January Volunteering Part 2

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At the start of this week we got 2 new volunteers, Dionne (Emily's friend) and Jenna. They are both in their 20s and are pretty cool. General things happening here. We went into Sangkhla one day which was fairly dull, the only saving being we had chocolate ice lollies filled with condensed milk - so good! On Thursday we did our normal trip into the Thursday morning markets in Huay Ma Lai to buy condensed milk pancakes, chickpea wraps and sticky rice. Then we celebrated B's last day here by going for a walk in the surrounding jungle which was pretty cool, and making banana cake, which took all afternoon as we had to cook it in an old school brick oven that was heated by a wood fire that we had to keep topping up. We started cooking around 11 in the morning, and it wasn't ready until 7pm! The fact that it was super-delicious and we had 9 trays of it made up for the long wait though. I have to remember to add the recipe on here 😊.

The next day was kindof a big deal as B was leaving, and she's been here for almost 3 years! We left early in the morning to drop her and Gaelen in Sangkhla where they would catch the minibus. In theory this was a quick trip and we would be back in time to take the kids to school. As ever with Baan Dada however, it didn't work in practise as Dada delayed leaving Sangkhla until B and Gaelen had gone, so we were very late for school but I doubt the kids minded. That afternoon when they came back we took them all to a farm, as Dada wanted to learn how to grow things and be self-sufficient. It was all impressive until we came across the battery hens and pig in a fully walled enclosure with no door, which kindof destroyed the organic image they were trying to portray. Then they all jumped in the river for a quick swim before heading back. However, the short drive home was destined never to be. I was standing in the most awkward position on the back step of the truck, which was uncomfortable, but not that unsafe as we were driving at 2 kph for some unknown reason. Ants crawled past. Paint dried and peeled. Then, just when we thought we were getting somewhere, Dada stopped and all the kids swarmed out of the truck to collect tiny apple-type fruits. The boys on the roof were knocking them down for the younger kids to gather. After 2 false starts when we though we were going home only to discover Dada was just driving to the next tree, the boys suddenly got excited and told me to come up onto the roof and look at something in the tree. This turned out to be a bad idea, as just as I got close enough to discern it was a wasps' nest, one of the boys below hit the branch with a stick and the bees went mental. I now boast 7 stings on my arms face and neck A couple of the boys got stung aswell, though the fuss they made about that was nearly as hard to understand as the way they all gathered the apples so enthusiastically (the bee stings werent that bad, the apples on the other hand tasted foul). Eventually we made it back to Huay Ma Lai, where we took advantage of yet another stop to buy iced sugarcane juice, before going home.

The following day, a few of the kids who were in the school choir had a performance in some school in a town even smaller than Huay Ma Lai. It was apparently a big deal as some government officials were coming to watch them play, though whether they were doing it for the kids or for the TV show portraying them as kind people who care about children is debatable. We took the small truck, as most of the kids were going with their school. This was lucky as the road was up into the hills, very definitely unsealed, and very bumpy. The only bonus was we had a very pretty view over the hills as we were shaken into human smoothies. Along the way Michai and some of the older boys introduced us to beetlenut, which tastes like chewing sticks but they seemed to love it. I assumed it was kindof like the Thai version of red bull, and gave an energy buzz, but have since found out that it is more like tobacco and very addictive. It also stains your mouth red. Nice.

We arrived at the school where they were playing at 12pm, only to discover that they weren't due to play until 3. We passed the time looking round the little village, made mostly of houses with no walls, but all with their own satellite dish, and 1 shop. Then we had lunch at the school and watched the kids play football. Finally, at about 5pm, the government officials deigned to turn up, and the kids were able to play. They sang a bunch of Thai songs, including one of the King's own composition, as well as We Wish You A Merry Christmas, which seemed a bit out of place, but went down well. Afterwards, there was lots of waiting as TV crews photographed the officials handing one another important pieces of paper, with all the disadvantaged children behind them to make them look good. Then they took a group photo with the kids and the officials, then another plus the music teacher, another with us farang in it (simply because we were white), and finally with the kids, the officials, the teacher, the farang and the police. Talk about OTT. Finally we headed home, stopping only for banana pancakes in Sangkhla.

The next few days were very active, with climbing he framework of the yoga room, walking into Huay Ma Lai, studying with Wahlawutt, Yada and Nache, making bracelets and being taught Indian dancing by a new volunteer, Da. As well as this we had the awesomely fun task of office work - woop woop.

By Wednesday we had become bored of the office, and so we headed up to the volunteer house to make a fence. It's a fairly simple fence round the garden, made of bamboo and sticks, but took ages to make as we had to cut everything with a blunt saw, then dig the holes for fence posts using hoes, then gather rocks and soil to fill the holes with, then tie the bamboo to the mostly-upright 'posts' using wire and pliers. After several hours of this we were missing many Western tools, tie wraps being the most desired! We finished it in the end though, the final side being completed considerably faster than the other 2 due to having to build it in the section of the garden conquered by red ants. Dada 2 held a yoga class for us that evening so we could all recover.

Dada continued his education of us volunteers the next day with a talk on the origins of Neohumanism and Yoga. Then he taught us all a Yoga Dance and we did some meditation to the infamous Baba Nam Kevalam mantra that everyone is always singing here. We finished by watching the boys learn another yoga dance, but me, Da and Matte weren't allowed to join in as it increased bravery and was for boys only. Sexist. We returned to the wire and pliers that afternoon to attach a green fabric to the fence to stop the dogs getting in, and planted some lemongrass around the edge. That evening Da taught us more Indian dancing.

The rest of the week was fairly normal. Da, Dionne and Jenna left on Friday, and the kids performed again that evening. Saturday found us working in the garden again, and making a trip into Sangkhla to buy supplies for a camping trip with 200 scouts on Tuesday. The kids did another performance at Songkhlia, with just quiet songs for once.

We spent Sunday repairing the tents we were to use for camping, and in the afternoon borrowed the truck to take he kids to Ban Mire to go swimming. That was good fun, we jumped off a 20ft (at least) cliff, chucked the kids about as they're really light, were taught to use a slingshot by Michai, and watched the boys take homemade spears and catch some tiny fish to cook on a hastily assembled fire.

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Photos

Jumping off the cliff
Ban Mire

Cooking their fresh-caught fish
Ban Mire

Temple
Ban Mire

Debating who should go first
Ban Mire

Cooking the fish
Ban Mire

Only a couple left
Ban Mire

Digging Holes
Ban Mire