Back in Thailand

November 5th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

A Visit to Grandfather

Here it is November before I have had a chance to write anything. I have been back since late October getting settled. Sue and I came over from the U.S. to Thailand mid September, but stayed only long enough to go over a few issues at the foundation here. The main issue was how to make the best use of the house just completed. We need to get the power hooked up more permanently. The water/sewage issues are handled now.

We used some gravel on our road that held up really well to recent epic flooding. The water got within a foot or two of our new house. Since the house is built on concrete pilings and its floor level is nearly a meter above the surrounding ground level, there was no chance of water getting inside or damaging the foundation in any way.

Maybe you have read about the recent floods and severe damage in Pakistan. These rains and flooding extended into northern India as well. Sue and I ran into some flood caused transportation delays when we were touring India last month. Well, I guess they even got over to Nang Rong. They say this was the worst flooding ever. Worse than two years ago, which was the worst flooding ever. I know some are saying the world is undergoing climate changes which are not necessarily related to global warming, just cycles that can occur over thousands of years.

Anyway the flooding was pretty much over with when we first arrived in mid September, and the weather since then has been really great. Always shirtsleeve weather, but very seldom what you would call hot, and very little rain except a couple of times at night.

The foundation work continues. Last week we received identical twin two year old girls along with their very young mother from the Buriram shelter. I really wish I could show you a picture here, you would fall in love with them for sure. Looking at them in detail however shows a few issues we should deal with. Our first priority is to keep them with their mother and get her independent. Right now that seems like a tall order, but we won’t consider other options until that has been fully tried.

We have other new faces since I was last here. I have had a bit of time with two of them. One wants to work on her English but is having the typical shyness problem I see with most Thais, especially girls. They hesitate to speak for fear of speaking incorrectly. Of course they will do just that as they learn. I keep telling them they cannot get anywhere unless they just go ahead and not worry about the mistakes. I’ll be talking more with her and see how we do.

I went along on a short road trip to a wat (temple) in Buriram to visit an elderly monk who is grandfather to two of our girls. These two, along with the girl I just mentioned above and a social worker went with us. Relatives were going to sell the two to traffickers, but the grandfather was able to intervene. I can’t remember whether he directly contacted us or whether we got the girls through CPCR or one of the government temporary shelters, but we have had them for more than a year. The grandfather is too old to care for them, and being a monk would make that difficult anyway.

We had a great visit. I could understand some of what was said, but my Thai still has a ways to go. The monk was clearly concerned about the girl’s welfare and asked our social worker many questions. He appeared very satisfied with the foundation family’s care.

This is long enough for now. I’ll try to start posting again in the near future.

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