Looking back on: Thursday October 15, 2009

We awoke early this morning, me having misunderstood what method of time keeping was being used when I was told that we were leaving at 3. This was not the country method afterall (which could mean we were leaving at about 10am), but rather the city style (3am). So groggy, I awoke, after a short couple of hours sleep, and we began the 7 plus hour long drive south to Mae Sot, a town on the Thai/Burmese border

As I drifted in and out of consciousness on the ride here, Sangwan at the helm, I spotted, among other things, an old couple using some playground equipment like professional aerobic equipment, and a truck that had tipped over on the side of a windy road. After the long and arduous ride, starting from being freezing cold to ending up boiling hot, we reached Mae Sot and headed to Compasio.

First though, we stopped to find ourselves lost (we were basically next door to Compasio when we pulled over), and saw an old women dragging herself along the ground. Sangwan was the first to notice, and left the car to go and help her, with me close on her tail. Language wasn’t much of a barrier seeing as she was death, but Sangwan helped her to her home just around the corner, and the kids gave her a bunch of bananas (along for the ride was Sittipon, Sittigorn, and Jumpy, with the rest either gone to Bangkok with Ku, or home with Sangwan’s niece.

Finally we pulled up, and were met by a half dozen children, all of them under the age of 5, smiling and running up (I must admit, mainly to me) to be hugged and lifted, thriving off attention like a baby on its mother’s milk.  Allan, the director, and Sia, one of the workers, are currently in Minneapolis, but the others made us right at home. Particularly impressed were they with my Thai; possibly winning by default though, as after meeting the foreign workers, I could see that they didn’t have the luxury of language training as I have had.

The rest of their kids, a good additional 7 or so to the already plentiful half dozen younger kids arrived from school while the kids were having lunch. They introduced themselves, and then went off to complete their homework, wash their clothes, etc. So I took the opportunity to go upstairs, watch a show on my laptop, and fall asleep. Interestingly, most of the kids are actually Indian, (though they were introduced as ‘Muslim’ by nationality, and not by faith). Where exactly they have been and come from though, I’m not sure, as one of the older one’s speaks a Malaysian dialect, Indian dialect, Thai, and I think Burmese. This is a home though for ‘prison babies’, termed as such as they were either born in prison, or thrown in with their parents

After going upstairs there was a minor interruption when the kids started crowding around to watch what I was, so I put on a cartoon and completed my plan, waking up later to the raucous sound of “Happy Birthday” being sung downstairs.

I arrived downstairs just in time, after the singing was over, and had some cake and drink, as it was one of the foreign volunteer’s birthdays. Afterwards, I went outside to play with the kids, who seemed quite impressed by my stature, and anticipated me to perform any activity like an action hero. I’d like to say they weren’t sorely disappointed, so I will: they weren’t sorely disappointed.

We ended up going over to the local oval to run around, though we were confined to a small area as there was a soccer game going on. My swagger once again caused my thongs to flip mud up all over the back of my legs, and we played a kind of dodge ball (only one ball). This lasted about an hour then we returned to the house, ate dinner, and cleaned up for the night.

Height is always an issue for me out and about here. Doorways are too short, lights too low, roofs built where empty headroom should be, and tonight this all came to everyone’s attention with a light, which I head butted out of its socket as I wandered by. “Don’t worry about it”, everyone assured me, though the sheer amount of people who were assuring me of this seemed a bit too plentiful. Oh well.

The kids are very loving, wanting to be held, played with, and more than anything, enjoyed. They thrive on knowing that they are not a burden to you, but that you enjoy them being around. Funny too, as I wrote that one of the girls came to sit by me, thrilled just to watch me type. Although the nasty habit of her touching the screen must be addressed I think.  The kids don’t have much, but what they have they enjoy. The girl next to me is going through my pencil case, and, finding an eraser, I asked her “do you want it?” Not much of a loss to me considering I have three in there. How thankful she was to have it, now writing her name on it proudly.

Well, that’s enough for tonight, my feet are currently being mutilated by mosquitos, which I’d say the wide open windows without fly screens would be contributing to.

~ by Mono on October 20, 2009.