This is the Ambassadors wife, and my student Fai. She is the little celebrity of Mercy 6.
The Ambassador, his wife and 2 of our children. The boy in the picture is an amazing painter.
Also in this picture are Father Joe and Pi Usannee.
Their car sure stuck out in the slums.
Security was tightened that day. This is the head of security giving some of the guards a little prep talk.Sorry for the delay, we have both been very busy.
Thursday
Hello All,
I do not have much news from Thursday. Misty and I switched our day with the other volunteer so we basically had the day off. We only taught our morning class and than came home and slept. We spent the afternoon getting groceries and working on the internet.
After watching a movie we went to bed early.
Friday
Today was a big day at Mercy. The American Ambassador came to visit. I did not realize how big of a deal it was until I saw extra security all wearing black randomly lining the streets. The Ambassador arrived around 10 am, and traffic was completely stopped until the ambassador’s car arrived at Mercy and he walked from his vehicle to the building. He visited for about an hour. Unfortunately the PR staffs were arranging the office, so we did not have much of a chance to see him. However, Misty was able to sneak out and get a few pictures. Also, Father Joe asked for our contact information so he could pass it on to the Ambassador tonight, so we can meet him for coffee in the near future.
Most of our classes were cancelled or students did not show. Misty and I walked all the way to the preschool only to find that the gate was locked. I guess the preschool had a holiday today. We were a little sad to not see them as we did not see them last week either, however it allowed us to get back to Mercy and spy on the Ambassador.
Misty has been teaching English too long, she has begun talking to me in the slow choppy speech we often find ourselves using to communicate with people here. Today she asked me “I – am – going – to – office – you- want – to – come?” I think she quickly realized her mistake when I gave her a very nice smile and replied “I-speak-English –too.”
We spent a lot of time with the adults in the AIDS hospice today, joining them for a wonderful lunch and then helping them to prepare a Thai dessert, sago. I did not recognize a lot of the ingredients. The dessert is definitely not easy to make, beginning with grinding the spices, kneading the sago until it is soft and sticky, flattening it, adding whatever we cooked together on the propane and then rolling it into little balls and steaming it. We had a good time dancing, taking pictures (I cannot post because of privacy for the AIDS patients, sorry), and singing. It was nice to see everyone work together and also to see Momma shine in the spot light. It is not hard to tell that she has always been a very hard working woman.
Before Momma got AIDS she was a super woman. She did manicures, did make up for opera shows, sold things, prepared meals and raised her 32 year old son on her own. However, at 51 years of age, momma’s boyfriend of 7 years was not as faithful as Momma would have thought and he brought AIDS home after running around on her.
We spent a lot of our free time with the AIDS patients, both the children and adults. The adults have become like a close group of friends or family with us now. We see them every day and they look forward to our visits. Many perk up in bed when we walk down the row. They also get very sad when they find out that we were visiting and they missed us because they were washing themselves or in another area. Egg likes to yell “Hey you” and then run and hide. A few times he got me good as I could not find where he was hiding and then screamed out when he jumped from behind a bed or wall. I got him a few times as well, but it is a quite hard to run crouched down so low to the ground. Egg’s sister came to visit him today, and it was so strange to see how young she was. She did not look a day older than me. I guess Egg is in his mid twenties. It would be so incredibly heartbreaking to think that your older brother is dying and may not live to see his 30th birthday.
Uma is the big tease of the hospice. He is always bugging someone, but in a more playful manner. He likes the attention from the ladies, and tries to show the others that the women like him more. Unfortunately for Uma it just makes us give the others more attention. He requested that we take a picture together, and came to stand by my chair. When Misty got the camera ready he took my hand and tried to put it around him. I was a little too fast for him, and the picture did not quite turn out the way he imagined. However, he was happy to be in a picture and requested a copy of it so he can take it home when he leaves and look at it every day and kiss it before he goes to bed. That’s the kind of guy Uma is. Don’t worry it is all in good humor.
I will tell you more about their personalities in time.
The children in Mercy 6 never fail to provide us with many hugs and kisses. From the time we enter the room they run over, arms open, ready to be picked up or spun around. Many are making huge strides. Nong Pae is now going to a school for the blind. Nong Pae was brought to Mercy when she very very young. Her mother died of AIDS a few months after she was born. Knowing her time was limited, she passed her daughter off to one of her relatives. However, she failed to mention that Nong Pae also had AIDS, and without proper care and treatment, the disease quickly took over her whole body, causing her to go blind, and the inability to ever walk on her own. Nong Pae relies on a wheelchair most of the time, but with help from volunteers who are occupational therapists, she is slowly becoming more mobile. She is now able to help herself up with the aid of her walker and slowly make her way around a room. She is slowly learning to feed herself. Despite her heartbreaking childhood, Nong Pae faces each day with a big grin, even if it takes time for her to show it. Greeting her when you enter the room, you are aware that she does hear you but just needs a little more time than the others to greet you back with her smile.
Nong Pae has a special love for music. One of the sponsors was playing the piano, and Non Pae was set on top of the piano to listen and feel the vibration of the music. Nong Pae responded! She sang along in her own little way, with the biggest smile on her face. Nong Pae, our precious little angel.
There are many more children, and many more stories; some just as heart wrenching, many just as depressing. However, I have chosen not to public post about all of them as many children have already suffered so much, and I do not feel that I have the right to share their suffering with the world. Also, these stories are incredibly moving, but the people behind these stories are young children. I do not want to simply their life down to a story about their childhood, and dwell on the past instead I want to celebrate the life they now lead and look forward to their futures. These stories shape the children, but they are not THE children. Instead, I want to share their progress with you and the strides they have made in their lives, despite any hardships they may have faced. If this requires some background information, I will do so.
We ended our night and our long week the best way we knew how; take out pizza, beer and ice cream. After a long exhausting week at Mercy we needed a much need break, and after being wooed by the Thai pizza man we left with two large pizzas, a pint of ice cream, and a 6 month membership to the pizza company. Smart thinking Pizza Company, put your most attractive workers at the front of the store. What is it with attractive Thai fast food managers anyways?!? If you wonder why we eat fast food, it is not because of the reminder of home or the comfort of western food but because there is always that chance that we can enjoy some eye candy.
Thursday
Hello All,
I do not have much news from Thursday. Misty and I switched our day with the other volunteer so we basically had the day off. We only taught our morning class and than came home and slept. We spent the afternoon getting groceries and working on the internet.
After watching a movie we went to bed early.
Friday
Today was a big day at Mercy. The American Ambassador came to visit. I did not realize how big of a deal it was until I saw extra security all wearing black randomly lining the streets. The Ambassador arrived around 10 am, and traffic was completely stopped until the ambassador’s car arrived at Mercy and he walked from his vehicle to the building. He visited for about an hour. Unfortunately the PR staffs were arranging the office, so we did not have much of a chance to see him. However, Misty was able to sneak out and get a few pictures. Also, Father Joe asked for our contact information so he could pass it on to the Ambassador tonight, so we can meet him for coffee in the near future.
Most of our classes were cancelled or students did not show. Misty and I walked all the way to the preschool only to find that the gate was locked. I guess the preschool had a holiday today. We were a little sad to not see them as we did not see them last week either, however it allowed us to get back to Mercy and spy on the Ambassador.
Misty has been teaching English too long, she has begun talking to me in the slow choppy speech we often find ourselves using to communicate with people here. Today she asked me “I – am – going – to – office – you- want – to – come?” I think she quickly realized her mistake when I gave her a very nice smile and replied “I-speak-English –too.”
We spent a lot of time with the adults in the AIDS hospice today, joining them for a wonderful lunch and then helping them to prepare a Thai dessert, sago. I did not recognize a lot of the ingredients. The dessert is definitely not easy to make, beginning with grinding the spices, kneading the sago until it is soft and sticky, flattening it, adding whatever we cooked together on the propane and then rolling it into little balls and steaming it. We had a good time dancing, taking pictures (I cannot post because of privacy for the AIDS patients, sorry), and singing. It was nice to see everyone work together and also to see Momma shine in the spot light. It is not hard to tell that she has always been a very hard working woman.
Before Momma got AIDS she was a super woman. She did manicures, did make up for opera shows, sold things, prepared meals and raised her 32 year old son on her own. However, at 51 years of age, momma’s boyfriend of 7 years was not as faithful as Momma would have thought and he brought AIDS home after running around on her.
We spent a lot of our free time with the AIDS patients, both the children and adults. The adults have become like a close group of friends or family with us now. We see them every day and they look forward to our visits. Many perk up in bed when we walk down the row. They also get very sad when they find out that we were visiting and they missed us because they were washing themselves or in another area. Egg likes to yell “Hey you” and then run and hide. A few times he got me good as I could not find where he was hiding and then screamed out when he jumped from behind a bed or wall. I got him a few times as well, but it is a quite hard to run crouched down so low to the ground. Egg’s sister came to visit him today, and it was so strange to see how young she was. She did not look a day older than me. I guess Egg is in his mid twenties. It would be so incredibly heartbreaking to think that your older brother is dying and may not live to see his 30th birthday.
Uma is the big tease of the hospice. He is always bugging someone, but in a more playful manner. He likes the attention from the ladies, and tries to show the others that the women like him more. Unfortunately for Uma it just makes us give the others more attention. He requested that we take a picture together, and came to stand by my chair. When Misty got the camera ready he took my hand and tried to put it around him. I was a little too fast for him, and the picture did not quite turn out the way he imagined. However, he was happy to be in a picture and requested a copy of it so he can take it home when he leaves and look at it every day and kiss it before he goes to bed. That’s the kind of guy Uma is. Don’t worry it is all in good humor.
I will tell you more about their personalities in time.
The children in Mercy 6 never fail to provide us with many hugs and kisses. From the time we enter the room they run over, arms open, ready to be picked up or spun around. Many are making huge strides. Nong Pae is now going to a school for the blind. Nong Pae was brought to Mercy when she very very young. Her mother died of AIDS a few months after she was born. Knowing her time was limited, she passed her daughter off to one of her relatives. However, she failed to mention that Nong Pae also had AIDS, and without proper care and treatment, the disease quickly took over her whole body, causing her to go blind, and the inability to ever walk on her own. Nong Pae relies on a wheelchair most of the time, but with help from volunteers who are occupational therapists, she is slowly becoming more mobile. She is now able to help herself up with the aid of her walker and slowly make her way around a room. She is slowly learning to feed herself. Despite her heartbreaking childhood, Nong Pae faces each day with a big grin, even if it takes time for her to show it. Greeting her when you enter the room, you are aware that she does hear you but just needs a little more time than the others to greet you back with her smile.
Nong Pae has a special love for music. One of the sponsors was playing the piano, and Non Pae was set on top of the piano to listen and feel the vibration of the music. Nong Pae responded! She sang along in her own little way, with the biggest smile on her face. Nong Pae, our precious little angel.
There are many more children, and many more stories; some just as heart wrenching, many just as depressing. However, I have chosen not to public post about all of them as many children have already suffered so much, and I do not feel that I have the right to share their suffering with the world. Also, these stories are incredibly moving, but the people behind these stories are young children. I do not want to simply their life down to a story about their childhood, and dwell on the past instead I want to celebrate the life they now lead and look forward to their futures. These stories shape the children, but they are not THE children. Instead, I want to share their progress with you and the strides they have made in their lives, despite any hardships they may have faced. If this requires some background information, I will do so.
We ended our night and our long week the best way we knew how; take out pizza, beer and ice cream. After a long exhausting week at Mercy we needed a much need break, and after being wooed by the Thai pizza man we left with two large pizzas, a pint of ice cream, and a 6 month membership to the pizza company. Smart thinking Pizza Company, put your most attractive workers at the front of the store. What is it with attractive Thai fast food managers anyways?!? If you wonder why we eat fast food, it is not because of the reminder of home or the comfort of western food but because there is always that chance that we can enjoy some eye candy.
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