Our biggest hurdle in coming over was to get 2 ladders weighing about 20kgs each included in our luggage. We trimmed down as much as we could and Colleen only brought one packet of Weetbix. With some extra kilos from Singapore Airlines we snuck in under the limit and we were able to enjoy the curious stares as we wheeled the ladders through the airport.
Because the team was coming from all over we arrived at different times and finally were all together by midday on Sunday. With our precious ladders and all our luggage crammed into a mini-bus we had an uneventful trip from Bangkok to Ban Meata. And what a welcome we received! They were having dinner when we arrived and they all poured out of the dining room and swamped us. Every one of us was hugged again and again by 95 kids and 20 odd carers. For Colleen and me it was such a delight to be back with Whun again and we were amazed how much she has changed since we left just six months ago. She has grown taller, filled out and changed her hair style. She is quite the beautiful young woman and we are so proud of her.
Rob Dunk is still in England for his son’s wedding so Pawinee has carte blanche for any projects for us. We will be putting a verandah on the front of the new office and already have the holes dug for the posts. We will also finish the walls, doors and windows of the dining room, put on a verandah and join it with a roof to the “big girl’s house. In the meantime we are working on Pawinee’s place. Her beautiful house is slowly nearing completion and we are putting in the ceilings, concreting the carportand doing some retaining walls. This should keep us going for a week and then we’ll start on the other jobs back in Ban Meata village.
Some of you are aware of the story about little Gedt, an 11 year old girl who has been with us for about 18 months now. 6 months ago she was diagnosed with leukemia and at her age the survival rate is about 50-50. We are praying for a better outcome than that, but it has been great to see the great faith which she has faced her illness. She is currently here at Ban Meata but sleeps in a separate room and usually wears a mask when mixing with the other kids. Just today she was due for another round of chemotherapy and she travelled to Phitsanoulok (100km) to the hospital there, but, on arrival they discovered her blood count was too low for treatment so she had to come home again. I sat with her tonight and told her that many people in Australia are praying for her. If any readers have only just heard about this please add her to your prayer list. There will be a photo attached so you can see who you are praying for.
We have started on a plan to take all the Ban Meata staff out to dinner at a Korean BBQ and we had our first group on Friday night. The meal was wonderful and the Thai girls usually look after us very well – but none more so than Malcolm. They cooked his meat on the little BBQ’s, made his soup, put his food on his plate – I believe though he had to chew it himself! He helped out though when the time came for icecream. They have tiny cups and tiny cones to get it in (so people can’t be too greedy) but Malc managed to embarrass Air, one of the carers, by bringing her back an icecream cone loaded so high it was no mean balancing feat to get it back to the table!
We are in the swing of having “smoko” every morning and afternoon and we make short work of plates of pineapple, watermelon and green mango and jugs of cordial. Today we had our first plate of pomello and it was just beautiful. We have been blessed with great weather which wouldn’t be much over 30 degrees – I guess it will get hot about when we put the roof on the new verandahs over the office and dining room.
Spare a thought for Murray Stolte who is missing the trip to Thailand for the first time in 7 years after falling off a haystack and badly injuring himself. His son Chris though is having enough fun for both of them together and is really enjoying working with Boonsilit, Sun and Deo who became his mates when he spent 6 months here. And then there is Sand, one of the carers with whom he is particularly friendly – watch this space…….!
My goal (always a dangerous thing to commit to on paper) is to get the blog out about once a week or ten days so stay tuned.
God bless
Ron
Gedt without her mask and with her hair growing back
One of our Korean BBQ nights with the staff
Pawinee's house where we are working
Screwing up the ceiling battens (in a nice way!)
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