The past weeks' activities

Thought I would do a short blog with some random pictures, just to cover the last little while. Mum, Kathryn and I are meant to be leaving today for about 10 days on holiday. But Kathryn and I are really sick so we might have to wait a day or so before making the journey. Prayers for this would be so welcomed as I HATE being ill! I am really tired so I am looking forward to my first night in air-con and my first hot shower in seven weeks! But I will really miss work whilst I’m away, I may come back a day earlier to go into work next week. I’m very glad I’m going back to work for another 4 weeks after our holiday. I wouldn’t want to be going home!

Jew

Tee enjoying soft play

Tee Loving his food

So I think face painting went down really well with the children and staff on Monday. Tuesday was a pretty normal Tuesday, with the afternoon in the adventure room. But sadly we didn’t have a ball fight. We must have all been feeling too tired! Then in the afternoon after a day of work we took out three children: Jew, Somsak and Tee. To say the least we were all a little worried about it. For a start Somsak is a runner, a lot of running required to keep him under control. And then Tee is always crying or moaning and he really only responds to one of the Thai staff at CCD who he calls mum. We were pretty sure Jew would be fine though. But it was actually an amazing trip! Tee was loving it. He smiled so much of the time, even laughed a bit, and ate loads of food which is unusual for him. And Somsak was fine. We took them all to the soft play at a shopping centre and they loved it, just being able to go around as they pleased. In fact the only problem we had was in fact with Jew who wouldn’t eat any dinner. But we gave it to the ward mums’ when we got back. It’s always a worry when they won’t eat on a trip because we never know if they will get food.

On Wednesday we did some big paintings with the children, letting them get as messy as they liked.

Art getting very messy

On Thursday P’O came from Rachawadee boys with two men and did music. It was great having him back able to play guitar and make proper music. He even brought out a harmonica and played it at the same time as the guitar! The kids loved it, as did we! Then we did another volunteer organised activity. Making smoothies. We had a slight excess of bananas and milk because we had all bought stuff without talking to each other (great planning) but that was great because we actually used it all because the kids loved the smoothies so much. It didn’t start so great because they just wanted to eat the bananas, but once we brought out the smoothie machine they seemed to understand what we were doing. They really enjoyed the whole process of mashing up the banana and pineapple, adding the milk and blending it all up. There were a lot of cups of it consumed.

P'O with his guitar and harmonica

Smoothie making

Sua with it all around his face

The big bike

Mum on the big swing with Lotus, Mod and Barn

After lunch we took the children out to the garden and went round the orphanage grounds on various bikes. Unfortunately one of the little boys we were meant to be taking out had been sick and had diarrhoea over lunch, so we were pretty sure we wouldn’t be allowed to take him out. But the staff said because he hadn’t had anything in the afternoon we were allowed to take him out. So again we went armed with nappies, rubber gloves and a change of top. We took the children to the same soft play and then for food. Art was loving the soft play, particularly the slide! He found it hilarious. He was really cute at one stage. I sat down and crossed my arms and then he slid down next to me and copied what I was doing. It was funny. Whilst I was away ordering the kids food there was a bit of an incident. I arrived back to the table to see the boy who hadn’t been well being held up and there was diarrhoea all over the chair and the floor and him.  Uh oh! A big smelly mess. But mum and Kathryn were with us and as Alex set to work cleaning the chair mum volunteered to go and change him. Stupidly I had forgotten to pick up shorts so we had to buy a pair of ladies short shorts for him. He looked great! But I don’t think he was really ill, maybe just too much banana smoothie earlier. So the trip continued without much more incident.

All of us leaving the orphanage

In the taxi

Lay playing in the tea-cups

 

On Friday morning we received wheelchairs that have been donated to CCD so we helped to put them up. Lay got one and was loving it. Hopefully he can learn to use it, although we want to encourage his walking too. Then this afternoon one of the staff went home ill so I went to one of the wards with another staff and spent the afternoon with three children. Positioning them, playing with them and doing some stretches. It was nice to get the children out of the ward and onto the patio to spend some time with them. It’s quite hard work though spending the whole afternoon on the ward doing some physio stuff with them.

Constructing a wheelchair

Lay LOVING his new wheelchair

I can’t believe how fast the time is flying by. I am loving being able to skype my flatmates. It’s a great invention, although we are all in different continents and 1000s of miles away we can still have really great chats together. Sarah is off on her European travels tomorrow, and it feels like when I left it was ages and ages away.

Thank you for all of your continued thoughts and prayers.

Face painting

On Monday we decided to take some face paints to do with the children. So after snack time we got them out and got to work on their faces. I started on Sua (which means tiger in Thai), so of course we had to make him a tiger. But he was NOT keen on getting his face sponged with orange paint, so I didn’t get any further than an orange face!

So we had, rabbits, tigers, dogs, a flag, a butterfly and other unknown messes! We also got them out this afternoon and made Lay a rabbit which became a multicoloured mess very fast, Suchat was an army dude (P’Bim then got some beansprouts that we grew and placed them on his head as camouflage) and a dog, an angel and a pirate.

Mod as a butterfly

Biw as a tiger

Art as I have no idea what

P'Lek getting into it

Aek with the English flag, if I'd done it it would have been a scottish one :)

Gow and I

The children also got to dress up in costumes. We had quite a laugh seeing them all dressed up. Then there was a lot of photo taking from us volunteers and the staff too.

The weeks' run down of events

I’ll give a quick run-down on the rest of this week.

On Wednesday I spent the morning at Rachawadee girls because mum and Kathryn were going. We went onto the ward for girls with cerebral palsy and made paper angels with some of them and helped them to decorate them. We then helped to feed some of the girls. I was back at Fuang Fah in the afternoon where me, Alex and Naomi took some of the children round the orphanage grounds in the big bike thing. It was good fun, but we had to take it in turns to cycle round because it is such hot work peddling kids and adults around in this heat! Especially when it’s sunny. After work I went on a trip with one of the staff who used to work at Fuang Fah with me two years ago. We took our children for food and ice cream. We were meant to take the children back at 6pm, but got a bit carried away with eating and having fun that we didn’t get back into her car til 6.45, so they were a little late back. But I think hopefully quite a nice time for them to go back. They will both have been full and then just going back to bed. It was strange going into the orphanage as it was getting dark. Knowing that all the children are still there got to me a bit. After a lovely trip and catching up with a friend it made me a bit sad knowing that I can’t just take the children out and keep them out! As much as I’d love to!

Pi Nan and Namwan

Aek and I

On Thursday morning we did the usual singing and dancing in the morning. With us volunteers being the subject of much laughter with the staff and a couple of the children. They had us dancing/singing to some random song. They showed us the actions but really we had no idea what we were doing so we just did our own wee dance. Fun fun! After snack and shower time we did some gluing and sticking, making pictures. Some of the kids were actually pretty good at it. Then we attempted colouring in which was a bit less successful. They were mean to be colouring in pictures for mothers’ day which is in August (there is a competition for the best one). Pee Tee and Wollapot definitely did the best ones (with a LITTLE help from Alex). I can’t even remember what we did yesterday afternoon, it was that long ago J

Today mum and Kathryn came to Fuang Fah. But it perhaps wasn’t the best day to come. We had too many volunteers because there were two other extra volunteers here for the day. And at Fuang Fah we have certain children that the government allow CCD to work with so we couldn’t take out any extra children. So this afternoon there were certainly more adults than children. It was really nice having mum and Kathryn getting to see the children I love so much and to meet the staff too. Although the staff didn’t really obviously show it, I could tell they were really happy to see mum and Kathryn and were really happy they were there. Just from being able to understand a bit more Thai than before. It’s very useful when you here certain words floating around the room you know you’re being talked about and can tune into what they are saying. At one point today one of the staff was surprised I had understood something she’d said to one of the other staff! This morning we played pass the parcel with a difference. There was a parcel going round, but there was also a bottle of baby powder. So if you had that when the music stopped you had to rub talc on your face. Classic me didn’t quite realise we were passing the bottle round too. So when the music stopped I was still holding the talc so got a face-full of talc within seconds. It was great fun! I certainly enjoyed it.

Alex getting talced

Kathryn helping Gow unwrap his present

Lay talcing Jew

Mum trying to get rid of some of the talc and Sua playing with the wrapping paper.

This afternoon we started off planting some seeds in cotton wool. They are bean sprouts so maybe the kids will get to eat them in the next week or so. So as I said there were not a lot of children so we were in the garden with the children. The dramas of today were that Biw got picked up and had a dirty nappy that had spread up his back, so I had the lovely job of cleaning up a diarrhoea nappy! (But everything we do is for the kids and working to serve, and it really wasn't so bad, armed with a pair of latex gloves and a hose!) Quite a few of the kids seem to have some sickness bug. As soon as one of them gets something it just spreads so fast because of the fact they all live so close together and share everything (including their germs) on the ward. And then Sua went flying off the swing. Sometimes he just decides to let go. But he picked himself up after a 1 minute hug and was on his way again. These kids have such a high pain threshold it’s crazy. I also discovered today that Thai dentists don’t give anaesthetic to anyone unless it is an extraction so even fillings they have to bear the pain! Makes us British seem a bit feeble! After work today we went to the blind school down the road for a massage, and it was much less painful than the last time I had it there. Tomorrow I am planning on taking mum and Kathryn into Bangkok to do some sight-seeing. Then going to a night market in the evening with a Thai friend.

Mum and Kathryn arrive and work goes well!

Mum and Kathryn have arrived safely! Kara and I went to the airport to pick them up. It was really strange being the one to welcome them, and to see them walking through Bangkok airport. On the way home in the taxi I was trying to remember how I felt the first time I arrived, seeing all the new sights and sounds etc. But it feels like a long time ago.

So yesterday I went to Rainbow house with them and spent the morning there. I don’t really know the runnings of Rainbow house so I didn’t feel like I was much help. But they seemed to think the afternoon went well. They were there again today (I didn’t go, I was at my work) and I think they enjoyed it.

Today has been good fun! Two of the Thai staff weren’t feeling great today. But they pretty much kept their energy levels up all day which was amazing. This morning we sang songs, Thai and English and after snack and shower time we did Tac-Pac which is following a CD and stroking the children with different materials. Some of them fell asleep which is always nice.

Then after lunchtime we took the children to the adventure room in the government building. It was good fun, half the ball pit ended up on the floor. Lay wanted to be squeezed through the window of the castle thing so many times, and as soon as Suchat saw, he wanting a shot too, the only problem being he is just a little bit heavier than Lay! A few of the staff and Alex and I had a ball fight. I missed not having one last week, it was good fun. Though I’ll probably pay for it tomorrow with a sore arm! Just as we were leaving the adventure room one of the boys had a big diarrhoea all over the floor! It stank the place out. And we had planned to take him out after work. And we still did, which I was surprised they still let us take him out.

Lotus climbing the slide



Lay going through the window



Tanapon



Lay giving a massage!

So we went armed with rubber gloves, nappies and a change of clothes. And all was well. We took out Sua, Wollapot and Songpong. Songpong didn’t really enjoy it, he just clung to Naomi for the whole time. But we kind of knew he wasn’t going to enjoy food but at least he came out. Wollapot loved his food! He had double ice cream because Sua didn’t want his! He had a very full tummy after that. And Sua enjoyed himelf!  

Wompaw loving his food :)

Sua having his dinner

Naomi and Song Pom

Joking with the huge spoonful of ice cream!

Past few days of fun

Thursday was such a fun day!

The morning was pretty normal, music, showers and playtime. Then I ate with the staff in the government canteen at lunch and ate chicken feet...that was an experience! The curry sauce was really yummy (and spicy) though so that made up for the feet!

Then over the lunch break the staff started to cook more food, and was told it was for messy play! I was very excited at the prospect of getting messy with the children and seeing their reactions to the mess. It’s great that the staff organised it too. So we took all the children outside and had water tubs, shaving foam, cornflour, tapioca, weird sticky (edible) balls, jelly, iced jelly, mushy paper. Thankfully all but the paper was edible as they were all putting it in their mouths. I started with my camera but very quickly put it away as I was having too much fun getting messy too!

The kids loved it, what kid doesn’t love getting messy?  Well one in particular didn’t. Suchat. He was running away shouting and whenever we threw some mess at him he’d get the hose and hose himself down! It was funny. Even cleaning it all down was good fun. We were soaked afterwards, literally dripping, and I kept finding sticky pink tapioca balls attached to me. We also had the prospect of a trip straight after work and only one of us had thought to bring a change of clothes.

Jew playing with the cornflour stuff

Tee in the small paddling pool

Nutcha and Danielle loving getting all messy and wet

Somsak before he started getting all the edible stuff

So we took Lay and Lotus swimming. Lay was very excited about this before we left and Lotus got excited as we headed towards the gate, out of the orphanage.

However, Lotus wasn’t so keen on the swimming. I think it was all a little bit too much for him. He just clung to one of us, so we didn’t stay in long with him. And Lay’s attention wasn’t much more than that either. But that suited us well as we only had them for two hours and had to give them dinner too. Once the food came out Lotus was much happier. He enjoyed sitting watching some of the Rachawadee girls swimming and we did get a few cheeky wee smiles from him.

 

So it was a great fun day, exhausting but fun. And to make it even better, Emma and I weren’t bothered by any dogs on our cycle back from home group! I was even armed with two sticks to beat them with J .

On Friday afternoon we were outside but a little bit more excitement was added to the garden. Some bikes came out for the children to play on. I ended up taking Lay on two walks around the orphanage grounds, pushing him round on the bikes. We picked up some flowers for our hair as we went along too. It was good fun.