Orphanage work

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This week we have been hard grafting it at an orphanage in Singburi. I joined this programme specifically so I could go and help out in an orphanage for 4 weeks. When I arrived in Thailand in February I was informed that during the time of my volunteer project in the orphanage there would be no children there as it was the 'school holidays' in Thailand(?)...this seemed a little strange to me and at the time I decided to cut my time down to 2 weeks instead of 4 as there would be no children. When we arrived at the orphanage and actually found out more about it, it made more sense to me. There are normally 300 children at the orphanage and they sleep about 20+ to a room (like a bedroom for one back at home) and they sleep on mats on the floor. The conditions are not great but you can see the work from previous volunteers where they have built things to try and improve their living conditions. The children all go to stay with extended family, aunts, uncles etc in the holidays but they cannot afford to look after them all the year through. There were about 6 or 7 boys that did not have any family at all and therefore had to stay at the orphanage for the holidays. This was heartbreaking as you realised they never had a break from the place and that as they waved all their friends off to go and stay with families, they knew they would be left all alone.

We spent the week sanding old benches down and undercoating them and then putting new wood on them and painting them all bright colours. I found it difficult at first as there didn't seem to be any direction from anyone but then as we got into it, we just got on with it ourselves and it was quite rewarding to see the difference from when we first started when the benches were in a bad state. The metal was rusty, the wood was rotten and sometimes the metal that held the wood down had started to come away and stick up - quite dangerous really. Although I dfidn't get to see all the benches and tables completed, I could imagine what another couple of weeks volunteer work from others would produce.

Out of the 6 or so boys that were left I took a real shine to one in particular and wanted to bring him home with me!! his name was Chauchyb and he was just the cutest, but he also had a cheeky happy side to him. I gave him a globe that Hannah had left and he played with it all day, and then came to give it back to me and when I explained it was his to keep his face lit up so much and he kept saying thank you to me. One day we took him and another little boy to have lunch with us and they were so happy, we bought them little coca colas and on the way back ice cream, they were so excited it was a joy to feel like we were doing something good for them, even though it was so little. Chauchyb also came and helped me paint for a little while which was nice. He was so careful and didn't seem to get bored, he kept going for ages even though he got paint on his t-shirt and arm. I really enjoyed my week in the end, even though it wasn't anything like I had expected but it opened my eyes and I'm glad I could help out a little.

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Comments

[Mum]

chauchyb
What a sweetie - bet you were sad to say goodbye to that little chap! An interesting week, you've obviously got more out of it than you were expecting, wonder what the next blog will hold.....? Love, Mum xx

[Diane Scarr]

You a Brush!!
Oh my god never thought I would see the day you with a diy tool!!! LOL Also can you bring home a spare kiddy please one good home waiting lol xx