What goes up, must come down...

Tuesday –

Sorry about the delay in blogging. I have been quite busy, spending some last minute time with some very good friends before they do their separate ways. It seems like many of the good byes have already started, first with momma and now SiJie and Chris. It is going to be weird without SiJie as she has been our go-to girl since we have arrived. We have become very good friends, and I will miss our daily chats and laughter. Chris has been a great companion and relief from Mercy. It wasn’t until meeting him that I realized that our whole lives are Mercy. It is good to an extent, but spending time with him and not talking about Mercy all of the time was very welcoming. Even with Misty, when we go away for the weekend, every conversation always ends up back at Mercy.

Misty and I arrived at work bright and early on Tuesday for a 7:30 am meeting with our boss. There has been a lot of discussion about one of our students and the scholarship she has received. Unfortunately it has not all been good news and Misty and I are expected to give our advice on some life changing decisions. I have confidence that we will have enough evidence to back up our decision on her education when we meet again on Monday. It is going to be a busy weekend, partaking in formal written and oral assessments. This is also very challenging for me as I have not studied assessment due to the strike, and I also study elementary education. The student I will be required to assess is in grade 9 at the moment. I guess this will be a huge learning opportunity. I have emailed the school where she may be attending for anything they could possibly give me to base my assessment on. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it comes in time for me to use it.

My morning class on Tuesday was well attended, with 4 of the 5 students attending. The boss was the one who did not attend. She has a high level of English, so when she is not present it is nice to see the other students trying harder, rather than just relying on her.

We taught preschool again today. When we arrived 40 little children were waiting for us upstairs, all sitting in their rows on the floor. We reviewed the alphabet, some vocabulary and opposites. We got the children to act out the opposites such as fast and slow, big and small, short and tall. They really liked to show us happy and sad. We ran out of things to do and still had time left so we got them engaged in a game of duck, duck, goose. I do not think we played it with them before but they enjoyed it just as much as all of our other students do. It was too bad the room was not big enough for the children to really run around each other.

The walk home from preschool seemed like forever, and by the time we arrived back we were drenched in sweat…just when I think got used to the heat. I always love the looks we get when we come back in the office after a long walk.

We took our afternoon nap. These naps have been godsends. When we are unable to get them I crash in the later part of the afternoon. The heat here makes us so sleepy.

Visiting the AIDS hospice this afternoon, I learned that Nancy picked up a new greeting. “What’s up girl?” I had to laugh when she greeted me this way. We had a good talk, and it was nice to be called thin and beautiful for once instead of the ‘fat’ I usually get from her. According to Nancy I must gain and lose about 20-50 pounds overnight some days.

The woman who stays in the bed across from Nancy was admitted to the hospital. She now joins a few others from Mercy, including the girl who occupied the bed before her. Please pray for them.

It was hard today to see Momma’s bed empty. All of her blankets were folded at the end, as if she just cleaned up and would be coming back from a bath in a few minutes. Only she never did come. I miss her so much already. I will call her soon.

I spent some time playing with the children in Mercy 6. NongFai was so energetic and was singing as she danced in my arms. NongFai is blind and mostly relies on a wheelchair for mobility. AIDS attacked her body when she was only a baby, but she is doing ok. Takatan met me with wet kisses. She is always so full of life and giggles.

Our little boy is still sick. Today he felt very hot to touch. He is now joined by 3 other sick children on Mercy 6. The house mother has her hands full. One of the children had a relapse with AIDS and was curled up in bed, very cold and very weak. He is not responding to his last dose of medication, so he is currently in his last stage. If this does not work, all we can do is hope and pray that he will enjoy the short time he has left. Please pray for all of them.

I also have some more bad news. The secretary has been out the past couple of days because her aunt died. Please pray that she will rest in peace.

Also, P.Ning went back to her home and the hospital today after her headache came back strong. I hope they are able to find out what is really wrong with her soon. She is not well.

In other news, there is a new 7/11 that opened up down the street. This is very exciting for us as it is a lot closer to Mercy than the next one.

I waited for my evening student to show up, but she did not come until 30 minutes into the class. When she arrived she asked if we saw her book, and then left again. I was not too impressed as I went back to Mercy just to teach her.

After work Misty and I caught a songtheaw to Soi 38. It took a good hour to make it there. I am sure we could have walked faster than traffic was moving. The pollution is very bad here and by the time we actually arrived I had a bit of a headache. I cannot wait to have fresh air back in Canada, when I do not need to cover my nose to breathe when walking down the streets.

I met up with Chris at the BTS station just off of Soi 38 and we joined Misty and SiJie for dinner. It was nice to be able to show him real Thai food, rather than the overpriced stuff you would eat at a more westernized restaurant. It would be hard to eat at the street vendors if you did not know what you were doing or where to go, so I like to pass this knowledge on to someone else.

After dinner I said goodbye to the girls and Chris and I ventured back towards Emporium where we walked down nearly every side street trying to find a street vendor that sold Roti. Chris tried it the night before and was craving it, but unfortunately we were unable to relocate the vendor. He did show me Soi Cowboy, which is a street of bars off of the main street. The street is very popular with farang men, looking to pick up a Thai woman. The street is also known for some other nasty things. I will spare you the details.

We stopped at Dubliners for a beer, and then headed back to where he was staying to watch some tv and veg.

That sums up my Tuesday. I know there has not been a lot of good news from home lately. Donna Bell, a woman from my church passed away on Saturday. She has not been feeling well and went to the hospital to find something in her stomach had ruptured, poisoning her whole body. Donna was a very special woman. I remember when she first started coming to church, and when she finally learned how to say my name. Donna was one of the best bowlers in the province with the Special Olympics. May she rest in peace.

I also ask you to pray for the Reid family. Their one year old daughter just found out she had cancer after complaining of a sore foot. She is now in a wheelchair. They are having a benefit for her and her family this weekend. I hope it is well attended. Please pray for her and all of her siblings and parents. I know times are tough.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Mercy and its goals. Often when an organization like this starts, it has a lot different objectives and motives than after a few years of operating. Over the past few years Mercy has expanded. However, not all of this change has been positive. Like any organization of it’s size there are many problems. The longer we are here, the more we become aware of them and are exposed to them. I struggle with the idea of reaching out to more children. I understand that each child needs to be helped, but the bigger an organization becomes, the bigger the problems can become if they are not sorted out in the beginning stages. Instead of taking on a few children and making sure that they are firmly rooted on soil ground, ready to take on the world, Mercy has expanded to take on many little seedlings, and some days I wonder if we have just thrown the seeds over a field and hope that a few will root themselves. I worry that we do not give enough support to the children we do have here. Some examples would be to provide the house parents with training to work with children with special needs. This would require more than one information session; rather more hands on training with someone who works in this field. I think that house parents who receive such training should be rewarded with a special bonus. Unfortunately, when there is a large sum of money donated to Mercy to usually goes to projects that seem like a more immediate need, such as a new roof for a preschool or to build another preschool. The children in our care who would benefit from such training continue to be treated the same as all of the other children, which often causes them to get into a lot of trouble, punished by the house parents and teased by the rest of the children. Life for these children would not be as good as it could be. Just some thoughts….

I apologize that most of this blog is sad. But sometimes, such is life.