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Published: September 14th 2007
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Noah would be so proud of the way the people here are able to tolerate the rains. It started at about 11am and hasn’t stopped since. This is rain …real rain…rain that doesn’t stop…ever. Gee I sure am pleased the apartment is built on stilts…..and we only lost two shoes today to the torrent pouring over the sidewalks…
It has probably rained a good 36 inches in the last 12 hours…enough to flood the back wash area, cause all the dogs in the neighborhood to find their way under the apartments in the village and force me to move the motocyc to higher ground. We are of course assuming that nothing will float away during the night and Noah won’t be making a float-by appearance in the morning.
AND…the rain wreaked havoc on my Wednesday market plans….sheesh, don’t the Gods know there are only two really good market shopping days a week in this town??!!
The rains at least spurred me to open my LSAT study guide…though I almost wanted to throw it into the river outside my front door after two pages. Maybe I’ll just open a climbing gym instead and stick to climbing rocks rather than
working with injustice and poverty. *sigh*
I have 2 ½ months to test day. Thank goodness Britt is here…somehow I think there was some real meaning in this trip for her. Not just for my benefit…Britt is helping to teach my kids too and has amazing patience for them. She has also offered to help for the day I need to be in Bangkok to write my exam.
Speaking of teaching, while Kat is the English teacher for the orphanage for the rest of the month, Britt and I may be working in the nursery school that has been set up next door. Tommorrow we’ll be checking it out to see where our assistance can be placed.
It will be good to have a regular daily routine. So far it has been sporadic with what help we can offer. Things seem terribly unorganized at present.
I can see many of the old problems that Marina and Penyella were working on 9 months ago. While some have changed and solutions have been adopted, there are still issues with the structure of care here. It is too early for me to be adding my opinions to the meetings the
staff hold every few days, but I have been privy to the goings on nonetheless.
I am beginning to make notes and keep questions about some of the issues and Pee Bom and Naa Bai have been helpful in filling in some of the blanks so far. But still there are changes to be made.
Good things I have documented so far include:
A proper register of the volunteers and temporary staff-this comes about after one of the Australian volunteers we had 11 months ago dies during a weekend rafting outing and there was no contact information for her family. Since then, the register and contacts have been carefully monitored. Additionally, the orphanage accepts volunteers only for a minimum of a month because the kids get attached to them and some routine needs to be implemented for the stability of the children.
The development of the washing area-since the donation of a large capacity washer in January, the ability to keep up with the washing has increased. There is also a new roof and outside wall over the area and it has increased the size of the drying rack area tremendously.
The addition of internet to
the office on one computer-this is a blessing and at the same time makes little difference at all. It is an incredibly slow connection and unstable and increases the likelihood of the staff spending time locked away in the office and not out “on the floor” with the kids.
Regular transportation to and from school has been worked out. All the kids are wither attending school now or the nursery.
A second bus was purchased by “Hands Across the Water” and is now in use daily.
Things still needed and new issues:
There is still an overwhelming need for more space. It was tight before the addition of 10 more children in the last 9 months, but now it is dangerously too crowded. The older boys are sleeping on mattresses in the hallway upstairs and the girls dorms are overcrowded with little to no area for storage of personal items. Bunkbeds have been added to the boys doormrooms and the smaller boys are packed in there.
One of the projects will be to locate and raise funds for the new dorm. It is needed space and will be the next big project. The foundation is pegged out, but not enough funds are available to complete the project.
…….
I am breaking here for a moment. We are constantly reminded we live on the ring of Fire here . There has been another earthquake in Indonesia. We are being told it was an 8.5 on the richter scale and a Tsunami warning was issued just after 5pm this evening. Ban Nam Kaem village (the hardest hit area in the last tsunami) and other southern villages have been evacuated. Currently there are whole villages emptying into Ban Phru Teow as people are moving to higher ground and inland areas. We are safe here….farther inland that the last wave came ashore. The warning combined with general unease from all the flooding has made for an uncomfortable evening. But WE ARE SAFE.
Likely the news you may hear overseas (if any) will be sensationalized. Our hope here is that those affected by the earthquake are unharmed. We have no access to global news as the internet has been knocked out or the connection jammed due to use, so I have no way of knowing what is being said. Some people are saying they felt the earthquake occur, but we have been inundated with the rain and thunderous noise from it that it’s hard to say even if we could feel it.
Obviously, things will have passed over by the time I post this blog, but you have a small accounting of the events as they happened.
…………………………….
I will see about the global news in the morning. Love to all of you.
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Grandma D
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Hey there: It was good to hear your voice yesterday. Yes we did hear about the earthquake and I checked on Goggle Earth to see how far away you were. I thought you would all be ok. Hope those closer to the shore are ok too. Love to you all.