These Kids Make Me Smile

We walked to Mercy after having an afternoon nap. On the way I heard some screeching sounds and what sounded like a long horn. It took me a few minutes to realize it was the train, warning those who use the tracks as their main wood working shop to get out of the way. I am sorry I was not fast enough to get a picture, but it was pretty amazing to see that within seconds of the train passing, their work was back on the tracks as if nothing happened.

As we walked further along we saw the back of a man lying in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy street. His feet were in the hole where the trees are planted, and his sandals were positioned in such a way that it looked like he fell. We had to walk around him to get by. On my way by I stopped to look because it looked like he was dead. We could see he was breathing quietly…these experiences are very scary because it would be possible for us to stumble upon a dead body. It scares me every time.

Arriving at Mercy I met with Takatan, who was sad because her house mom was going to the hospital and she really wanted to go too. I had to distract her while her house mom tried to sneak away. We went to visit all of the adults in the AIDS hospice. Momma was very happy to see me, and asked if I will miss her over my 3 day weekend. I already think about her now when I am not at Mercy. I cannot imagine how I am going to feel when she leaves. Yung is still in the hospital, and does not appear to be getting much better. Her bed at Mercy has already been filled. Please pray for her.

Takatan, SiJie and I went upstairs to Mercy 6 (Children’s AIDS hospice, home of Takatan) to find Winner sitting on the bed alone, wearing only a diaper. He said in Thai “Where are all the house mom’s? I am not even dressed yet.” I helped him get dressed into the clothes he was hanging onto; thinking someone likely set them out for him. Later when we found the house mom she had a good laugh as the clothes were much too big for him (which is not that unusual around here) and belonged to one of the girls. Back down to his diaper he goes.

In the meantime, I ran into Dtlek, one of the twins and one of my students, who was running around carefree, bearing it all. He was supposed to be washing, but instead he was having more fun dancing naked. I had to laugh when we finally got him to go wash and he took the house and sprayed water down the hall as he danced on the wet floor. I laughed even more when the house mom came and could not figure out where the water came from. Don’t worry, I did not laugh where he could see me.

I got a nice kiss from Folk on the way upstairs. I usually see him everyday at Mercy when he finishes school and waits to go home. I realized today that I do not speak much to him as my Thai is limited, and I noticed that he stopped talking Thai back but instead uses gestures and acts things out to me. What a guy. I wish I could take him back to Canada.

I ran into SiChon (Spicy) on my way to the other building. He is really enjoying his school and could not stop smiling and fidgeting when we asked him about it.

Takatan started throwing up. Apparently she does this a lot for attention. She did not make it to the garbage right away and after she was finished she cleaned it all up herself, without anyone telling her. That’s pretty amazing for a 4 year old.

This morning I went on another milk run. It is so nice to see young children who appear to be “making it” in the slums. As we all know, the poorest of the poor are the children. All of these babies were born into a life filled with poverty and hunger, many times influenced by drugs and alcohol, or unhealthy ways to make enough money to survive. When you look into their beautiful faces, you often see sadness in their eyes. I try to imagine what life is like for them. I try to imagine living in a home, when mom or dad or grandma are doing whatever they can to keep their bellies full and a roof over their heads, even if it is a piece of scarp metal that leaks when it rains and will eventually fall over with a strong wind.

We have to cut all of the bags of powdered milk inside the boxes, because sometimes people try to resell them to make money. I cannot imagine that you could be so desperate that you need to sell the milk given to you to feed your newborn baby, just to make some money. Sadly, a lot of this money is used to fuel drug additions. Sister Joan does the best she can to make sure this doesn’t happen but there is only so much she can do. We just have to hope and have faith that this is the exception rather than the norm. Please pray for them.

I met a little guy who was likely just shy of 8 months, who had a tumor like bump on his nose. It was visible from a distance. I wonder if it continues to grow as he does. Please pray for him.

Sister Joan does amazing work. Not only does she make the milk run possible, she also bought over 160 school uniforms for the slum children and also hands out money to pay for their school fees on a regular basis. Sister Joan not only understands their lifestyles, she lives it. Her house is located in the center of a slum community, requiring you to twist and turn through numerous small alley ways and paths to find her. Please pray that her work will continue with the help of generous donations. More donations of medication for scabies and head lice would be greatly appreciated for the slum community. The Australian Women’s Group mostly funds the milk run through several fundraisers they conduct throughout the year.