to the emotional toll on us during the day.*
*This was, in fact, not entirely true as most of us stayed up to enjoy some jokes from sikipedia.
THE ENDDDDDDD!!!!!!
JOSEPH FOSTER, playwright, Doctor and overall lyrical genius.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Teaching, Sermons and Praise Parties
Today our final children's camp on the trip began. The camp is at Im Jai orphanage. We also took down 12 kids from Jireh and the team helped out teaching English and organising games for the afternoon. Today was a hard day by all accounts. The three classes beign taught differed greatly in their ability and knowledge of English. This made teaching difficult especially with the eldest group many of which were older that their teachers. But everyone did well to stick with the lessons and did their best to improvise.
Pete had a lazy day getting his sermon ready for the service on Sunday. Thanks to Mrs Weston for her much valued updates from home. Jake passes on his gratitude.
In the evening we went back to Im Jai for tea and then the young people had arranged a praise party for themselves. Most of the team returned back for some well earned R&R and Marylene gave a talk to the young people about where they fitted into Gods plan for Thailand.
As we listened (with translation obviously) you could not but be impressed with two things. Firstly the privilege of the opportunity to share some of God's love for these young people. The international reputation Thailand has in respect of children is not good. To have the chance to remind these people that God loves them and is there for them was great.
Secondly their manners, the group sat quietly and attentively listenng to her for a good 40 minutes, far longer than we would think our own children could listen in the UK. One of the challenges to me from the trip here has been looking at the young people here and thinking what a disservice that Thai reputation is to them. These are perfectly polite and respectful children quite the opposite to some of our little darlings back home!
Plenty of food for thought for any parent, although quite what you do with that knowledge I'm at a loss to fathom. Less than a week till be are all home now and the team is getting tired from giving out so much. Please pray for our camp tomorrow and for the safety of the Bird family as Joanna and Simon fly out to Norway and Haiti respectively. Pray that all the organisations will go smoothly and they will find time in the busy schedule to have some family time.
On a more personal note. Happy birthday to my dad. It is St Swithins day today so if it's raining in the UK today it is going to rain for forty days and forty nights! Either way pops many happy returns on the day.
Pete and Jane
Pete had a lazy day getting his sermon ready for the service on Sunday. Thanks to Mrs Weston for her much valued updates from home. Jake passes on his gratitude.
In the evening we went back to Im Jai for tea and then the young people had arranged a praise party for themselves. Most of the team returned back for some well earned R&R and Marylene gave a talk to the young people about where they fitted into Gods plan for Thailand.
As we listened (with translation obviously) you could not but be impressed with two things. Firstly the privilege of the opportunity to share some of God's love for these young people. The international reputation Thailand has in respect of children is not good. To have the chance to remind these people that God loves them and is there for them was great.
Secondly their manners, the group sat quietly and attentively listenng to her for a good 40 minutes, far longer than we would think our own children could listen in the UK. One of the challenges to me from the trip here has been looking at the young people here and thinking what a disservice that Thai reputation is to them. These are perfectly polite and respectful children quite the opposite to some of our little darlings back home!
Plenty of food for thought for any parent, although quite what you do with that knowledge I'm at a loss to fathom. Less than a week till be are all home now and the team is getting tired from giving out so much. Please pray for our camp tomorrow and for the safety of the Bird family as Joanna and Simon fly out to Norway and Haiti respectively. Pray that all the organisations will go smoothly and they will find time in the busy schedule to have some family time.
On a more personal note. Happy birthday to my dad. It is St Swithins day today so if it's raining in the UK today it is going to rain for forty days and forty nights! Either way pops many happy returns on the day.
Pete and Jane
Spag bol, swimming and sweeties...
Recipe for an interesting morning:
Several kg of tomatoes
Similar amounts of mince, onions, spaghetti and pepper
5 teenagers who aren't really sure what they're doing
Prepare the above, place in a pre-prepared school kitchen, and come back every 10 minutes to make sure no-ones dead yet, and pray they manage to turn out a decent lunch for the school. (Incidentally, this wasn't that hard - we were only cooking for about 40, and so hugely overestimated on the amount of spaghetti needed).
Recipe for a restful afternoon
1 good book
Arrangements for everyone else to be too tired to do anything, or out at the Jireh orphanage shovelling sand & gravel from one end of the garden to another.
For an after dinner activity...
Take about 55 Thai kids (none of whom speak English) to the local pool, and try to ensure that they all behave (try it - I dare you). Follow with taking the same 55 kids home and feeding with massive amounts of ice cream and sprinkles. A trip to the local Tescos (with 14 people in a car designed for 8) at 10 o'clock at night is also found to aid digestion.
And voila, you have a blog for yesterday.
See you all in a week!
Toby
Several kg of tomatoes
Similar amounts of mince, onions, spaghetti and pepper
5 teenagers who aren't really sure what they're doing
Prepare the above, place in a pre-prepared school kitchen, and come back every 10 minutes to make sure no-ones dead yet, and pray they manage to turn out a decent lunch for the school. (Incidentally, this wasn't that hard - we were only cooking for about 40, and so hugely overestimated on the amount of spaghetti needed).
Recipe for a restful afternoon
1 good book
Arrangements for everyone else to be too tired to do anything, or out at the Jireh orphanage shovelling sand & gravel from one end of the garden to another.
For an after dinner activity...
Take about 55 Thai kids (none of whom speak English) to the local pool, and try to ensure that they all behave (try it - I dare you). Follow with taking the same 55 kids home and feeding with massive amounts of ice cream and sprinkles. A trip to the local Tescos (with 14 people in a car designed for 8) at 10 o'clock at night is also found to aid digestion.
And voila, you have a blog for yesterday.
See you all in a week!
Toby
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
The day the door broke...
Hey hey hey!!! Its Eli and Alice here and just to warn you we may not be able to complete this blog due to giggles...
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO today we woke up at 7:32 am and put on our lovely new thai dressing gowns first we went and ate breakfast but alice dropped her drink so we had to clear it up before any nasty little accidents occurred alice had toast and marmite and eli ate 2 slices of toast and butter then alice went upstairs for a shower but when eli came up she was back in bed so eli went in the shower instead then alice went in the shower and then we discussed whether baby sick would wash out of clothes because emma got worried about it so then we got changed into half decent clothes to balance looks versus practicality..... okay you really don't care...
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO all but two of the guys went to build the toilets today and although they'd had a tough morning felt a great sense of achievement. They've worked really hard and should be proud of themselves. They have completed the job to the agreed level but some are so keen that they may return to continue tomorrow.
The rest of the team went to a local orphanage in the morning where they experienced a great contrast to the Jireh Home (toilet orphanage). Here a much smaller number of kids were provided with great facilities and an ample amount of nannies, this resulted in us feeling not of much help but the happy and healthy atmosphere the young children were receiving was encouraging to see. The lady running the orphanage, Connie, was particularly inspirational due to her many visions for the place and her humble attitude.
The whole team had a restful afternoon with some going to the pool while others slept before a trip to the Airport Plaza where we shopped and ate dinner. We could waffle on about what we ate and all that we bought but you probably have lives to get back to so yeah! Thanks for listening!
Lots of love and kisses from Alice and Eli xxxxx
P.S. our door got angry and locked us out hence the title. Thanks to Pete and Simon we DO have a bed to sleep in tonight extra kisses, luv ya!
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO today we woke up at 7:32 am and put on our lovely new thai dressing gowns first we went and ate breakfast but alice dropped her drink so we had to clear it up before any nasty little accidents occurred alice had toast and marmite and eli ate 2 slices of toast and butter then alice went upstairs for a shower but when eli came up she was back in bed so eli went in the shower instead then alice went in the shower and then we discussed whether baby sick would wash out of clothes because emma got worried about it so then we got changed into half decent clothes to balance looks versus practicality..... okay you really don't care...
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO all but two of the guys went to build the toilets today and although they'd had a tough morning felt a great sense of achievement. They've worked really hard and should be proud of themselves. They have completed the job to the agreed level but some are so keen that they may return to continue tomorrow.
The rest of the team went to a local orphanage in the morning where they experienced a great contrast to the Jireh Home (toilet orphanage). Here a much smaller number of kids were provided with great facilities and an ample amount of nannies, this resulted in us feeling not of much help but the happy and healthy atmosphere the young children were receiving was encouraging to see. The lady running the orphanage, Connie, was particularly inspirational due to her many visions for the place and her humble attitude.
The whole team had a restful afternoon with some going to the pool while others slept before a trip to the Airport Plaza where we shopped and ate dinner. We could waffle on about what we ate and all that we bought but you probably have lives to get back to so yeah! Thanks for listening!
Lots of love and kisses from Alice and Eli xxxxx
P.S. our door got angry and locked us out hence the title. Thanks to Pete and Simon we DO have a bed to sleep in tonight extra kisses, luv ya!
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Tuesday 12th July - Day 1 Toliet - Jireh Orphanage
Today was our first fop to our growing fatigue. We have been busy for the last week or so so we decided today to split into a morning and afternoon team. The morning team were practically working on the construction of 4 latrine pits for the shower block. The afternoon team were finishing up what needed to be done as well as running a fun session for the children of the orphanage. The Jireh (God provides) orphanage caters for around 55 young children if you see the pictures you can get an idea of the age range. Orphanage doesn't always mean that they have no parents, it can mean that they live so remotely that sending their children to these types places is the only way to get them educated. The facts are though that there are still a large number of kids with precious little facilities. Our job was to create new toilets and showers for them. I'll hand over to Jake to let you know how they got on it the morning, since I was having a well deserved lie in (being on the afternoon team).
Hello
It's me again I would ask you how you are but after the distinct lack of replies I've decided not to this time (please comment!)so whilst I was working hard and my father was lazing at home we managed to clear out there area by getting rid of the weeds, slightly level it and dig out the and put the concrete rings in the holes for sewage. This work took about 4 hours in the 35 degrees c so we were all quite pleased with our efforts. But it was really good to be there. Two of the orphan children where there as we were working and just seeing them and truly realising the difference we were making because of how little they had. I felt this really pushed me onwards to keep working. OK I'll had back to Dad to explain why they did so little in the afternoon.
When we arrived we were very impressed with the amount they had done in the morning. the holes were 1.2m deep and 90cm wide each reinforced with 3 concrete precast rings, oh and a lid. Simon estimates that they will last about a couple of years(with composting and the liquids leeching into the porous soil). The rest of the day we levelled out the ground, but it was slow work as we took a long while to set out the position of the posts. But by the end of the day we had dug the post holes out and were all ready for the building phase which starts tomorrow.
I think the thing about this project as opposed to the others we have completed so far is that it really shows the difference between what we have and what these people have. The total cost of this project is about £700 in materials (obviously all our help and other labour is free). Back home in my job that is about 1.3m of new water main laid or a days work for one of our consultants. Here that provides additional facilities which helps greatly. Yet still after we leave there will be 20-25 girls sleeping every nights on mats on a concrete floor with only blue plastic netting for walls stopping the water blowing in when rains.
Advice I was given before coming out here was to approach it with an open mind and not to try and save the world. I think that is sound advice, however I'm sure there must be something that can be done to make these people's lives better. Jill and Simon are looking to sponsor individual kids at Jireh, the cost is just £20 a month. If you are reading this blog and that seems like something you'd like to do you can mail them (sandjbird@gmail.com) and I'm sure they'll help you help. If not then thats fine, please don't feel obliged.
Ok after all the work for the day was done we spent some time with the young people. We had brought balloons and our borrowed parachute and played parachute games for a little while. We then took them through our Jonah sketch and completed some craft. What surprised us all was just how good the Thai's are at drawing. We first noticed this at our school visit, but we were truly humbled by the quality of drawing today. I like drawing. I have no talent for it but find it fun. These kids are really good at it. I guess it must be the combination of drawn letters in the alphabet but something provides these young people with better than average talent for drawing that's for sure.
At the end of the session we got out the knitted toys provided by the Park church knitting group. These gifts were a storming success and were received in the spirit they were given. Check out the photos on the blog and the videos also to see there gratitude. Well done to all the people who put in so much time and effort into making them.
Ok it's nearly midnight here and time to turn in. Thanks to everyone who is reading this blog and for your thoughts and prayers. Blessings back to you all.
Pete
Hello
It's me again I would ask you how you are but after the distinct lack of replies I've decided not to this time (please comment!)so whilst I was working hard and my father was lazing at home we managed to clear out there area by getting rid of the weeds, slightly level it and dig out the and put the concrete rings in the holes for sewage. This work took about 4 hours in the 35 degrees c so we were all quite pleased with our efforts. But it was really good to be there. Two of the orphan children where there as we were working and just seeing them and truly realising the difference we were making because of how little they had. I felt this really pushed me onwards to keep working. OK I'll had back to Dad to explain why they did so little in the afternoon.
When we arrived we were very impressed with the amount they had done in the morning. the holes were 1.2m deep and 90cm wide each reinforced with 3 concrete precast rings, oh and a lid. Simon estimates that they will last about a couple of years(with composting and the liquids leeching into the porous soil). The rest of the day we levelled out the ground, but it was slow work as we took a long while to set out the position of the posts. But by the end of the day we had dug the post holes out and were all ready for the building phase which starts tomorrow.
I think the thing about this project as opposed to the others we have completed so far is that it really shows the difference between what we have and what these people have. The total cost of this project is about £700 in materials (obviously all our help and other labour is free). Back home in my job that is about 1.3m of new water main laid or a days work for one of our consultants. Here that provides additional facilities which helps greatly. Yet still after we leave there will be 20-25 girls sleeping every nights on mats on a concrete floor with only blue plastic netting for walls stopping the water blowing in when rains.
Advice I was given before coming out here was to approach it with an open mind and not to try and save the world. I think that is sound advice, however I'm sure there must be something that can be done to make these people's lives better. Jill and Simon are looking to sponsor individual kids at Jireh, the cost is just £20 a month. If you are reading this blog and that seems like something you'd like to do you can mail them (sandjbird@gmail.com) and I'm sure they'll help you help. If not then thats fine, please don't feel obliged.
Ok after all the work for the day was done we spent some time with the young people. We had brought balloons and our borrowed parachute and played parachute games for a little while. We then took them through our Jonah sketch and completed some craft. What surprised us all was just how good the Thai's are at drawing. We first noticed this at our school visit, but we were truly humbled by the quality of drawing today. I like drawing. I have no talent for it but find it fun. These kids are really good at it. I guess it must be the combination of drawn letters in the alphabet but something provides these young people with better than average talent for drawing that's for sure.
At the end of the session we got out the knitted toys provided by the Park church knitting group. These gifts were a storming success and were received in the spirit they were given. Check out the photos on the blog and the videos also to see there gratitude. Well done to all the people who put in so much time and effort into making them.
Ok it's nearly midnight here and time to turn in. Thanks to everyone who is reading this blog and for your thoughts and prayers. Blessings back to you all.
Pete
Monday 11th July - ELEPHANTS!
After a relatively long day on Sunday visiting two churches and staying in a Mountain Village, Monday was much more of a rest day.
We woke up early after a comfortable night's sleep (well it was for some of us) and had rice for breakfast with what seemed similar to last night's dinner... All the same, it was food that set us up for the day and we were soon in the cars on the way to the Elephant Camp!
When we first arrived it was drizzling but this didn't matter - there were elephants everywhere, some giving rides, some resting and some in an enclosure right next to the car park. There were bananas and sugar cane for sale which some of us bought to feed the elephants by hand. It was very exciting.
After a look round the touristy shops that were there it was time to watch some of the elephants perform in the show: playing football, doing a dance, even painting - the star of the show was Suda who could even write her own name with a paintbrush!
Straight after the show we went for an elephant ride in pairs - this was amazing though a little bumpy at times. The elephants took us up to a small halfway point and we travelled back in carts pulled by oxen. After lunch, and to finish off our time at the Elephant Camp, we went on a very relaxing river raft ride in the sunshine. We then drove home and had free time for the rest of the evening.
The amount of time left is sadly becoming shorter and shorter but we still have a packed programme so thanks again for all of your prayers.
Andrew
We woke up early after a comfortable night's sleep (well it was for some of us) and had rice for breakfast with what seemed similar to last night's dinner... All the same, it was food that set us up for the day and we were soon in the cars on the way to the Elephant Camp!
When we first arrived it was drizzling but this didn't matter - there were elephants everywhere, some giving rides, some resting and some in an enclosure right next to the car park. There were bananas and sugar cane for sale which some of us bought to feed the elephants by hand. It was very exciting.
After a look round the touristy shops that were there it was time to watch some of the elephants perform in the show: playing football, doing a dance, even painting - the star of the show was Suda who could even write her own name with a paintbrush!
Straight after the show we went for an elephant ride in pairs - this was amazing though a little bumpy at times. The elephants took us up to a small halfway point and we travelled back in carts pulled by oxen. After lunch, and to finish off our time at the Elephant Camp, we went on a very relaxing river raft ride in the sunshine. We then drove home and had free time for the rest of the evening.
The amount of time left is sadly becoming shorter and shorter but we still have a packed programme so thanks again for all of your prayers.
Andrew
Rest Day
Saturday, our rest day. We all assembled at Jill's house at 12pm and another family called the Mays also joined us to go to the Ob Kan National Park for a swim in the river and a barbeque. Some of us (not me!), were quite adventurous and jumped off rocks into the water in lieu of a diving board. Don't worry they all survived! Then we all tucked into Jill's homemade burgers, they were delicious! We left the National Park and all came back to the house to shower and get ready to go the night bazaar. The night bazaar was amazing, its streets full of stalls of clothing, food, jewellry. We had two hours to explore and shop around. After all the shopping and eating we were shattered and proceeded to go to home and sleep as the next day would be a trip to the mountain villages and a wake up call at around 6.
Amanda
Amanda
The Paddy Fields Have Leeches In.
10th July. Early. Hot.
And the paddy fields have leeches in.
I was kind of wanting to walk through them (Without trampling the rice crops). We walked to a little village in the mountains call Huey Bpong, and while the walk wasn't particularly long, or actually very hard, we were all shattered. It was also hot. Hence wanting to cool off in these little flooded fields instead of the slightly winding path. But the leeches put paid to that idea. Humph.
The early part is a bit of a lie though. It was in the afternoon. I think. We had definitely had lunch. We've been calling the method of time keeping "Thai time." It's a little...imprecise.
Anyway. Forget that segue. Morning. In the morning we'd gone to another little mountain village (Don't even ask about the name, I have no idea what it was. Barely knew which part of the country we were in) and had done a church service, involving our practiced routine of songs and strange little dramas. And some prayer. And a sermon. And some more songs. Then the glory that was lunch.
Well. Perhaps glory’s not quite the right word.
It wasn’t the food. Almost never the food itself for me, though that slice of pepper I ate had me shovelling down rice for a few heated minutes. But, if you would imagine, we go up to get the bowls, all stacked nicely, all clean. Take a few, people go down the table and start piling up the grub. Pick up one of the last and see what we think is a small piece of wood. Brown.
I think it was a cockroach.
It was pretty flat whatever it was. And nicely surrounded by blobs of mould. We decided, sensibly, not to use that particular bowl. Slightly tainted our view of the rest of the meal though. Thais are usually such meticulously clean people. Ick.
Just re-read this and realised it’s not exactly painting a picture of rainbows and bunnies about yesterday. The next bit will hopefully change that slightly.
In Huey Bpong (The village after the parasite-filled-paddy-fields, remember that?) we had roughly an hour and a half nap were none of us slept and then got straight into working with the local children. They’re not actually Thai, but a minority group with their own language. So even the small bits of Thai we knew was mostly useless. Still, with a lot of hand waving and demonstrations we got them doing relay races, duck duck goose and a decent bit of craft; straws, glue and paper were employed to do a picture of the storm Jonah found himself in right before the whale swallowed him. We’ve been doing the Jonah story quite a lot. Got it pretty much memorised now.
Jill was quite amazing with the outdoor clinic she set up just beside the church; have a look at the photos to the right of this page, on photobucket. Joe sat close to her, having expressed an interest, and got shown how it was all done. He wasn’t the only one, with many of us hanging around to have a look at Jill working. But we were outnumbered by the number of villagers who came and sat around her to get a diagnosis and medicine; she had a whole box of this-that-and-the-other and was handing them out whenever she could, trying to impart instructions across two language barriers. Several brought children and babies as well, often the most vulnerable in places this rural; hospitals and medical centres can be hours or days away, presuming they have transport to get there. They were also the most trying to watch Jill tend to, with the emotional pull being draining. It’s not something you ever think about at home. Medical care is easy, accessible. Later, more than a few of us admitted to having cried at some point during our watching.
After that, and another sermon (Jonah made a re-appearance), there was an evening meal and then sleep. Blessed, blessed sleep. On thin woven mats. And bamboo floors. People were a bit worried about putting their feet through them. Still, I had a pillow. And sleep is sleep.
Who’s complaining?
Emma.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Mountain Village Day 2 - 3 Post's in 1 day!
6 o'clock start as usual (well thats what we were told! :P )
As with yesterday the children were glad to see us. Henry was teaching time to the classes and if there is one thing that I don't think any of the children will forget is a. to behave when he teaches and b. what a clock is. As we were leaving the school all the children wanted to get autographs and pictures with each of the team. This was an emotional roller coaster for the team. It was nice to be recognized for the work that we had done, however we didn't go for the "fame" we went together with the calling of God, so the autographs felt strange and out of place.
We went to visit the local village where some of the children from the school came from. When we arrived we had found out that one of the older members of the community, had just passed away and the funeral had been that afternoon, so we were humbled that they even let us into their community. We spent some time praying for healing and then ate with them. This was an emotional roller coaster for all the team.
So we haven't written for a while but now you have 3 to keep you thrilled. We've uploaded some more photos and videos for you to have a look at. We are going away for the night tomorrow, so our next blog will be Monday. So take it steady through these three and if you've read all 3, then you'll have to wait till Monday for your next one.
Kenny and Henry
As with yesterday the children were glad to see us. Henry was teaching time to the classes and if there is one thing that I don't think any of the children will forget is a. to behave when he teaches and b. what a clock is. As we were leaving the school all the children wanted to get autographs and pictures with each of the team. This was an emotional roller coaster for the team. It was nice to be recognized for the work that we had done, however we didn't go for the "fame" we went together with the calling of God, so the autographs felt strange and out of place.
We went to visit the local village where some of the children from the school came from. When we arrived we had found out that one of the older members of the community, had just passed away and the funeral had been that afternoon, so we were humbled that they even let us into their community. We spent some time praying for healing and then ate with them. This was an emotional roller coaster for all the team.
So we haven't written for a while but now you have 3 to keep you thrilled. We've uploaded some more photos and videos for you to have a look at. We are going away for the night tomorrow, so our next blog will be Monday. So take it steady through these three and if you've read all 3, then you'll have to wait till Monday for your next one.
Kenny and Henry
Mountain Village - Day 1
This was our first whole day of teaching at the Bahn Mae Yang Hah school near Samoeng village.
Some of the team chose to teach from the front of the class and some chose to stay with specific classes. We taught grades 4 - 9 (years 5 -10 in the UK) different topics, and also played some games with the children over lunch.
This was great fun, and everyone enjoyed being with the children and seeing them pick up English despite our complete lack of Thai and relatively little experience!
As is was the first day of teaching, it was a steep learning curve in many respects. Trying to teach the difference between 'fan' and 'van' was a personal favourite on the difficult words to teach record.
It would e fair to say that the day was exhausting but the incredible scenery outside where we were staying more than made up for it. Lots of photos will follow I'm sure :)
Andrew
Some of the team chose to teach from the front of the class and some chose to stay with specific classes. We taught grades 4 - 9 (years 5 -10 in the UK) different topics, and also played some games with the children over lunch.
This was great fun, and everyone enjoyed being with the children and seeing them pick up English despite our complete lack of Thai and relatively little experience!
As is was the first day of teaching, it was a steep learning curve in many respects. Trying to teach the difference between 'fan' and 'van' was a personal favourite on the difficult words to teach record.
It would e fair to say that the day was exhausting but the incredible scenery outside where we were staying more than made up for it. Lots of photos will follow I'm sure :)
Andrew
2nd Party Arrives
Dear people who took time to read this,
So how are you... I know you can't answer but I'm a polite boy like that (occasionally). Well I and the rest of my family finally arrived in Thailand after 11 hours of travelling and 5 hours of waiting in Bangkok. But it's already worth it because the weather is beautiful, the food is lovely and we have a swimming pool very close. I'm not trying to make you jealous. Well in our first day went to a nearby river and swam in it. A few of us jumped in which was really good fun if not slightly scary. Then in the evening we went to a Thai night market which was really interesting. They have a lot of variety there which makes it fun to look at.
Jake
So.....we made it!!!! After all the many lists we finally got here, and it is so good to be with everyone. Today has been a fun easy day to get used to being in Thailand, with lots of lovely Thai food, and it's so cheap! However, tomorrow the real work starts, so off to get some sleep.
Jane
It was great to meet the family at Chiang Mai. We have had a busy couple days and it was nice for us all to be together and get some R&R. We are off to another mountain village tomorrow and a couple of churches so smart clothes for us all. :-). Thanks for all the prayers and please pray for safety during our trips tomorrow.
Peter
Already asleep. See you tomorrow.
Ellie
So how are you... I know you can't answer but I'm a polite boy like that (occasionally). Well I and the rest of my family finally arrived in Thailand after 11 hours of travelling and 5 hours of waiting in Bangkok. But it's already worth it because the weather is beautiful, the food is lovely and we have a swimming pool very close. I'm not trying to make you jealous. Well in our first day went to a nearby river and swam in it. A few of us jumped in which was really good fun if not slightly scary. Then in the evening we went to a Thai night market which was really interesting. They have a lot of variety there which makes it fun to look at.
Jake
So.....we made it!!!! After all the many lists we finally got here, and it is so good to be with everyone. Today has been a fun easy day to get used to being in Thailand, with lots of lovely Thai food, and it's so cheap! However, tomorrow the real work starts, so off to get some sleep.
Jane
It was great to meet the family at Chiang Mai. We have had a busy couple days and it was nice for us all to be together and get some R&R. We are off to another mountain village tomorrow and a couple of churches so smart clothes for us all. :-). Thanks for all the prayers and please pray for safety during our trips tomorrow.
Peter
Already asleep. See you tomorrow.
Ellie
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Best intentions!
Well I had the best of intentions this morning. Game of basketball with Joe, Henry, Josh and Andrew early morning before the meeting at 11am. Whoops didn't make up until 9am and sat now having breakfast.
We are off to do a children's club in Samoeng one of the mountain villages. This is about two hours drive from our base in Chaing Mai. This is one of the villages that the team visited in 2008 and therefore it will be interesting for those people to go back. For those of us to which this will be a new experience and it is an exciting time. Our base is fairly westernised and the houses particular are very comfortable. It will be eye opening to see more of what rural Thailand culture is like. This is something that I was very keen on when coming on this trip which makes more really positive about our trip.
So far we have done mainly practical work. Check out the blog pictures to see the wall we painted. The people have been so warmvand friendly and constantly supplied us with drinks during the day. We were really greatful for this because it was proper Thailand hot yesterday and as you can see from the photos the outside face of the wall was in the sun all day.
I spoke to my wife Jane at home for the first time yesterday and they are getting very excited about coming out on Friday. It will be nice to have them out here too. Anyway we probably won't manage to post tomorrow but should be able to update you all on the pictures from the villages on Friday.
God Bless
Peter Fawkes
We are off to do a children's club in Samoeng one of the mountain villages. This is about two hours drive from our base in Chaing Mai. This is one of the villages that the team visited in 2008 and therefore it will be interesting for those people to go back. For those of us to which this will be a new experience and it is an exciting time. Our base is fairly westernised and the houses particular are very comfortable. It will be eye opening to see more of what rural Thailand culture is like. This is something that I was very keen on when coming on this trip which makes more really positive about our trip.
So far we have done mainly practical work. Check out the blog pictures to see the wall we painted. The people have been so warmvand friendly and constantly supplied us with drinks during the day. We were really greatful for this because it was proper Thailand hot yesterday and as you can see from the photos the outside face of the wall was in the sun all day.
I spoke to my wife Jane at home for the first time yesterday and they are getting very excited about coming out on Friday. It will be nice to have them out here too. Anyway we probably won't manage to post tomorrow but should be able to update you all on the pictures from the villages on Friday.
God Bless
Peter Fawkes
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
{Insert title here}
So it's kenny's team today, so me, Henry, Alice and Eli are all writing it :)
Today we finished the wall that we were painting at the local school. We also did English lessons which we all thoroughly enjoyed. The children were enthusiastic and the sun was shinning and the sweat was pouring - that was lunch sorted, yummy.
So after all the sweat we headed off to the local pool to cool off. There's a great big school pool in the local school which is handy, as it is in the housing compound. Jill cooked us a great meal of lasagne, which was a nice taste of home. There's only soo much rice we can take!
Tonight we're taking it easy as tomorrow we're heading off to a local mountain village for three days. We will be doing English lessons and games and run clubs for the local children. Hence this could be our last blog now till Friday, when we return and get our wifi back!! And that's hard enough to find anyways!
Well we'll write soon, maybe a quicky before we go tomorrow....
We're all well and having a great time. Thank you for all your messages and prayers, we really appreciate hearing from you!
love Kenny, Henry, Eli and Alice
X
Today we finished the wall that we were painting at the local school. We also did English lessons which we all thoroughly enjoyed. The children were enthusiastic and the sun was shinning and the sweat was pouring - that was lunch sorted, yummy.
So after all the sweat we headed off to the local pool to cool off. There's a great big school pool in the local school which is handy, as it is in the housing compound. Jill cooked us a great meal of lasagne, which was a nice taste of home. There's only soo much rice we can take!
Tonight we're taking it easy as tomorrow we're heading off to a local mountain village for three days. We will be doing English lessons and games and run clubs for the local children. Hence this could be our last blog now till Friday, when we return and get our wifi back!! And that's hard enough to find anyways!
Well we'll write soon, maybe a quicky before we go tomorrow....
We're all well and having a great time. Thank you for all your messages and prayers, we really appreciate hearing from you!
love Kenny, Henry, Eli and Alice
X
Monday, 4 July 2011
Lists
“How it feels to be cold”
No, wait, hang on - this isn't Google. So, yes, blog. Hmmm...
Things I've gotten used to in Thailand
1) It's hot. As in all the time. And humid - the air's like soup!
2) Fruit in Thailand at this time of year is delicious! Pineapples in particular are simply gorgeous.
3) It is, I kid you not, possible to tire out Josh McMillan. Even as I type, Josh is heading off to bed.
4) Painting is fun! Today's project was cleaning and starting to paint the wall outside of the local primary school in a rather fetching shade of orange. We are headed back tomorrow to finish of the rest in white.
5) The local secondary school has a fantastic swimming pool - 50m at it's widest.
6) A real sense of God's purpose in my life, even after 2 days. I don't know where it will lead, but I can't help but feel that God is really working in my life, and in the lives of the rest of the team.
Things I miss about England
1) Being cold. Seriously. Next time we go to a supermarket I may have to stop myself from climbing into one of the freezers.
So that's it for today. Please keep praying for us and we'll see you in a few weeks!
Toby P.
No, wait, hang on - this isn't Google. So, yes, blog. Hmmm...
Things I've gotten used to in Thailand
1) It's hot. As in all the time. And humid - the air's like soup!
2) Fruit in Thailand at this time of year is delicious! Pineapples in particular are simply gorgeous.
3) It is, I kid you not, possible to tire out Josh McMillan. Even as I type, Josh is heading off to bed.
4) Painting is fun! Today's project was cleaning and starting to paint the wall outside of the local primary school in a rather fetching shade of orange. We are headed back tomorrow to finish of the rest in white.
5) The local secondary school has a fantastic swimming pool - 50m at it's widest.
6) A real sense of God's purpose in my life, even after 2 days. I don't know where it will lead, but I can't help but feel that God is really working in my life, and in the lives of the rest of the team.
Things I miss about England
1) Being cold. Seriously. Next time we go to a supermarket I may have to stop myself from climbing into one of the freezers.
So that's it for today. Please keep praying for us and we'll see you in a few weeks!
Toby P.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Hi all,
Its Amanda here! Today is our first day in Thailand and the four of us girls got up early enough to go to church with Simon and Jill. The service was great and we got our first real taste of Thai food -lunch made by the churchgoers. In the afternoon all of us went to the food market and bought different Thai fruits, meat and sweets. We then went to the shopping centre to buy any bits and bobs we wanted and ate dinner. As I am typing this blog, we are watching the Wimbledon final (at least some of us are) and enjoying the company of Jills neighbours. I think we have thoroughly enjoyed our first day, I can personally say I have.
Thank you for praying for us and I hope you continue to pray for us and for the lord to lead us.
Amanda
Its Amanda here! Today is our first day in Thailand and the four of us girls got up early enough to go to church with Simon and Jill. The service was great and we got our first real taste of Thai food -lunch made by the churchgoers. In the afternoon all of us went to the food market and bought different Thai fruits, meat and sweets. We then went to the shopping centre to buy any bits and bobs we wanted and ate dinner. As I am typing this blog, we are watching the Wimbledon final (at least some of us are) and enjoying the company of Jills neighbours. I think we have thoroughly enjoyed our first day, I can personally say I have.
Thank you for praying for us and I hope you continue to pray for us and for the lord to lead us.
Amanda
Saturday, 2 July 2011
We've arrived!
Hello everyone,
Just a quick message this evening to say that we've all arrived safe and sound without any difficulties - all of us and all of our luggage are well and truly in Thailand!
Thank you for all of your prayers over our journey and the ongoing trip and we'll be in touch again soon.
Andrew
Just a quick message this evening to say that we've all arrived safe and sound without any difficulties - all of us and all of our luggage are well and truly in Thailand!
Thank you for all of your prayers over our journey and the ongoing trip and we'll be in touch again soon.
Andrew
They've left......
My turn to write to-day....as everyone has gone!!!
At the moment the group are all at Heathrow (I'm guessing they are getting quite bored) but who knows, they could be having hours of fun walking round the shops at the airport.
So for those of you who don't know.....their flight leaves tonight at 9.10pm, and they fly to Abu Dhabi, where they change tomorrow and head to Bangkok, before arriving in Chaing Mai at around 10pm tomorrow night....
So lots of dodgy airplane food to be eaten, hopefully some sleep and general excitement at being on the way.
As for me, after a very, very busy week it now seems very strange that it is so quiet- and I wish I was on the way too!!! However, lots of time to sort out things for me and the kids to get ready before we leave on Thursday night.
Alice- when you read this I hope you remembered to get off in Delhi:) (Alice is going on a different flight to everyone else).
The next post will be from the group when they get there- Jill was busy making up all the beds this morning- it really is happening!
At the moment the group are all at Heathrow (I'm guessing they are getting quite bored) but who knows, they could be having hours of fun walking round the shops at the airport.
So for those of you who don't know.....their flight leaves tonight at 9.10pm, and they fly to Abu Dhabi, where they change tomorrow and head to Bangkok, before arriving in Chaing Mai at around 10pm tomorrow night....
So lots of dodgy airplane food to be eaten, hopefully some sleep and general excitement at being on the way.
As for me, after a very, very busy week it now seems very strange that it is so quiet- and I wish I was on the way too!!! However, lots of time to sort out things for me and the kids to get ready before we leave on Thursday night.
Alice- when you read this I hope you remembered to get off in Delhi:) (Alice is going on a different flight to everyone else).
The next post will be from the group when they get there- Jill was busy making up all the beds this morning- it really is happening!
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