Hiya all
We got back from Thailand last Saturday and thought I'd share a few things which I felt some of you would possibly relate to and also appreciate.
We stayed a night in Bangkok, then flew to Chiang Mai for four nights. The thai family guest house we were staying in, also was part of the school for life.
The School for Life was a charity organisation started by their family three years ago with inherited money. They have a school in the hills where they look after orphaned children. We spent a day at this school. A lot of these children have aids because of the lack of education in the villages, some of the children were orphaned by the tsanami. They are taught Maths, Thai, Thai dancing, English, and then they are taught a trade like bricklaying or organic farming. These children are incredible!
There were two children with the thai family we were staying with. Leon was their own child, who was 7. A delightful little girl. And then there was Con. He had had trouble at the school, fighting etc and was the first child that they adopted themselves. I didn't find out Con's life story until the day we left because I didn't want to treat him any different from Leon and I was scared I might. This little lad of 8's story is heartbreaking. His parents died and he went to live with his 80 year old grandmother. She couldn't cope with him so put him in a box. He hasn't been with the thai family very long and does try and bite people a fair bit. Leon is amazing with him.... she is a little angel, so kind and patient with him. A real eye opener hey!
We did travel down to southern thailand but the weather was awful. Storms, flooding.... it was really scary (11 people died on the island because of the flooding). I rang Mum to tell her we had managed to get on a flight out of there, and she proceeded to tell me how she had received the photo corners for her album. WTF! An expensive phone call and I wish I hadn't bothered. Ho hum!
So we flew back to Chiang Mai to stay with this lovely family again for the rest of our stay. It's amazing that some people with so little will share more with you than someone who has everything!
H&H xx
