Khon Kaen visit

Hi Everyone,

I'm writing this on a very muggy day.. it's been raining almost everyday this past week..  the rain gauge read 110mm for a 30 hour period the other day.. so lots of rain, lots of flooding.. rice fields washed away and wet kids on scooters completely drenched as they make their way home from school.

Since my last update I made a quick weekend visit east to House of Mercy Foundations third centre - the Khon Kaen HIV/Aids centre.  Khon Kaen is a 3 hour drive east from Phetchabun through the Nao Nao National park (very green and lush.. with elephant crossing signs everywhere).  This centre is designed solely for the care of children with HIV or full blown Aids.  It currently cares for 40 kids in a building that is now at full capacity. I have to say this visit was definitely the most confronting.  The kids were amazing.. so welcoming.. hugs as soon as you walk through the gates.. I played twister and a couple of other games with them when I first arrived and they were just beautiful kids, beautiful smiles and beautiful laughs.  While the kids went on playing I got speaking to Wendy, an Australian volunteer who has been helping here for the past 5 years.  Wendy works with Dtim (the Thai director) supporting her to run the centre. Wendy tells some shocking and amazing stories of how the kids came to be with Ban Meata.  One of the boys Art had this written in his profile 

"Art is very affectionate and loves to meet new people.. he loves books and he likes nothing better than to cuddle up to a new friend to read to him.  Art came to Ban Meata when he was 15 months old. Art's parents died of an AIDs related disease.  His blind grandmother tried to care for him but it was impossible. Friends of his grandmother brought him to Ban Meata"

This is just one of 40 stories.. heartbreaking stories and I shake my head everytime I read it.. What these kids have had to go through.. I can't begin to understand all that goes on inside their little heads.. 

I made it home (Phetchbun) and was greeted by the 12 boys whose house I'm sharing.. they were keen to carry my bags and gear back to my room.  My sponsor child Lift was eager to show me what he had been learning on the guitar that I got him a couple of weeks back.  And so was back into life here in Phetchabun.  I've only got a couple more days left in Thailand before I head to England next Tuesday. Am sad even thinking about leaving.. but very much looking forward to seeing my friends Steve and Emma in England.

Some Photos from Thailand

Pegs everywhere

Hello all. Hope you are well and life is going well in your respective worlds.

Wanted to share an update of the past fortnight with you.. Since my last post I've trekked a good 1900km around Thailand.. all on bus.. totaling approximately 26hrs.. good times.. plenty of laughs (including the overbooked bus which included 3 hrs of standing - an added extra which came as a little bit of a surprise and getting booted off the bus one stop early.. photo below).  I've seen some amazing countryside, sunsets, stars and met some really nice people.

The highlight since my last update has been meeting my sponsor child.  After picking my friend Abby up from Bangkok we made our way to the Children's village in Phetchabun. Phetchabun is a province in the North-east of Thailand. The children’s village cares for approximately 90 kids providing housing, food and education at Ban Meata (Thai for House of Mercy).  Lift (my sponsor child) is 12 years old.  He is 1 of 12 boys in the younger boy’s house. An amazing, smart, caring and thoughtful kid.  

There has been some good fun with the boys as I've been living in their house (the volunteer accommodation has been full).  It has been great being apart of their house.. although I'm still trying to work out why the boys get up at 5.10 every morning.. a time which gives them a good 2 1/2 hours to getting ready for school.. Nothing huge.. it has proved helpful in getting me up to go for a run in the the cool (?) of the morning...

Lift and the other boys love board games so we've pretty much been having a blast playing Uno, Jenga, Macala, Dominos and a whole raft of other games.

If there is anything I can share/encourage any of you reading this who have sponsor kids - it is to write to them. As hard as you might think it is - they LOVE IT. As I’ve been saying good-night to the boys each night I’ve seen many of them with cards/photo’s/letters next to or under their pillows (one boy had rocks & play-doh.. i’m sure they had special meaning for him!). The letters and gifts mean so much to these kids and I want to encourage you to pick up a card and write.. nothing big.. just a short message of encouragement. It will mean the world to them.

So aside from traveling around the country visiting and showing the other House of Mercy homes to my friend Abby i’ve pretty much been laying pretty low. Very much enjoying Thailand - the people, the food and the countryside. I am amazed each day at how rewarding simpler living can be. This is probably a good time to explain the title for my my blog - Living without pegs. The general theme behind it is living a simpler life - I’m not talking about living in a tent, just being more conscious of what I consume, it’s impact on the environment around me and the impact on future generations.. it all started during one of my house-sitting gigs earlier this year... the place i was looking after had no clothes pegs. Initially I had intended on purchasing some, but as the weeks/months rolled I began to realise I could live without them. I came to the realisation that all the resources, energy and waste involved in producing some pegs solely for the purpose of hanging my clothes out, was a luxury I could live without. After all, people in Africa and Thailand don’t have the of pegs.. don’t they?


Enough rambling.. I guess what I’m trying to say is that in the time since being here I’ve learnt the power of ‘being present’ with the kids. I’ve enjoyed walking the land for a couple of hours collecting bamboo shoots for dinner, spent one afternoon fishing in the dam, another playing volleyball (without a net!) and another collecting paw-paw’s from the farm. The kids don’t have much by western standards, no Nintendo DS or bikes but from what I’ve observed and experienced, they really do have so much.. They taken what they have and turned it into so much. They have a family of 70+ brothers and sisters and carers who love them deeply.

There is so much laughter around the place, a really strong indicator of the vibe of this place.

In closing, they do have pegs in Thailand and given the number of loads of washing Oo (yes that’s the washing lady’s name pronounced like Boo minus the ‘b’) has do each day.. roughly 20 which she pushes through four washing machines from about 7am to early hours of the afternoon.. then jumps on the ironing board for the remaining hours.. 6 days week!!.. Yes so I can see the requirement for pegs as there is little to no time to chase clothes down the road.

Anyway, hope each of you are well and enjoying life.
Leave a message as I’d love to hear how things are going for you.

Talk soon
Damo