Missive 2 – 2016

As always the pace changes a bit when Malcolm leaves.  It’s been amazing to see him, in his mid-seventies, clambering around on top of the building, hanging on with one arm while he welds trusses together, or climbing the ladders with the weight of enormous trusses on his shoulder.  After he goes some of the Thai workers go back to other jobs like gardening or working on the farm while the rest continue on the building site.  Malcolm’s wife Kay, and daughter Kathryn thoroughly enjoyed their first stay at Ban Meata and there were tears as they tore themselves away from the farewell hugs and drove away.

We didn’t quite get to where Malcolm was expecting.  He was hoping we would have the concrete planks making up the floor of the second storey in place, but we only got 20% of them in place and as at this moment still have some welding to do before the next section goes on.  I have been dividing my time between the office and measuring up for the posts which have to welded in place to hold the roof of the second storey, and having one of the trusses cut and re-welded into a position which fits over the old building better.

Now for those who are already bored with building, some other stuff.  Firstly, news of Cheewar who has lupus and has lost two toes on one of her feet.  Her hospitalisation coupled with inadequate care in her home village (resulting in the amputation) has left her walking on a frame and with “drop foot” on her good leg.  With son-in-law Rich’s help and advice we have devised a physio regime to overcome the problem.  I have gathered all the girls in the “big girls” house and shown them which muscles to massage, which muscles to stretch, and which exercises Cheewar must attempt to restore mobility.  They take it in turns to do it 3 times a day.  Cheewarseems to have brightened considerably since I have been here, despite the pain we are inflicting on her thrice daily!  Please continue to pray for her and her swift return to university.

I promised an update on Whun’s life and circumstances.  Over the last year she has had more ups and downs than a hotel lift but seems to be in a better place now.  She has a job as a trainee teacher at our school and despite having a “downer” late last year because of some criticism, and wanting to leave, is now much more settled.  Children begin school here at 3 or even younger (some still in nappies) and she is partnered with a teacher in a classroom of nearly 40 of these kids.  One of her jobs is to clean up the kids who have wet their pants, or worse, during their afternoon nap.  She is learning to serve!  I am delighted that she reads to them and has developed a dramatic reading style which captivates her audience.  This year she will commence weekend university study to get her formal teaching qualifications.

Underlying all this, and more importantly, is her encounter with God over recent months.  She has had an experience of the infilling of the Spirit and she speaks often of her desire to do as God wants of her.  I have been encouraging her in this, and teaching her about extending this into her love life.  A boyfriend with whom she has had a somewhat tumultuous relationship over the last couple of years posted on Facebook that he could do without her but not beer!  The status of the relationship is now “broken” as she puts it, and it was pleasing to see her make that decision.  Thank you to all those praying for her.  Don’t stop now!!

The Sunday before last Kay, Kathryn and I went for a drive with Stuart and Trish (long term volunteers here) into the mountains nearby.  We visited the Prince’s palace (the future king), drove past numerous holiday resorts and strawberry farms, and ended up at Pino Latte, a coffee place with stunning views over the Phetchabun valley between parallel mountain ranges, and over the new Buddhist temple, spectacularly decorated with literally millions of mosaic tiles.  At the coffee place we enjoyed drinks at Western prices and some cake and desserts that don’t even get close to being on a diabetic’s diet list.

Last weekend Why came over from KK again to say goodbye because she will be unable to do so over the next couple of weekends.  She, Whun and I had a wonderful Saturday together, going into Phetchabun and enjoying the delights of the Pizza Company, Swenson’s the ice-cream parlour, and shopping in Tescos.  (Those of you concerned about my sugar levels, rest assured they are very good, testament to the day by day diet and working in the sun.)  We played a few word games which brings out the competitive juices in Why, and confuses the daylights out of Whun, so we had a great deal of fun, reminiscent of the time they spent in Adelaide.  They are very keen to come again one day.

That night we went in to Lomsak, our nearest town, to the night markets and to watch a dancing and music competition in a park there.  We took Cheewar in a wheelchair and she loved being included.  You couldn’t say Thailand is a “disabled friendly” place.  I had to push the wheelchair on the street because the footpaths are full of either stallholders or pipes and concrete bumps.  Some of the kids from our school were competing in the competitions and got some good results.  It seemed that only girls danced and the skimpy clothes and steaminess of the routines made me wonder about appropriateness for our kids – but, that’s Thailand!

Well, if you’ve lasted this far well done.  As much as I’m enjoying myself I’m missing home as well.  2 weeks to go.

God bless

Ron

 

Missive 1 - 2016

I have just sat down after returning to my “ban” (house) after a delightful meal with Mum Whun, Whun and Why, Jip and Sun (carers for the big boys) and some of the uni students.  Jip and Mum Whun went to the markets, bought some food and invited me to join them for the meal.  We had “larp” (mincemeat mixed with herbs and chilli), and a heap of squid which was cooked over a fire bucket and then cut into rings and dipped into a hot herb and chili sauce.  A few other dishes completed the menu – all made as we sat there.  It was so good to be sitting under the stars with my other family, sharing stories (some had to be retold to me), and simply enjoying each other’s company.  When I bid them goodnight and thanked them for their hospitality they said that I was like a local and one of them – a wonderful affirmation of friendship.

When Nook (once a child here and now with children of her own) saw me for the first time her first words were, “Welcome back!  I’m reading my Bible more because I know you will be telling us that’s what we should be doing.”  Pray for Nook – she has recently had a large lump removed from her breast (benign apparently) and has to go to the local clinic every day to have the dressing in the hole replaced.

All this is after a good flight over here and a night in a hotel in Bangkok before catching a bus to Phetchabun.  I had a bit of minor trouble with taxis.  The driver from the airport, although in a metered taxi, suggested I could pay 1000baht, and have a “Happy New Year”, and then on my refusal dropped it to 500.  I tapped the metre and suggested he turn it on.  Consequently the cost was only 270.  And the next morning I had a few taxis stop for me but when I said I wanted to go to the bus station they wound up their windows and drove on.  Eventually I had a very pleasant driver take me and the cost was a mere 100baht – obviously not enough for some of them.

Our job this year is to put a second storey on the big girls’ house (where Whun and Why used to live).  When I arrived the holes were dug around the house for the posts by a team from Brisbane/Nambour under the leadership of Russel Lee who has worked with us over the last few years.  A big team of Thais, several of them Ban Meata boys who have left school, were painting steel and taking the old roof off.  My first job was to knock a wall down and dig up a concrete path so I was reacquainted with my old friend Jack (Hammer) very quickly.  Later I, and a few Thai boys, put up the cement posts and welded the steel frames inside ready for the cement truck to come and fill them.

Malcolm has brought his wife Kay this year for the first time in 12 years, as well as his daughter Kathryn.  Both are enjoying their first experience at Ban Meata, amazed at the welcome and the “100 hugs a day”, and already at the school helping out with English teaching.  Last weekend we went to Khon Kaen where Malcolm was able to show off this amazing new orphanage which was just a rice paddy 4 years ago.  There is a new phase beginning at Khon Kaen with the introduction of new babies of which by next week there will be eight.  Three of them are only a few weeks old and a couple of them born to HIV+ teenage Mums.  Medication from birth and not allowing the Mums to breastfeed them is having good deal of success in the preventing of HIV+ status in babies.  I fell in love with one of these little tots because her name is Pam after the 10 year old that I had a lot of contact with a couple of years ago and who subsequently died after an infection.

We couldn’t go to Khon Kaen without taking Kay and Kathryn to the steak-house where we have been dining for the last 12 years when we go over there.  All those years ago we ate all we could for 89baht (then about $3) and now it is 189baht (nearly $8, shock, horror) but the food is the same – unlimited pork, beef and chicken steaks with numerous salads and vegetables, then dessert and icecream.  We also took them to one of the multi-storey shopping malls and also to an open air street market.  This latter was mainly for meat and fish, so we saw lots of pork laid out on tables, flanked by the heads of those poor individuals, and plenty of fish, eels, tortoises and frogs in plastic bowls either swimming, hopping or crawling around, or in a state much closer to the cooking pot.

We brought Why back with us from Khon Kaen because she had a few days’ break from Uni so this may be a good time to report on how she and Whun are getting on.  I spent a wonderful hour or so with Why one night with conversation ranging over uni results, her ambitions, her spiritual life and her history, of which she has an awakening interest.  Her results this semester have been a little better although she still finds the work very difficult.  When I raised the issue of finding a tutor she said it is very difficult to find a tutor at this level.  She has 3 semesters to go to complete her degree and she will then teach in a school for a year to get her teacher’s certificate.  She has asked us to pray for her decisions after that – whether she continues to teach in a school or go back for a Masters and teach in a university.  She insists that she wants to do what God wants for her, and not just choose for herself.  She is involved in a local church at KK, playing the keyboard and getting a lot out of the preaching there.  She heads back to KK tomorrow but perhaps I’ll see her again in the next few weeks.

Whun is going well after a very challenging year.  She has some decisions to make soon about a study regime and the best way to achieve her ambition of being a teacher.  I will tell more of her story in the next Missive.

At the time of finishing this Missive we have put up all the posts around the old building on the building site today and by the next Missive hope to be able to report the beams around and across the building being in place.  Malcolm leaves next Friday so we are going flat strap to get as much done as possible, and hope that he gets time to write down the next steps so we can continue the good work.  The top storey is going to be enormous (bigger than the dining room) and will tower over the quadrangle at Ban Meata.  The old building had concrete trusses so rather than build the next storey on the walls, it will be over the roof level.  The floor on the new storey will be between 4 and 5 metres above the ground.  I have suggested to Malc that we put in oxygen outlets for assisted breathing at that height.

Till next time, continue to pray for us.  I think of you often and am experiencing “song jai” which I think I explained last time.

God bless

Ron