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Published: June 19th 2008
It is hard to believe that 8 weeks have flown by since I arrived at the Father Ray Redeptorist Centre in Pattaya. The experience, so far, has been pretty overwhelming and a bit of a rollercoaster, especially at the beginning. I have to say though, there have definitely been more ups than downs as I have slowly become accustomed to the way of life over here. It is not an unusual occurrence to realise that I have been walking along in my own little world smiling to myself about some event that has just happened.
Teaching at Maha Thai
I was thrown straight in at the deep end in my first week and told that I would start teaching English to beginners the following Monday morning. Disabled students come from all over the country (and some from other countries) to stay at the school where they are taught English and a skill of some kind. They are all aged between 17 and 35. Disabled people are generally not treated as well as they should be in Thailand and many are cast aside from their families and find themselves living on the streets or being abused; I have heard too many
sad stories. Many of the students were born with their disabilities (which, I should note are all physical and not at all mental) and many (I would estimate about 50%) have been in motorbike accidents. People ride around like maniacs over here, squashing 3-4 adults and children (and often dogs!) on a moped and rarely wear a helmet. I have encountered a few near misses in the few weeks since I have been here. Rules of the road do not exist and red or green lights often ignored.
So, my first morning of teaching was about to begin... as you know, standing up in front of an audience, regardless of size, is not my forte, so I was pretty nervous about how I would cope. I walked into my classroom (after having thoroughly prepared the night before) looking cool, calm and collected (I think). Every student froze and I noticed one student stand up and orchestrate the others. I was then blasted with a deafening "GOOOOOD MOR - NING TEA - CHER". My students then arranged their wheelchairs and Crutches into position and beamed up at me expectantly. I could tell that each and every one of them really
wanted to be there and seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of learning to speak English. I began with introductions which immediately broke the ice. The students had been told by their Thai teachers that English people will find their full names difficult to pronounce. They were therefore told to create a "Nick-Name". Not just any old nick-name however, after hearing all their names it seemed like they had just looked around the room and decided to be called the first thing that caught their eye. You will see what I mean when I tell you that I have students called "Ball", "Cake", "One", and "Arm" in my class. Other genius names that I have come across are "Beer", Chicky", "Sugar", "Popeye" and "Bag". It took a while to get used to this but now I can't think of another more fitting name for "Ball"!!
So any fear I had dissipated after 5 minutes of class and never returned. I soon realised that they already had a basic level of English and knew enough for us to have a laugh and for me to be able to make lessons fun. After week one, the students became a lot more
comfortable with me and soon after every obligatory morning greeting of Gooood Mooorning Teeeeacher, I was subjected to a chorus of "teacher look beautiful today" "teacher look happy today" Rather embarrassingly, this has escalated to "teacher look sexy today" or "teacher look hot today" "teacher... do you have boyfriend?" I'm sure they tease me on purpose though as they have already pointed out when I go bright red... "teacher you look colour pink!"
I have to admit that it is very strange being called teacher every day, especially as a lot of my students are older than me! I have tried to get them to call me Jen but I think they have been told that this is disrespectful so for now I am just "teacher"!
So, as you can tell, I’m rather getting into the swing of things. My lessons are every morning from 8.20 until 10. I then go to see one of two of the residents at the old peoples home, Me Lee or Auntie. After that I see Nim or Bonchoo (who I will explain about later) and in the afternoons I go to the drop in centre for street kids, play bingo with
the old people or go to the blind school. After that I go to visit the babies and toddlers. I will explain what is involved in each program.
The babies
Thai babies are without a doubt the cutest, squishiest, most adorable babies on this planet (with the exception of Isabella of course Lis!) After 8 weeks, I have fallen in love with all of them. Ok, Ok, not ALL of them… there are, of course, a few little monsters (2 in particular, who seem to be quite fond of kicking and now biting!) I do have a particular favourite but it’s not fair to have favourites so I try to share my baby hugs accordingly! After many visits now I have wiped snotty noses, kissed chubby cheeks, made enough googoo gaagaa noises to be admitted to an asylum, been weed on countless occasions, fed gaping mouths, dealt with exploding nappies (literally!!), stroked fluffy baby hair, been used as a human climbing frame and had soggy biscuits handed to me as gifts… and later found same gifts crusted in my pockets! I love this part of being out here!
The drop in Centre
Every Monday and Wednesday
we take a big box of games and colouring in materials to the drop in centre. This is a safe place for children who would otherwise be living on the streets to stay. They either don’t have parents or have been abandoned for various reasons. They range between the ages of 4 - 18 and are like a big family, they look out for each other like brothers and sisters. Many of them have very sad backgrounds. One of the most recent being Condo, aged 3, who was found badly burnt. He was lucky to survive as his alcoholic father had cruelly held him over a bonfire. Luckily he is ok now and has turned into the cheekiest, most lively little monkey at the centre. Soon he will have a full time place at the orphanage where he will receive all the care and education he needs. Another sad story is about a little girl called Dear. She is Burmese so she doesn’t speak a word of Thai. Her mother was arrested for being an illegal immigrant. No one is sure what will happen to her and if they will ever see each other again. Unfortunately she doesn’t have legal
papers, which prevents her from being adopted and from attending school in Thailand. I am still waiting to find out what will happen to her, but for now, she seems to be picking up Thai and laughing and smiling lots. She seems like a different girl from the very scared child I first saw when she was brought to the centre by the police.
There are some real characters at the centre. Two that stand out are the “wannabe” ladyboys. They are constantly combing their hair and preening themselves exclaiming Soi, Soi (beautiful) to their reflection in the mirror! At the age of 13, it’s quite a thing to get your head around!
The Old people - Auntie
Auntie is a legend! She is a 97 year old Stateless Burmese lady who speaks no Thai but perfect English. She is totally blind, and almost deaf unless you shout very loudly into her left ear. She wants to know everything about everyone! Where you come from, your family, your job, likes and dislikes…. She is brimming with questions! She also has an opinion on all and sundry. For example; the other day she was talking to me about one
of the other volunteers Lesley… “what about this this Lesley?” “What is she doing with a mans name?” “I hear she has a mans hair cut too”
It is hard to explain how adorable she is without meeting her but she never fails to make me laugh. She has many favourite sayings and words but my favourite is if she doesn’t agree with something, she just shouts “booooooo”
Mr Lee
Mr Lee is also stateless. He is originally from china and suffered a stroke so he can’t really talk, just mumble a bit. He is happy to be pushed around in his wheelchair, waving at anything that moves. “Harro” he shouts at the cats, chickens, manky dogs and fish. I talk to him but don’t get much of a response, just a nod in agreement. He agrees with everything I say… it’s great!
Bingo and exercise with the old people
Playing Bingo with the old people is a bizarre experience. For a start there are no numbers - It is completely fixed so you just shout out random numbers looking at everyones card, making sure everyone wins at least one game. Then if you win Auntie
sings you the bingo song which goes like this (Very loudly with clapping) "B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, I got a Bingo!" Next we play pass the parcel with sweets to the most inappropriate music. I’m not sure where the staff at the old peoples home get this music and maybe they don’t understand the lyrics, but no one seems to flinch as the loud speakers blast out “I’m sexy, sexy, sexy”, “ I’m bitchy, bitchy, bitchy”. It is a surreal experience but they all seem to think it’s completely normal. Although, I’m sure if Auntie could actually hear the lyrics she would have something to say.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, we join in with exercise with the old people. Is it wrong for me to say that this is really funny? Picture the scene; 4 elderly people in wheelchairs sitting in a circle attempting to throw balls at each other. One of the slightly younger residents, Mary, seems to think it is funny to wang the ball as hard as she can at Auntie. I have to sit right next to her like a human shield. Occasionally I’m caught off guard though and a ball flies straight into her face (don’t
worry they are lightweight) and she always exclaims “ouch my nose, don’t think I don’t know who that was!” or “naughty naughty you got my face, boooooo” I can’t help but laugh - it’s just the way she says things!
Nim
We try to see Nim and take her out and about everyday. She lives at the orphanage and is wheelchair bound. She is 24 but probably has the mental age of an 8 year old (that is my estimate). She is incredibly shy and it takes a long time for her to trust you. I spent the first month thinking she hated me!! She doesn’t like men at all so only female volunteers can see her. Last week she learnt how to make paper boats and has been sitting in her room ever since making bags full of them. I play uno with her quite a lot and she likes to win so mysteriously she always beats me! (I haven't got a photo of Nim yet)
Bonchoo
Seeing Bonchoo was, at the beginning, quite hard for me to handle. This is manly due to my absolute lack of experience with severely disabled people. She is
totally blind and profoundly deaf. She is also very brain damaged and doesn’t communicate with anyone in any way. She is covered from head to toe in scars as she was severely abused as a child. I often wonder if she was born like this and abused because of her condition, or whether her abuse led to her condition. She can just about walk with assistance but only gets practice when the volunteers come and take her out around the grounds. She refuses to move unless she has her plastic toy, which puffs air into her face when she squeezes it and a bottle top - I think she likes the texture. Taking her for a walk can be a bit of a struggle sometimes as she seems quite fond of pulling down her pants! I have developed a tactic now of holding her hand with my left hand and using my right to hold up her trousers! It seems to work! It’s quite heart breaking to leave her though as after she has eaten she is told to lie down and go to sleep (in her room which she shares with Nim), she is pretty much left there from
what I can see. I’m sure she needs some more tactile stimulation as whenever I come to see her I find her rocking in the corner. It is definitely one of the saddest aspects of this job.
The blind School
This is the last program that we are involved with and in some ways, the most uplifting. I thought I would find it incredibly sad to visit the blind school and when I think back, my first visit probably was as I noticed children sitting right up against the wall singing a song, bumping into each other, and just looking into their clouded over eyes. After observing them for a bit longer though, I noticed how much they help each other out - they cling to each other in twos and threes guiding themselves around the school. They sit in groups singing and dancing, drumming out rhythms on each others legs and clapping hands together. I noticed how happy they seemed and how much they need to be around others who have the same condition as them. We sometimes take them to the beach which they absolutely love and the little ones almost hyperventilate, squealing with excitement! They
love the sound of the waves, the feel of the water and the cool(ish) breeze. We did have a bit of an incident a few weeks ago when a helicopter flew close by. It is such an alien sound to them that they were terrified. Some were inconsolable for a good ten minutes. I do wish that the government would do something about the condition of the beaches in Pattaya though as the sea is a murky brown colour and there are a plethora of plastic bags and general rubbish floating around (not to mention the dead fish). I’m told it isn’t dangerous though and the Thais seem happy to bathe there every day…
So, as you can see - I’m kept busy over here. This is only one part of my life here. I also have a lot more to say about life in Pattaya, how I have found the Thai people and life with the volunteers, after I finish working here. But that will have to wait for another entry as I have already spent a good couple of hours writing this one!
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Pat
non-member comment
well done
Jenny: you are doing a good job. I was sorry to hear you had shingles but am glad you are well now. Keep up the good work- the children are so cute.