The girls have been doing amazing; although, there were some challenges in terms of working with the younger children ages 3 through 6 at several of our locations. They seem to have permanent ADD, and I mean that in the nicest way possible, but then you realize, they’re little and don’t understand a single word you’re saying since your Thai accent sucks, and you still pronounce words terribly wrong because they use tonal sounds in everything they say and do.
Our projects – 11 in total:
1. Mercy Center was started by two Canadians from Calgary. The children come home from school around 4pm and the ages range from 3 – 14 years of age. Play at this location can’t really be structured since the younger ones do their own thing and the older kids like to do jump rope games or ball games. I had an opportunity to play here twice and I loved it. I had an instant attraction to a little girl whose just the cutest thing and talks to me like she’s been my friend for years, and all I can do is say “yes” or shake my head to pretend like I understand.
2. Houy Pong is a government run school in Rayong – about 45 minutes away from Pattaya. They have a boys section divided by a highway with the girls quarters on the other side. The facilities are spacious. The majority of boys and girls that we’ve seen so far have been between the ages of 12-15. Apparently they have been having issues with girls as young as 12 getting pregnant so they constantly implement sex education classes to prevent teen pregnancies.
3. & 4. Baan Khao By Si and Community Center are linked - The Community Centre is down the street and consists of a school and facilities for children with disabilities as young as 2 in one separate class, and then from about 15 and up, for the older group (the ages might be slightly off, but the second group varies in age). They are an amazing bunch of people and I love seeing them interact with our students. Khoa By Si is the grade 1-3 school and the girls have had to deal with up to 100 children between the three of them. I forsee this to be one of the most challenging projects. The children are cute and playful, but it makes organized play a bit tedious.
5. Camilian Center is a centre for children and people with HIV/AIDS. The girls will be visiting them on about 3 Saturdays in the next two months. They are located in Rayong as well – 45 minutes away. As we walked in the gate one little girl clung to me with a giant smile – it made me very happy. Some of the children arrive here in the worst shape – are expected to live for a short period of time, and then survive to live for many more good years.
6. Kho Pai is in a location in what we would refer to as a slum area, or to be more politically correct: maybe more of an area less occupied by foreigners and a bit more far away than the tourist or upper class establishments (I prefer the latter). The children are about 4-6. Very cute, with their little uniforms and they were a hoot to play with during the initial meeting. This school supports children from impoverished families.
7. Baan Jing Jai is an orphanage and has bout 80 children varying in age. They have two houses they utilize for play, and living. They have one averaged size play ground and I have yet to meet the older children but was fortunate enough to meet a few toddlers that were staying home due to a chicken pock outbreak.
8., 9., & 10. Father Ray Foundation : Use to be partnered with the Pattaya Orphanage but has become completely separate. Father Ray’s story is amazing in itself and requires a whole different post. They have 10 projects under their realm. They support children and individuals with disabilities, as well as children from impoverished circumstances and orphans. Our students have been swimming with some of the students with physical disabilities, and will be working within the special needs classes as well. We’ve been trying to organize dates with the school for the blind, but have only been able to manage 1 hour of play time during one week. However, we were able to take them to the beach for a swim during the first week.
11. Fountain of Life: Now also has a centre in Sihanoukville, Cambodia (I’ve been there with PAW during our retreat - a bit of a tourist town). They also help impoverished families and now, women on the streets (new womens center). Parents drop their children off for a low fee everyday where they get a uniform, an education, breakfast and lunch. For the low fee, it encourages their parents to go out and work for the little some of money they need to accumulate to care for their child’s needs. The kids range from 3-8 years of ages grouped in different classes, with only a few children with disabilities.
"The City Orphanage" and School for the Deaf: We went for a day visit since the orphanage requires it’s volunteers to apply a year in advance, which means that we will not be volunteering here at all for this year. They also have an abundance of donations, as well as sponsors and support from volunteers around the globe. We were given a tour of the facilities (it’s very close to where we live) and the children from the school for the deaf were very amused by the girls’ sunglasses, so we stopped for a short giggle and high fives on our way to the nursery. We weren’t expected to play or hold any babies, but we were in there for an hour with maybe up to about 15 toddlers. They have up to 60 orphaned babies in this nursery. The children are cute, sad, but well taken care of.
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