Ron in Thailand: Missive 6

It’s a quiet afternoon at Phetchabun and I have put aside the dozens of policies, reports and proposals that I have been churning out for the last couple of weeks to catch you up with events and finish what will be the last blog. I’ve been flat out like a lizard drinking ever since I arrived at Phetchabun although I have managed to keep most evenings (well, late evenings anyway) free to relax in our house here. I’m getting through a few books and crossword puzzles and have just about worn out the 2 or 3 CD’s I’ve got.
We finished our time in Khon Kaen with a party on one of the slabs and we invited the kids from the orphanage, all the neighbours who have been looking curiously over the fence for the last 6 weeks, and the local businesses that we have been dealing with. We didn’t get very many neighbours but we had a good time and the kids danced the night away with the ever present music and amplifier. I spent the night with Pam curled up on my lap. She is recovering from her kidney infection but is still feeling poorly and soaked up the attention anyway.
We got most of the roof steel up and we had a team of Thais working on the blockwork of the first house, and the skeleton team left will get the roof on, see the walls topped and have the windows and doors in before they leave in March. As I was sitting back in the air-conditioned comfort of Rob and Pawinee’s car on the return to Phetchabun I reflected on which of the building jobs would be good material for that TV show “Dirty Jobs”. Would it be digging holes by hand (not enough power for the jackhammer) out in the sun for 3 days straight and struggling to get my shirt off to hang over a bush during smoko because it was so wet? Or would it be squatting in the sun with scream of the dropsaw and the stream of sparks cutting hundreds of lengths of steel to be welded into trusses? Or perhaps it would be bending over in the sun weaving 15 km of 6 metre lengths of 6mm steel into mesh and then squatting and tying the edges with tie wire? Whichever one wins they were all instrumental in giving us pretty impressive suntans and the Thais are greatly amused by our sock tans.
It is much less dramatic here at Phetchabun although today provided something out of the ordinary. We got word yesterday that a neighbour of Jip’s, aged 45, and in extreme circumstances of poverty (not helped by her husband’s love of the grog) was having a baby. She can’t care for it and asked us to take it. Last night she was waiting in Ban Klang (nearby village) for transport to hospital and although some people waited with her they eventually drifted off when nobody came after a couple of hours. Whilst on her own she had the baby, was losing blood, and passed out. Jip’s sister in law found her with the baby born but still attached. We were grateful that she found her before the ever-present dogs did.
This morning Glom got together some baby things and she, Jip and I drove into Lomsak to see the Mum and baby and have the baby signed over. When we arrived we found that the little girl was born with a cleft palate and had 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot. The extra digits are a minor problem but the cleft palate means a lengthy stay in a larger hospital at Phitsanoulok (same hospital in which Gedt was cared for until she died). We are currently trying to organize daily care for her while she is there. Please pray for this little girl – she should have a name by tomorrow! [Stop Press: Her name is Hope because we believe she has a future and a hope in Jesus with us – she will go to the Phrae orphanage]
A wonderful sideline to this is that Pawinee, 2 weeks ago, shared a dream she had with Glom and Jip. She dreamt that someone put a baby in her arms and said that it was a baby from Ban Klang. The baby had something wrong with its hands but responded to Pawinee’s touch by closing its hand on hers. The baby also responded with its eyes but could not speak because something was wrong with its mouth. Pawinee is usually reluctant to accept disabled kids here because we don’t have the capacity to manage them, but she felt that God was saying in the dream that she should accept this child as He was giving it to her. For 2 weeks she wondered what all that was about and today she found out. One of God’s miracles!
Less exciting than all that but wonderful anyway is the time I can spend with our Whun and pi-sou (big sister) Why. Last weekend I took them into Phetchabun and after lunch set them to choosing some clothes as a belated Christmas present. After waiting for some time with my shopping trolley and still nothing chosen I said I would go and do my other shopping and come back. 20 minutes later I returned with my trolley full but Why still hadn’t found anything that she liked or fitted. She did make a choice within the next 10 minutes but then they needed a few health food supplies, like chips and stuff. It was their turn to suffer then as I went for a haircut and the lady who does it took an hour – she gave every one of my remaining hairs her individual attention – even though it was just a number 2 on top and number 1 for the beard.
We have enjoyed a string of parties with the big girls and boys where we get out the BBQ buckets and cook all sorts of meatballs and bits and pieces. One party was at Pawinee’s and the girls made little shrimp traps out of plastic drink bottles and put them in the dam. They collected hundreds of little shrimps which they put in a chili batter mix and fried. The shrimps kept leaping out of the batter so they had to pour hot water into their bucket to hasten their demise. I’m hoping there isn’t a horde of animal liberationists in my readership who will descend in wrath on Thailand to avenge this practice!
Richard Wray who came back to Phetchabun with us spent 10 days here and left for home a few days ago. He spent time fixing some plumbing for Kerry (long term volunteer) and installing a new water tank at Porn’s new house (Porn is one of the original workers here – some of you may remember the story of “hit it with the Word” and Porn is the hitter!). I helped Richard with some of this and we had a good time together.
Only 10 days to go myself now. I’ll be back on the morning of March 8th. As usual I’m looking forward to getting back home to Colleen, family and the rest of you, but I’m not looking forward to leaving my Thai family here. I may be repeating myself here but the Thais have a saying “song jai” (literally 2 hearts) which means you have your heart in two places. Colleen and I have found this to be so true and there will be a few tears when I leave.
Till I see you
God bless
Ron