Birthday party for the children

Dancing along!

Looking very pleased with himself.

Somsak and Lay sharing their birthday.

The big birthday cake!

These are some photos of a birthday party that the orphanage had organised for a lot of the children. I think the general idea is to try and have one each month, to celebrate those children who have had a birthday in that month. It was a really nice event. The children who were able to and had a birthday sat at a big long table like at weddings. There was a big birthday cake for them all. They sang some songs, got very excited and sang happy birthday. Then there was cake for everyone. The children whose birthday it was all got a bag of presents. It was lovely. They all got really excited about it.

Rachawadee girls

Hello everyone,

It’s hard to believe how fast my time out here is going. I have been here in Pakkred Thailand for 8 weeks now. Thankfully the political situation in Bangkok seems to have calmed down for the time being. I am about half an hour outside Bangkok and were at one stage affected by the unrest.

I thought I would write a wee bit more about what we’ve been up to and how things are going. I am working alongside three other British volunteers which is great because we can be great support for one another when things are particularly tough or we see situations that affect us or find difficult. There are also volunteers from other countries and it is really nice to work with them and get to know them.

I cannot express how much I am enjoying working for CCD. I am working in the CCD day care centre at Baan Fung Fah. Baan Fung Fah is the home for disabled children under the age of seven, but actually in reality the majority of these children are actually older than this. Many of these are abandoned children. The CCD day care centre is a building next to the orphanages that the government have allowed CCD to use to take a few children out each day.

There are 4 government orphanages – babies, children, girls and boys. Within these orphanages there are many many wards which split the children up into their abilities and needs. Sadly in the government wards we are seeing wards and wards full of many many disabled children. It is really hard to see, and is why CCD is so important in this situation here.

As volunteers we work with CCD, who really are a fantastic organisation. We are allowed to take some children out of the wards for the day into the day care centre where we work with them. The hope is that some of these children may thrive because of the extra love and attention they can be given. We start work by picking up the children from the wards. They are always waiting for us and are really pleased to see us, which is lovely because we feel we are doing some good for these children. We take them back to CCD and do some music with them, which is usually singing lots of Thai songs, some of them I recognise in English. Then the children have snack. Then we help to shower and change the children (Thai’s like to shower a lot, I guess it has something to do with the heat!). We then have an hour or so before lunch. In this time we are free to play with the children, take them to the sensory room, do some physiotherapy with them and just spending time with them. Then we give the children lunch. Many of the children are not able to feed themselves or have to have special chopped up food so we help feed the children. Some of the kids then go back to the wards, they are usually the ones who require extra care. The others stay behind and have a sleep. In the afternoon we are free to play with the children again. Often some different children come for the afternoon. We sometimes go to the little playground outside the day care centre. Then later on we take the children back to the wards. Often some of them get a bit upset about going back. This is often really hard to see, we feel we just want to be able to do something more for them but are unable to.

At times we see some very distressing scenes. Older disabled teenagers/adults are expected to care for the other children. However, we try not to think too much about these negative aspects of our work, instead we try to focus on all the positives and just think of how much good we are doing for those that we are able to work with, although there are still many many more who we cannot care for. We are able to support one another and touch the lives of these few children.

All these photos that I am posting are of the CCD day care centre. It is just important to remember that this is only a tiny proportion of the children in the orphanages and that although CCD is an amazing facility for these children.

I am gradually improving my Thai and learning to eat strange foods and cope with the amazing heat. The wonderful rain and dramatic thunderstorms are never more welcome.

I would really appreciate prayer support for me and the team as we continue our work here.

Keep looking onto the next page because I have uploaded quite a few photos recently.

fung fah

This is me in the sensory room with some of the children.

The sensory room is a really good facility for these children, there are toys, lights, fans (much needed) and soft carpets.

This is one of the Thai staff.

Keep looking...more photos further on.

outing

Here are a few more photos of an outing we took the kids on today. It was great fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Generally laughing the whole time. We took them to Major, the big shopping centre near us. We had some food for lunch them went for ice cream. Then wondered around the centre which they all found hilarious. Looking at everything and just generally having the freedom to run around and do whatever. Moving stairs hold a special fascination, especially for Solasak and Ploy. I never knew they could be so much fun until our outing with the kids. I've tried to upload some videos from today as well so hopefully you can see what I've been up to.

Just could not get her to look at the camera. She was far far more interested in the cups of water on the table.

Lovely photo. This is at Swensens were we took the children for ice cream. I have to say they demolished it very quickly.

Suay mat mat

Eating in the traditional Thai way , 'sharing'. More like I grab the bowl from you, take a mouthful, you grab it from me and so on...

He ordered his own meal. We had no idea what he ordered or what the Thai lady was saying to him. But it worked out and he enjoyed it which is the main thing. A very bright boy.

Work update

This is the wee playground bit outside the CCD daycare centre. We often take the children out there in the afternoon when there is some shade!

And the rainy season begins.
There will be more photos coming soon, just haven't had time to upload them yet.

Outings with the children and girls

These are a few photos of a couple of outings we have been able to take the children on and also of another day at Rachawadee girls. These are a couple of weeks old, sorry but I wasn't able to upload them earlier. I hope you enjoy them. Hopefully will get some photos in the next couple of weeks or so.
It is really lovely taking the kids on outings because they very rarely get to go out unless there are volunteers usually who can take them out, so it really is a great excitement for them!!! On these trips we've taken them for Thai food and then ice cream and also some of them we took round the shops and these two above we brought back to the house for a little while.
Ana had made a slide show presentation for the children at Rainbow house and it was really cute because the two girls wee sitting watching it! They just looked so cute.

Here is Ploy is watching the slideshow

Don't worry she was actually laughing. She laughs a lot and it is so lovely to hear.

Here she was trying to rip up some paper.

I think this is such a lovely photo. Kara has a wee prayer book and she was just flicking through it. I seem to have managed to catch her as if she is reading it!

Me taking Ploy back to the house for a little while. We live just off this road, actually that reminds me, I really need to take a photo of our house from the outside so that you guys can see where I am actually staying.

Fascinated by transferring one bottle to another (and making a big mess in the process!!)

A massive plate of food for a very wee girl. It was macarroni with chicken, mmm.. Aloy mat mat!! Though I'm not so sure Ploy thought so.

Another day at Rachawadee girls. I tend to go here if the staff at Fung Fah have a meeting or for some reason they aren't going to be there. It is quite good because it means that I get to see what goes on at another place. Also I am getting to know some of the girls which is nice. Actually we took a group of 4 girls from CP ward to church last week. It was really nice, and all the people at church were really welcoming to them and they were really touched that these girls had wanted to come to curch, it was lovely to see.

A lovely pose by Kara. :)

I seem to have a lot of photos of this wee girl. But she was just so responsive when we put her on the wedge and gave her a few toys, we saw lots of smiles from her so that was really nice.

The sensory room.

Me playing the keyboard with one of the girls, she really enjoyed it



She really enjoyed seeing herself in the mirror.

The pianist!!

Doing some physiotherapy/OT. It's really great because I am getting the opportunity to practice some physiotherapy.

Thought you might like to see some Tuk - tuks, which really are quite a common mode of transport her in Thailand.

This was a huge treat for the girls that we took out. We took them for ice cream. As you can see from the look on her face, she was really pleased with this yummy ice cream

Ali and Bunta, great big grin.

Yummy yummy, egg fried rice and vegetables.