Sawasdee kha from Thailand! I cant tell you exactly where I am out of risk of exposing the crew that we are working with here. I'm along the Thai / Burmese border and it is crazy monsooning right now as I write this while drinking my tea. When it rains here, it is nothing like California - it poors and it's all you hear. A woman just drove by on a motorcycle holding an umbrella, and the banana leaves are blowing with the wind.
Since I left Sri Lanka, we flew straight to Chiang Mai and spent a few days there shopping, eating, getting massages and swimming. The night market is so much fun - and I definitely shopped til I dropped. My new love in Thailand is Chiang Mai - the air was clear, the mountains are beautiful in the distance and the rotis are oh so yummy!!! But Bangkok will always be my true love.
Sunday, we headed out to where we'll stay for the week. Yesterday we visited the sites where we'll be doing our Kid's Club program - a school put together privately for Burmese children who have no rights in Thailand, and a garbage dump where Burmese families live. We had to walk through the most muddiest of mud to view the dump and houses and we giggled as we tried our best not to slip in the mud. Thankfully the wind was blowing, so there wasn't the terrible smell that I was expecting. One of the ladies, slipped while crossing a make-shift bridge and fell knee deep into watery garbage. It was like when Princess Lea and everyone was stuck in the garbage dump in Star Wars... I felt so bad for her, but she trucked on. We then played jump rope for a little bit with the kids. It was a surreal experience to be there...
I'm not too educated on the situation in Burma but have learned A LOT in the last few days. We also visited the border and learned all the ins and outs on the trafficking that is taking place there... trafficking of drugs, people, and mainly children sold into the sex industry. It was an emotionally hard day to take it all in. Looking over the river on the border into Burma gave me a feeling of hopelessness, and such a ginormous respect for the people we have connected with who are rescuing children from the sex trade. The trafficking is a very tricky, corrupt situation that many are involved in, including police because the money is so good. A Burmese parent will sell their child for as little as 500 baht ($25) with the false belief that their child is going to a better place. The child is then transported to Bangkok to begin work in the brothels. They begin by selling flowers and must sell a certain amount each day or else they are beaten. Then the next steps are to service customers. The trafficker makes a lot more money than the parent does. We passed one along the border... well, i'm pretty sure we did.. he was holding a cigarette, had fancy jewelry on, and grossed me out... he just had that feeling about him.
When I get home, I'm going to read up more on the conflict in Burma, but it was incredible to see that living at a garbage dump is a preferable life than to live in Burma. The Burmese living at the dump sort the recycables from the other garbage and get paid 20 baht (75cents) a day for this. They are illegal workers in Thailand so every few months, the Thai police round them up and take them back to Burma. We actually were behind a locked up truck of refugees being sent back to Burma. You could see their faces through the bars. :( An Australian group has built a school at the dump for the children, and every afternoon we are doing our Kid's Club program there.
Kid's Club is 5 days of a 2 hour session of hot food, music and 2 crafts which teach the children that they are unique, special, and made by God and have a purpose on this earth. Jake and Julie have been doiing this program for tsunami and war victims in Sri Lanka and the whole goal is to give the children just a moment of light in their desolate lives. The goal is for them to be happy in this moment. We did the first day today with 420 kids. The 2 crafts were to hold a mirror and draw a picture of themselves (some have never looked in mirror) and the 2nd was to make a sock puppet. I laughed and laughed today as we did this with the kids. We had so much fun. It was so sweet.
Well, its time for bed but i'll try to add more soon... i wrote this quickly so i hope it makes sense!!! Comment if you have any questions!!!
xox, G :)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Little baby
Fridsro has about 75 kids who live here and during the time that Julie and Jake have been back, the home has received 5 new kids, one of which is 4 month baby who is cuter than cute. One night while we were there, they brought her to the main house to be prayed for before they took her to the hospital in town. She has really congested lungs and cant breathe right and they haven't figured out what it is. She and her older sister came to the home, and I think the sister was taking care of the baby. The baby was so sweet. Say a little prayer for her if you think of it.
Julie is trying to get more sponsors for kids. Usually, we do $25 per child per month for a sponsorship. The cost is actually $50 per month per child so she tries to get 2 sponsors per kid. If anyone wants to sponsor a child, let me know and I'll hook you up!!! :)
Julie is trying to get more sponsors for kids. Usually, we do $25 per child per month for a sponsorship. The cost is actually $50 per month per child so she tries to get 2 sponsors per kid. If anyone wants to sponsor a child, let me know and I'll hook you up!!! :)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Welcome to the jungle!
I've arrived and hanging out at lovely Fridsro once again. I love it here. Amazing people everywhere ready to drink tea, drink coffee, play badminton and eat sambal! The kids are all so sweet and the rain is falling and we're finally getting a little over jet lag.
We had a 17 hour flight from LAX to Bangkok, then 15 hours in Bangkok, 3 hour flight to Colombo, 3 hour curvy drive to Kandy. A mango fell on the roof of the car on the way to Kandy which woke us up. And we arrived at Fridsro to the lovely Julie sitting in the front of the bungalow waiting for us at 330am. :)
In Bangkok, we landed at 530am, got a taxi to town and had breakfast on Kho San Road. Then we headed to the Grand Palace for a quick tour where i had to borrow a shirt to be decent enough to enter. Then a coke on the pier, a boat ride through the canals, lunch at S&P on the river, and back to the hotel for a nap before our flight to Colombo. the 3 hour flight to Colombo seemed like it took forever..... and so did the drive. Our driver met us at the airport with signs reading our names. It was awesome. And no one bothered at customs to check out our beanie baby filled suitcases. :)
I have to admit i'm still paranoid of running into a snake in the bungalow and some friends who live here recently ran into a python swallowing a DEER on their path home so you can only imagine how big this sucker was if it was eating a DEER. Stacey and I do a snake check in our room each night before we go to bed and last night we woke up at 4am from jet lag and the power was out and i got to go pee by candlelight in the dark bathroom praying no snakes were going to surprise me.
A lot of the older kids remember me which is fun and sweet and its so cool to see them growing up and getting so gorgeous. Yesterday we had a badminton tourney and it hurt. but super fun!!
Today, Stacey trained 120 teachers on special ed and I was a camera woman! Stacey was the bomb! Bless her heart... she spoke for 3 hours on what to do in the classroom and it was amazing. She's doing it again tomorrow for the same amount of teachers.
Internet connection has been really sporadic so i'm taking advantage now. In a couple days we're headed to Negombo for some beach time, then Colombo for a day and then off to Thailand for our program in the north. Its sounds like it is going to be tough work... one day we are doing a program for kids who live at a dump. crazy.
Yesterday we went into Kandy from the children's home - about a 20 minute bumpy bumpy ride and ran errands with the girls. Its so good to be back here - i love this place. The air is thick, the breeze is blowing, the rains are falling, the geckos are falling too from the ceiling, there are crazy jungle sounds, my tummy is full of chillies, and the smiles are big!
We had a 17 hour flight from LAX to Bangkok, then 15 hours in Bangkok, 3 hour flight to Colombo, 3 hour curvy drive to Kandy. A mango fell on the roof of the car on the way to Kandy which woke us up. And we arrived at Fridsro to the lovely Julie sitting in the front of the bungalow waiting for us at 330am. :)
In Bangkok, we landed at 530am, got a taxi to town and had breakfast on Kho San Road. Then we headed to the Grand Palace for a quick tour where i had to borrow a shirt to be decent enough to enter. Then a coke on the pier, a boat ride through the canals, lunch at S&P on the river, and back to the hotel for a nap before our flight to Colombo. the 3 hour flight to Colombo seemed like it took forever..... and so did the drive. Our driver met us at the airport with signs reading our names. It was awesome. And no one bothered at customs to check out our beanie baby filled suitcases. :)
I have to admit i'm still paranoid of running into a snake in the bungalow and some friends who live here recently ran into a python swallowing a DEER on their path home so you can only imagine how big this sucker was if it was eating a DEER. Stacey and I do a snake check in our room each night before we go to bed and last night we woke up at 4am from jet lag and the power was out and i got to go pee by candlelight in the dark bathroom praying no snakes were going to surprise me.
A lot of the older kids remember me which is fun and sweet and its so cool to see them growing up and getting so gorgeous. Yesterday we had a badminton tourney and it hurt. but super fun!!
Today, Stacey trained 120 teachers on special ed and I was a camera woman! Stacey was the bomb! Bless her heart... she spoke for 3 hours on what to do in the classroom and it was amazing. She's doing it again tomorrow for the same amount of teachers.
Internet connection has been really sporadic so i'm taking advantage now. In a couple days we're headed to Negombo for some beach time, then Colombo for a day and then off to Thailand for our program in the north. Its sounds like it is going to be tough work... one day we are doing a program for kids who live at a dump. crazy.
Yesterday we went into Kandy from the children's home - about a 20 minute bumpy bumpy ride and ran errands with the girls. Its so good to be back here - i love this place. The air is thick, the breeze is blowing, the rains are falling, the geckos are falling too from the ceiling, there are crazy jungle sounds, my tummy is full of chillies, and the smiles are big!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Hi lovely family and friends!! Here's a lil G update!!
Next Sunday, July 12, I'm taking off to Sri Lanka again to play at the children's home, Fridsro, that so many of you already know about through my prior travels there. I'm headed to SL for two weeks and then am flying to Thailand for two weeks, returning home to the motherland on August 7. I am so excited to take a month off work!!!!!!! And be in tropical weather!!!! And eat spicy food!!!!!!!!!
I'm blogging (when I can) about the trip at http://www.ginsrilankathree.blogspot.com/ and I believe you can subscribe somewhere on the page to get posts if you like. I'm sure I'll have my usual run-ins with pythons like I do, so check in to see pics. :)
As you know, Sri Lanka has had quite a year, and Fridsro has been able to help a lot of in the crisis there. You can read about what's been going on at: https://fridsro.wordpress.com/
Since I was last in Sri Lanka, my friends Julie and Jake (who run Fridsro) have been living in the US and have started a larger organization called WorldROC (World Relief Organization for Children). You can read about this org at www.worldroc.org. I sit on the board for this group and this trip to Thailand is our first effort outside of Sri Lanka. Here's a little synopsis of what we will be doing in Thailand (taken from worldROC's newsletter):
Last October, we met a wonderful lady who is working with rescuing children who are trafficked for child labor or sex slaves in Thailand. These children are refugees that come from the ongoing civil war inside Myanmar (Burma). We immediately felt a common bond with her. Jake traveled to Thailand to visit her project in February. He was very touched to see the work that she is doing and the passion she has for both sharing and showing Christ’s love. This July, we have an amazing opportunity to join efforts with her and present our Kid’s Club Program for the slum children in Thailand. We are so excited to be taking a team this summer!
We are planning to model the program for local leadership so that they can continue to help more children. We plan to reach approximately 400 children each day. We will provide them with a meal, a fun educational lesson and a craft project. Our program is designed to share and show God’s love. We need $5000 for the food and materials to make this program a success. Please consider partnering with us and pray that the children and their families will be transformed by His love!
Next Sunday, July 12, I'm taking off to Sri Lanka again to play at the children's home, Fridsro, that so many of you already know about through my prior travels there. I'm headed to SL for two weeks and then am flying to Thailand for two weeks, returning home to the motherland on August 7. I am so excited to take a month off work!!!!!!! And be in tropical weather!!!! And eat spicy food!!!!!!!!!
I'm blogging (when I can) about the trip at http://www.ginsrilankathree.blogspot.com/ and I believe you can subscribe somewhere on the page to get posts if you like. I'm sure I'll have my usual run-ins with pythons like I do, so check in to see pics. :)
As you know, Sri Lanka has had quite a year, and Fridsro has been able to help a lot of in the crisis there. You can read about what's been going on at: https://fridsro.wordpress.com/
Since I was last in Sri Lanka, my friends Julie and Jake (who run Fridsro) have been living in the US and have started a larger organization called WorldROC (World Relief Organization for Children). You can read about this org at www.worldroc.org. I sit on the board for this group and this trip to Thailand is our first effort outside of Sri Lanka. Here's a little synopsis of what we will be doing in Thailand (taken from worldROC's newsletter):
Last October, we met a wonderful lady who is working with rescuing children who are trafficked for child labor or sex slaves in Thailand. These children are refugees that come from the ongoing civil war inside Myanmar (Burma). We immediately felt a common bond with her. Jake traveled to Thailand to visit her project in February. He was very touched to see the work that she is doing and the passion she has for both sharing and showing Christ’s love. This July, we have an amazing opportunity to join efforts with her and present our Kid’s Club Program for the slum children in Thailand. We are so excited to be taking a team this summer!
We are planning to model the program for local leadership so that they can continue to help more children. We plan to reach approximately 400 children each day. We will provide them with a meal, a fun educational lesson and a craft project. Our program is designed to share and show God’s love. We need $5000 for the food and materials to make this program a success. Please consider partnering with us and pray that the children and their families will be transformed by His love!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Am off soon!
Stay tuned for the 3rd adventure to Sri Lanka!!! :) I can tell I'm getting ready to go back because I keep having nightmares about snakes. Last night I dreamt that my family was playing baseball with a rattlesnake and it kept getting hit towards me.
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