Our day in JW followed a similar pattern; training the women in the morning and school children in the afternoon, with some dispensary inventory in between.
In the evening, the whole team trooped along to a tea house down the road, which serves pizzas on Wednesday evenings. Yup, this small rather isolated village on the Thai-Burmese border has a place that makes pizzas. But that's not all. What was most surprising was that the pizza was one of the most authentic I've had since Italy, with crispy thin crust and a well distributed assortment of tomatoes, salami, garlic and cheese. A definite luxury.
We were joined by other volunteers/ missionaries working in this area, and had the opportunity to talk to them and our other team members in a more relaxed setting.
While it was a great time to simply unwind, it was also very meaningful to be able to talk and understand a little more and everyone. Each of us have come with our own stories, dreams and ambitions, and it means so much to get an insight into what drives and moves people.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Day 5: First Lesson with the Children
We were unsure how the sessions would be received by the women; would they be interested and continue turning up? We were thus pleasantly surprised to learn that not only had all the women from the first session shown up, they had also brought their friends along and all 15 women were waiting for us when we arrived in the clinic bright and early on Monday morning. The session ran through the morning, after which we had a bit of a breather before the school children and their teachers turned up.
While the topics for the school children were similar to that of the women, we had the luxury of time to go more in-depth with the women, while we had to leave out the less crucial issues for the children, seeing that most of them were exhausted after a long day in school, and we didn't want to overtax them.
Nonetheless, we were quite happy with the way the kid's session went, as they seemed interested in what we had to say, and were also eager to volunteer for the first aid demonstrations. Together with Nelson's efforts to liven up the atmosphere, it was a good session all round.
While the topics for the school children were similar to that of the women, we had the luxury of time to go more in-depth with the women, while we had to leave out the less crucial issues for the children, seeing that most of them were exhausted after a long day in school, and we didn't want to overtax them.
Nonetheless, we were quite happy with the way the kid's session went, as they seemed interested in what we had to say, and were also eager to volunteer for the first aid demonstrations. Together with Nelson's efforts to liven up the atmosphere, it was a good session all round.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Day 4: Meeting the Karen
We spent the day with people from the Karen tribe. As with all the communities that we've met so far; language, nationality and ethnicity are completely separate ideas. In this case, the people were ethnically Karen, of Thai Nationality, but speaking Burmese or the Karen dialect.
Our day first started with church in JW, with children and families of the Mon Tribe (Burmese Nationality, speaking Mon/ Burmese). We then visited the home of one of the teachers (which was a raised room at one corner of the school compound) and sampled freshly-plucked red finger bananas.
After JW, we travelled to another church, which was actually the house of the local pastor, who himself is Karen. We were there not only to visit the church but also to provide health education and medical treatment.
After the service, we were asked to invited to stay for lunch. Much to our embarrassment, we were treated like royalty, given the biggest heaps of rice and seated in front of plates of dishes.
This hospitality extended as we travelled about 1/2 hour to a village to witness the removal of idols from the house of a family that had decided to become christians. The open and extremely hospitable manner of our hosts touched us, in the way they welcomed the whole bunch of us into the sleeping area of their home, and purposely walked out to buy 2 bottles of soft drink and ice to welcome their guests.
It was an internal dilemma as it was clear that these 2 bottles and ice was no small expense and would have meant their sacrificing something else. However, not taking the drinks offered would be even worse and we wanted to show how much we appreciated their hospitality.
In all, the day turned out to be much more packed than we expected, but also very, very meaningful.
Our day first started with church in JW, with children and families of the Mon Tribe (Burmese Nationality, speaking Mon/ Burmese). We then visited the home of one of the teachers (which was a raised room at one corner of the school compound) and sampled freshly-plucked red finger bananas.
After JW, we travelled to another church, which was actually the house of the local pastor, who himself is Karen. We were there not only to visit the church but also to provide health education and medical treatment.
After the service, we were asked to invited to stay for lunch. Much to our embarrassment, we were treated like royalty, given the biggest heaps of rice and seated in front of plates of dishes.
This hospitality extended as we travelled about 1/2 hour to a village to witness the removal of idols from the house of a family that had decided to become christians. The open and extremely hospitable manner of our hosts touched us, in the way they welcomed the whole bunch of us into the sleeping area of their home, and purposely walked out to buy 2 bottles of soft drink and ice to welcome their guests.
It was an internal dilemma as it was clear that these 2 bottles and ice was no small expense and would have meant their sacrificing something else. However, not taking the drinks offered would be even worse and we wanted to show how much we appreciated their hospitality.
In all, the day turned out to be much more packed than we expected, but also very, very meaningful.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Day 3: Exploring Sangkhlaburi
Today, we were tourists.
Our day started with breakfast at Baan Unrak Bakery, run by the Baan Unrak Children's Village NGO, which operates an orphanage and women's weaving mission. The display counter would have fit right in one of the chinese pastry shops along Balestier Road, with the typical 3 level clear glass shelves. The baked goods that filled the shelves, however, were classic British pastries, including Carrot Cake, Bagels, Lemon Cake, Chocolate Cake and various bread rolls. There was even a soup of the day, which was none other than Carrot and Coriander.
After breakfast, we continued walking on to the village centre, where we stocked up on more daily essentials and a watermelon (a house gift for our dinner host). We then took the motorcycle taxis back to the guesthouse, holding on for dear life as our 2-wheeled taxis hurtled down the slope, dodging the odd dog lying sleepily along the road.
Our next activity of the day involved exploring Sangkhlaburi, by canoe. Facing the guesthouse that we are staying in is the sangkhlaburi lake, across which spans the Mon Bridge, connecting the Mon minority (originally Burmese people who are now Thai) with the Thai village of Sangkhlaburi. We had the opportunity to walk across what is the longest hand-made bridge in the whole of Thailand, from which young boys like to jump off from.
We then paddled across the lake to the Sunken Temple, a Buddhist Temple that was partially submerged when a reservoir was built. At the end of the August, the water level is still relatively high and only the top 1-2 m can be seen.
By the time we reached back after 4 hours of canoeing, Lynette and I were redder than lobsters. (Yuhan got away with putting SPF130 sunblock)
We discussed the upcoming programme before heading off to dinner, the first hot meal of the day.
Our day started with breakfast at Baan Unrak Bakery, run by the Baan Unrak Children's Village NGO, which operates an orphanage and women's weaving mission. The display counter would have fit right in one of the chinese pastry shops along Balestier Road, with the typical 3 level clear glass shelves. The baked goods that filled the shelves, however, were classic British pastries, including Carrot Cake, Bagels, Lemon Cake, Chocolate Cake and various bread rolls. There was even a soup of the day, which was none other than Carrot and Coriander.
After breakfast, we continued walking on to the village centre, where we stocked up on more daily essentials and a watermelon (a house gift for our dinner host). We then took the motorcycle taxis back to the guesthouse, holding on for dear life as our 2-wheeled taxis hurtled down the slope, dodging the odd dog lying sleepily along the road.
Our next activity of the day involved exploring Sangkhlaburi, by canoe. Facing the guesthouse that we are staying in is the sangkhlaburi lake, across which spans the Mon Bridge, connecting the Mon minority (originally Burmese people who are now Thai) with the Thai village of Sangkhlaburi. We had the opportunity to walk across what is the longest hand-made bridge in the whole of Thailand, from which young boys like to jump off from.
We then paddled across the lake to the Sunken Temple, a Buddhist Temple that was partially submerged when a reservoir was built. At the end of the August, the water level is still relatively high and only the top 1-2 m can be seen.
By the time we reached back after 4 hours of canoeing, Lynette and I were redder than lobsters. (Yuhan got away with putting SPF130 sunblock)
We discussed the upcoming programme before heading off to dinner, the first hot meal of the day.
Friday, 26 August 2011
Day 2: JW!
The day started at 8.30am, when we were picked up from P Guesthouse and loaded into the back of a lorry, together with the 26kg worth of first aid kits and hygiene packs that we had lugged from Singapore in brightly coloured China bags.
Along the way, we picked up 5 other team members, 5 mega cans of water, enough food for 120 kids (it was feeding day) and passed an official bank opening ceremony. We then proceeded on to Three Pagodas, where 2 of the team members dropped off to visit the monthly HIV/TB clinic run by the good doctors of the River Kwai Christian Hospital.
Alas, the luxury of a cement road did not last long as we turned off onto a unmarked, nondescript dirt track which we were told would lead us into the Burmese territory. This was confirmed by the sight of uniformed military men who calmly waved us on, loaded lorry et al, out of Thailand and into the Burmese jungle.
(I'm only at 9am in the recount and Lynette wants to have dinner so the rest will have to wait for another time)
Along the way, we picked up 5 other team members, 5 mega cans of water, enough food for 120 kids (it was feeding day) and passed an official bank opening ceremony. We then proceeded on to Three Pagodas, where 2 of the team members dropped off to visit the monthly HIV/TB clinic run by the good doctors of the River Kwai Christian Hospital.
Alas, the luxury of a cement road did not last long as we turned off onto a unmarked, nondescript dirt track which we were told would lead us into the Burmese territory. This was confirmed by the sight of uniformed military men who calmly waved us on, loaded lorry et al, out of Thailand and into the Burmese jungle.
(I'm only at 9am in the recount and Lynette wants to have dinner so the rest will have to wait for another time)
Day 1: From Singapore to Sangkhlaburi
Our day started at the unearthly hour of 5am, when we met at Changi Airport to take our 6.40am flight to BKK. Needless to say, we all slept (or tried to sleep) on the plane ride, arriving at 7.55am (Thai time is an hour behind) on a plane full with mostly Singaporean holiday-makers.
We made our way to Mochit (The Northern Bus Station), where we were to take a 7h bus ride west to Sangkhlaburi. Most of the ride was relatively smooth, except for the last 1.5h where we were told to expect "a long and windy path" which was also exceptionally beautiful, as we climbed and rolled down the hills that stood on the outline of the Sangkhlaburi lake.
By the time we arrived in Sangkhlaburi, we had travelled for about 13 hours straight. We were very fortunate to be picked up by MTI team members, who brought us to P guesthouse, where we had the first proper meal of the day. It was then to bed, but not before practising our bandage-tying skills in preparation for our very first lesson with the village women, bright and early at 9.30 am tomorrow!
We made our way to Mochit (The Northern Bus Station), where we were to take a 7h bus ride west to Sangkhlaburi. Most of the ride was relatively smooth, except for the last 1.5h where we were told to expect "a long and windy path" which was also exceptionally beautiful, as we climbed and rolled down the hills that stood on the outline of the Sangkhlaburi lake.
By the time we arrived in Sangkhlaburi, we had travelled for about 13 hours straight. We were very fortunate to be picked up by MTI team members, who brought us to P guesthouse, where we had the first proper meal of the day. It was then to bed, but not before practising our bandage-tying skills in preparation for our very first lesson with the village women, bright and early at 9.30 am tomorrow!
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