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Published: December 8th 2006
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The roti man stopped by the orphanage today. His little cart with a tray and wok, a flat of eggs and roti dough balls. There is nothing like a roti in the afternoon. It is a thin pancake fried in sweet oil and a fried egg cooked on top. Add to this a good helping of sweet butter, sweetened condensed milk and a teaspoon of sugar rolle dup in a newspaper. Oh Yeah Baby!
Marrin and Miles were fascinated by the process and I ended up ordering a “few” for the little crowd of orphanage kids that noticed the peddler.
It cooled off a bit this afternoon after a few short rain showers. The night sky is currently lit up with silent lightening….it glows deep pink against the clouds in the distance.
I put the kids to bed early (for here anyway, about 9pm) and went back across the street to the orphanage to share the evening meal with the staff. Tomorrow one of the sponsor organizers is coming to visit with the children. There has been a bit of a problem with organizing (again!) the collection of sponsorship funds and getting it regularly to the orphanage or
at least the foundation (based in Bangkok) through
Duang Prateep The money comes in now and then and some of the money from sponsors from months ago has never materialized. Rotjhana and the staff, the social workers and volunteers are meeting to come up with ways to get this organized. Part of the problem is that many of the children are sponsored via satellite organizations who locate sponsors for Duang Prateep. Dragonfly (the NGO north of Bangkok) is one such organization, and how I found this place. I sponsored Gai through them, however, now I fund Gai and Som directly by paying for the school, clothing and food myself.
The children occasionally have months where things are tight as a result of this lack of organizing. Another problem is that the staff who must handle all the organization are often villages with little to no education beyond 6th grade. More than 2/3 of the staff here are women and young men who lost their entire families in the Tsunami. Aside from Dr. Ton, the psychiatrist, Rotjhana (who isn’t overly educated but has the skill to put this together, and another woman who is from the head office of Duang
Prateep and visits once a month, there isn’t really a competent set of hands here. I mean in the business sense. The care of the children on a personal and day-to-day needs is just fine. Many of the staff members are mom’s who lost children, so the care in genuine and the concern true.
Anyway, the meal was wonderful as the always, rice and an assortment of hot pot items, ginger/lemongrass soup, crab, pork soup with chilis, red curry with chicken….and the conversation, or my listening to it, just right.
There is something amazing about sitting out in a patio in the darkness, eating good food and listening to the happy conversations of people who are sincere. I think its something lost in our western culture, or at least outside of summer barbeques.
The children were lined up in the hall reciting their prayers which Rotjhana tells me are meditative rather than religious. Buddhism is still present, though there is no direct adherence to it taught here.
The centre’s name means happy home, or happy family as the two are the same term essentially. Its true too. The staff want to be here and the children too…this is their home now…and these people, their family.
We have visitors now nad then, though lately it has been one a day or more. They drive up in their vans or resort taxi and take a tour of the facilities….its a riot to watch as the kids always know there is ice cream or a treat that comes along with them. At first I was a bit shocked by the “white people” soaking in the “do-gooder-ness”, but then realized I had probably done the same, minus the tour. There is an interest in the trauma that these kids have suffered and maybe that is okay. The visitors always leave the kids with a happy smile and Rotjhana is blunt about what they need. If a visitor asks if they can provide anything, she tells them. Today we have a promise of a new washing machine for the facility. With nearly 30 children, that is necessary as each child has only three sets of clothing. But until they have holes beyond repair, the clothes are sufficient.
There is a need for pajamas for all the children as most sleep in underclothes. That will be my gift to the children this year. 30 sets of pajamas.
We are going to Phuket on the 15th for the weekend and will purchase these items then. I would also like to get them some additional toys and storage units for the common room. We will look in the village for these things. Storage is always at a premium here as the buildings are concrete and without planning a closet, there simply isn’t one.
The girls room has bunk beds built in, but the boys sleep on mats on the floor. A new room is being built soon and that will be a space for the boys, so maybe bunks will be included then. The problem is growth. Rotjhana will not turn away any child and as the centre becomes more and more known, the children come. We expect to have 35 by the time I leave.
There is a limit however, there has to be. I just don’t know what happens then.
I’ll let you all know about the trip to Phuket when I know more. I promised the kids a beach, so soon we will go. I just may have more kids in tow than planned!
Smiling at you still….
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Clara
non-member comment
Christmas
Hey Stephanie I'm just thinking about Christmas presents and I want to give meaningful gifts this year. How does one donate to your orphanage?