I felt bad no one has left you a comment !! HAHA Well it looks like you two had a great trip. But we are so glad your home now. We are looking forward to spending more time with you guys. Love ya
Dor i heard that you are going to New Zeland!!! congrats!!! i miss you two so much! keep having fun we are up to 20 degrees here in the day time-bring some sun back with ya will ya
love ya
sis
I told you and told you to buy that magic pill they have in every store that KILLS the little f--kers that make you go again and again at night. If I take the pill 2 times in a day the problem is gone. Well, except that I did get the runs 2 or 3 times this year and I dont spose those pills are super good to take too often.
Got right up to endangered yellow eyed penguins last night at a beach the tourists dont know about. Some great pics and a video. Will take a whole day at the lodge to download everyone's pictures into everyone else's heads.
See you when??
Neil
longing for blog No entries for three weeks! Your blog groupies are hungry for more pictures and stories. Hope you guys are just having too much fun to write.
I can't believe this! Dorien, I was one of the volunteers at the Training Center. I can't believe you! I am so hurt that you would use our comments or the things you saw and twist them around into lies! Yes, It's true, the kids did have cabbabe, broth and things like that for food, but THEY DID NOT WANT OUR FOOD! I had tried multiple times (Before you ever set foot in the place), to give them my food, THEY DID NOT WANT IT! We gave the children blankets to sleep on, and mats, but some simply did not want them. You exploited these children you hypocrite! I am so hurt by these half-truths twisted into lies. The reason these children work so hard is so they will have skills to maintain a life in the villages so they will have the won't have the chance to become prostitutes! Wow, that would be SO much better for these children wouldn't it? And as for the lie for these kids being abducted is bull! If they wanted to go home and stay there, they would have plenty of oppurtunities. When my group stayed there (which was two months, hmmm, a little longer than just two days), we visited the villages of the children. They could have stayed there if they wanted to! We brought them with us! Instead, they wanted to come back to the center. Not because of David, but on their own free will. I can't believe you would twist those things and lie about it Dorien. I trusted you. I wondered why you just up and left like that. I know you probably won't care about any of my opinions, just the ones that you can twist to give missionaries a bad name and make people think you know what you're talking about just because you spent one WHOLE day there.
looks like fun everything looks like fun but the whole cave thing i dont think i could have done anyways i just got back in town but maybe next mounth we'll get to see you guys i miss you two have fun a dont forget st paties day is right a round the corner yes just another excuse to get shiit faced well ill talk to you guys later eli
Those muddy faces look familiar... Hey there river go-ers! The pics from Vang Viene are great! Helen and I crossed the border into Cambodia yesterday and I'm already missing Laos. I can't wait to hear how you're river trip went. Any pirates on the high seas of the Mekong? Did you work your way onto the Mekong? Good stuff... I'm looking forward to exploring Angkor Wat and will hopefully have a day or two to see Phenom Penh before I fly home on the 16th..sad. Helen will be chillaixn for another 2 1/2 weeks so I'll send a hug with her in case the three of your coerce again. Keep on keepin on.
getting it on the throne... it's only a throne if you are particularly lucky. otherwise, you get the very popular squat toilet, which consists of a two foot rests and a hole in the ground. if a 3 am jaunt it likely, it is sometimes necessary to check the toilet in the guesthouses before renting a room....i missed on the squat once, not a pretty picture. but that's okay, one time oliver didn't even make it that far (and yes, i had his permission to write that) -dorien
Not Fair Hey guys looks like everything is going pretty good for you. The tubing thing and swing from the rope sounds great. I want to do that. Love you guys be safe. Talk to you later
Lindsay
hey there Well you guys, I think you are just having too much fun and I am jealous, actually I am happy for you and glad you are on this great adventure!!!!!!!!!!!It snowed buckets this morning, then the sun came out, I opened the office window for fresh air, its about 38 out, beautiful, I am beginning to feel like a sun worshiper, we have seen so little of it this winter. I am gearing up for shearing, kidding could begin soon. Today is Joshua's birthday, March 1st, he is 33!!!How did he get so old!!Grandpa Ludden will celebrate his 90th Bday on March 4th, loves you guys, take of yourself, and keep the blog going, I love it, MOM
sounds like you're tired. take it easy (o: I can't believe you've been there a month and a half already, makes me feel like my month and half has been a complete waste of time. Glad you're doing lots of exciting stuff to make up for the rest of us. I find it very amusing that you are excited about pomellos, I guess I forgot to give you (dorien) one when you came over for 5 days. I think they're fun to clean too.
watch out for stomach parasites. yeah that street food looks and tastes so good, but spending your days crunched over the toilet shitting water does take away from the holiday spirit. what's more, sometimes it pretends to go away and hits you 3 months later when you least expect it.
the photos are awesome. you guys look really happy, I love the way you travel!
White Racist Aryan Missionaries Take Brown Children For Jesus and BIG BUCK$ I'd like to weigh in on the comment of the person that said that Dorien and Oliver don't know what is going on?
That some how ripping these kids off from their villages with no history, no documentation, no oversight OR AUTHORIZATION of asigned authorities was needed to do that is not something that would ever be tolerated in the west.
It is a commentary that tries to escape goldie locks trekker see no evil.
The missions are making themselves fabulously wealthy off Akha kids, and it doesn't matter how much it costs, how many meals they feed it is wrong wrong wrong, and in the end when the kids leave, they, the good, do no evil missionary, KEEPS ALL THE ASSETS.
Missionaries are lying cheating people who really suck and they are also magnificent white aryan racists. Taking brown children. Charity. Give me a break.
been a while hey guys its been a while since i ve herd from you so if you get a chance drop me an e-mial or some thing im having with drawels anyway i'll talk to you later
some good points You have a lot of good points, and I think that the success of what is going on there is in its subtelty. david and asa live decently, but they don't live like kings. the children work, but they aren't being beaten or starved. the children themselves are, in their own way, happy. but what is going on in the center is made worse by looking at other places in the region. i was at first worried that i was judging the place by american standards, not thai standards, and i'm the first to say kids dont need a roomful of toys to be well treated. but my brother and I also went to another place, the camillion social center, that takes in hill tribe children just north of Chiang Rai, and that illustrated better than anything the problems with the akha training center. at the camillion center, the children came in when they were old enough for school, and after their primary schooling had the option of going onto secondary schooling or for technical training. most of the kids had ID cards. they helped with chores, but there was always adult supervision and adult staff to look after the kids. there were less than 200 children, with way more staff, and the kids went home on holidays to see their families. At the Akha training center, kids were brought in at all ages, well before school and kept there even after their primary schooling. the older kids only went to school one day a week and basically ran the center the rest of the time. and some children as older than 10 who were deamed 'not ready' for school didn't go at all (though one volunteer mentioned some order from the government saying all of the kids over 10 would have to start going to school, so that is about to change). they didn't have ID cards, because it was 'near impossible' to get them, even though the other boarding school was able to. one of the volunteers told me that the kids were getting job training, but then said they might not be able to use them because most of the kids didn't have ID cards so were just going to go back to their villages anyway. I admit that I don't know the whole situation, where the kids come from, when they leave, how the money comes in, but the suspicious part of it all is that no one knew. not a single person was able to tell me. this allows for a fair bit of speculation, even hyperbolic speculation (which the best of us are guilty of from time to time).
david and asa are able to make a decent living by packing in as many children as possible, and not hiring any staff, but keeping the older children on to raise the younger children, build/upkeep the facilities and so forth. this is odious in its self, but becomes all the more so because the money could be spent to help the villages so that the children, who are so very desperate for the slightest attention when you go there, can grow up with their families and in their own culture. instead of helping the villages and preserving their culture, they are using the charity to destroy it, something david, amazingly enough, admits to openly (he said the akha culture was sick and needed to be destroyed). these people are able to make a comfortable living, have children who cook and clean up after them and run a fair bit of the business, are helping to destroy a people and culture already beset on all sides, and they do so in the name of christianizing and charity. yes, it could be a lot worse. but it could also be a lot better, and i have to wonder if some of the international doners saw the difference of say, the (also christian) Camillion social center, and the Akha training center, they would feel so good about what they were doing. it is unfortunatly much harder to fight against the forces of westernizing indigenous cultures, because most charities are based on the premise that we can help people by making them more like us.
Linking Hi,
I'm just a random browser. I read your blog and, particularly as I
live near Chiang Rai, I was very moved by what you wrote. I posted
a link to your blog on a Thailand Forum I read regularly. I hope more
people become aware of such "charities" and how they exploit their
situation. Perhaps publicising such abuses will make it more difficult
for such people to continue. Every day I see "missionaries" driving
around in their expensive cars while the people they are supposed
to care for have almost nothing, it's an awful thing.
update in my life enjoying school first test monday. i got a job, too! life is busy in my world while my dogs wait patiently for me to come home. love the pictures- still wish i was there- dor do you wish you would of brought baby wipes sounds like you could of used them- love ya! miss ya!
sis
You are sooo right what that man is is a crook. Those children deserve the world not the floor. They are so beautiful. Thank you both for taking the time for them. Be careful but continue to open peoples eyes. You have a lot of support. He needs to live as they live.
ps And thanx for the congrats. We love it here. Take care of each other.~m
not so much suffering i agree that the children aren't suffering like they are in other places, they are happier with their lot in life than many and the happiness and joy that they express is probably what makes the volunteers feel OK about what they are doing. I have seen happier children with worms living in huts on the amazon than in the streets of america. the problem here, though, is that the owners of the place are getting money to give these children many things that they are not giving them, pocketing the money instead. oliver and i went to another similar place, where the chidren had good food, clean clothes, and were given ID cards for thailand so that they could get advanced schooling and/or get a job. perhaps the greater evil is not that the children are miserable, but that they have been taken away from their families to make money for westerners using money people donated for charity. hey, oliver told me you just got a new house. congratulations!
truth Dorien never met you but from the respect I hear coming form Oliver your strength and character is told true. What you and my dear friend experienced was as so many have said a good works. Yet when I see the pictures and truly look into the children's eyes I dont see suffering in a way Ive seen in children here. The souls you encountered are stronger than the likes of us. To sit and be able to hear their opinions would be a gift in itself. I know it tore olivers heart as well. You two helped. It is a start. It seems as though the children dont know any different, so they accept their lot and see it as normal. Not right but normal for them. Take comfort in knowing you are not alone in fixing the lie, in fact you are probably step four. Write your article, you focus thought beautifully. Passion should never be underestimated. Remember their friendships because those relationships have taught them more then all the loss and pain. Thank you both for bringing them a smile or two. Safe travels.
michelle
sheesh Dorien, your history on bikes (especially with me) isn't all that great so beee careful. Remember, distance tolerances in Thailand aren't the same as the US. 100,000 anti-war demonstrators marched on Washington DC recently--I like the throwback to the 60's where fire in the belly about a cause motivates a person to do something. I was virtually there. We're off to Chile and Easter Island Wednesday--love ya guys and love the Buddha-smile. love, dad
of Veranda Dear Priscilla and Olly: I say, you two scallywags clearly require a primer regarding the rudiments of civilized correspondance. Even though the discourse concerning your gastrointestinal disruption did cause one to conjure up images of how you might appear as you rise, or should we say squat, in your moment of dilemma, it was most distasteful to my gentrified state of consciousness. I must admit that the mention of a chang did tickle my taste buds. However, I must return to ministering to my pathetic human subjects lest they begin to cackle their lack of attention and need for my guidance. I bid you good day and dry wiping material for the tender regions.
Good work! Guys this is fantastic work in terms of reporting this and getting it out there. I worked at CGT for a week and it was a nightmare. It is barbaric and wrong and deceiptful to people donating money. But especially to the children. If you would like to stay in touch about this or chat more, my email is ju.carroll@gmail.com, and could you please send this to Rotary International media relations officer to see if they can't do something? I also thought Amnesty International might be able to help? All the best - Julie-Anne in Australia
where are your shoes looks like you guys have been extremely poductive i wish i could be more coherent b ..u..t su...fe.ring fro..m m..ass...ive hang over c..ant h..ol..d o..n
mu..ch lo..ng..er welll looks like you guys are doing well i dig the buglow and the fancy bike you guys take care ill talk to you later
Nice So the picture of Dorien in the helmet is a real good blackmale pic. Anyways I thought I would drop in and to hi. So HI. So I'm still alive, surgery went ok, recovery has taken longer than what was planned but I had good drugs and a Good husband to taken real good care of me. Not to mention three little helpers. BUt doing good know I think. I miss you guys be safe have fun.
Good work! Excellent photos and quite a story....sad and troubling. it would be interesting to know more about the backgrounds of the children, I think. Keep up the good work in telling your experiences and the stories of others. Thanks!
we are two incredibly good looking and wicked smart siblings (particularly the younger one - but not that much younger. less than a year in fact) that are out to see the world and have some good adventures and, if we are particularly lucky, a few bad misadventures that sound even worse when we tell people back home, but from which we escape either unscathed or with a really sexy scar. ... full info
Lindsay
non-member comment
I felt bad no one has left you a comment !! HAHA
Well it looks like you two had a great trip. But we are so glad your home now. We are looking forward to spending more time with you guys. Love ya