Last year I had to wave good by to the team as they headed out for LAX to get on a plane headed for Thailand. I had the honor of staying home to help with our new grandson who was born a month early and his mamma and daddy needed some help from family . . . I am not complaining as all . . . I could not have left the little guy if I had been paid to go! Still, it was tough to see the team leave without me.
Fast forward to this year and the timing was perfect for me to go back to Thailand and to the Karen village that has stolen a piece of my heart. Every year I am sad when it is time to go home! I wish the pictures could capture the stories in a more complete manner . . . but to get the real feel for what is going on you will just have to sign up and go next year!!!
One more thing, if you love the faces of these children, sign up to sponsor a child. It's an awesome way to impact their lives! You can do this through Lanna Cafe, USA. Here is the link:
SPONSOR A CHILD
After a good nights sleep following an awesome foot rub we were off to the hills! It's about 4-5 hours of driving on paved/semi-paved roads and then another 2 or so hours on some pretty gnarly dirt roads. I'm not sure you can quite see in this picture - I did not have a good telephoto lens, but off in the distance (in the middle of the pic) you can see the Mohojo region and the school house. From this point, we still had about 45 minutes to an hour to drive. Click on the picture and you can see it better.
VILLAGES
In this area, there are 5 villages that feed into the school - now called Mohojo school, but it will be renamed a more neutral name soon. Confession: I am not sure I am spelling the names of these villages correctly as over the past 4 years I have seen multiple spellings. The Karen spell it one way or have an entirely different name, the Thai government spell it another way and the few people who can read and write in the villages even spell it however it comes to them in the moment!
The hut on in the middle of the pic is where Eric and I stayed (reddish roof). This is one of the nicer huts as many still have thatched roofs. It was about a 10 minute walk down the hill into a ravine and then back up another hill to the school site. We walked this walk two to three times a day.
CHILDREN
Below is a picture of me with Yupin Machoano. The above picture was taken from her house. We have been sponsoring her for almost 3 years now. I did not get to meet her mom and dad. They were out working in the fields. She was home after school tending to the family's chickens and pigs. The children in the villages work hard with their families from an early age.
The sweet face below and the position of her hands are a greeting and sign of respect to me. I'm not sure how to spell it but the greeting sounds like "Sa wat te kah" and you "Y" by placing your hands in a prayer position under your chin or over your lips. The higher your hands and the lower you bow your head, the more respect you are showing.
This particular time she was giving me just a quick, friendly greeting. When she came to see us in the clinic, she "Y'd" with a much more bowed position and hands higher.
I cannot for the life of me remember her name. Next year I am writing it down!! Her mama is newly pregnant with baby number 3. She lost her second child in her 7th month of pregnancy. She came to see us and is so scared to loose this 3rd baby. There was not much we could say . . . just listen and encourage her to rest and keep hydrated. A hard thing to do when you need to work in the fields to keep your family fed. It is also not uncommon to eat only two meals a day and to drink only small amounts of water and/or tea at each meal. Nothing in between. So the concept of carrying water and keeping hydrated is something we talk about alot!
He lives in the hut just across and up one from the hut we lived in. His mom was the cook for our team two years ago. (The ladies are taught to cook for "American/white" stomachs and then get paid to cook for the 10 days we are there - great income for them)
Each morning the children line up for school.
Below are two little ladies that hung out lots with the team. Behind them is a new pig pen next to the fish pond. Apparently the pig manure is good to push into the pond for the fish. Organic farming at it's best!!
Well, that's all for now. In the next couple of days I will post more on the medical clinic and the building projects as well as some team pictures. Remember to click on the link above and sponsor a child if you don't already!!
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