Things happening in my hood

So much has gone on the past few month (more than me just having a good time rockin out in Thailand) and I apologize for lacking in the sharing department.  I'm breakin this one down by some of the things I've recently done and some of the things I hope to do over the next 1.5 years I have left here in the Land of Smiles :)

One of the amazing families I've met here - took me in as their own.  This was at a beautiful Wat they took me to.

In a previous blog I've mentioned that my Balat (supervisor) has taken me to visit some of the disabled people in our community.  We were both strongly moved by a little girl, Noong Kim, who has an underdeveloped brain and cannot speak or move much - she can hear though.  She was very cute and after about 3 of our visits, she would smile when we spoke to her.  Our office and the community donated many things to this family, as they are much less fortunate than most other families.  This is the case with most families of disabled people.  Due to this realization of the needs of those with disabilities, we are creating a disability group in our community and plan to provide them with opportunities for extra income.

Noong Kim.  That is her grandma and some of the SAO staff in the background at one of the visits when we delivered some goodies for Kim.

In the Peace Corps worldwide, there are 4 special committees that focus on the following: HIV/AIDS, youth development, ICT and gender and development (GAD).  I am a member of the GAD member and we are hoping to provide a train the trainer conference in 2012 for PCV's and their Thai counterparts.  We hope to provide others with the tools and the skills to teach youth in their community about sexual health, gender roles, sexual identity and peer pressure.  I am responsible for the gender roles component and will implement my activities addressing this complex topic at the secondary school, before the end of the year. 

To go along with this topic, I recently met the Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) group of my district (where I live is a sub-district of this district).  I just hung out with them all day and got to know them a bit.  They shared their stories of how they became infected, how long they've known of their positive status and how the villagers segregate themselves as they are afraid of them.  These brave people do go to many of the secondary schools in the district and share their story, but there is still much stigma associated with HIV and more people, outside of students in the school, need to be educated.  The group also got to know me a bit more and asked why I am so interested in working with them.  It was hard for me to express my true feelings with them due to my amateur language skills, but I just kept clutching at my heart as I told them that it makes me so sad to hear their story and I want to teach others so they can be treated just as any other person.  They told me they were afraid I would hate and despise them because they were HIV.  We all shed a few tears and by the end of the afternoon, despite my language, I think they know I'm on their side.  They were amazing and I hope to work with them in the future as well.  For now, I will continue to attend their monthly support group meeting.



Just chatting it up



If you ever make it to rural Thailand, brace yourself for the worst teeth you've ever seen.  Yes, they are worse than the English. Mainly because Thai's love sweets and other foods that just turn into sugar (i.e. rice 3 times/day) and never brush their teeth.  If the kids have teeth, they are usually brown and rotting out of their mouths anyway, so you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I found out that my community has been in the midst of a dental healthcare campaign at the schools to teach the kids how to brush their teeth and also give them toothbrushes. They've dabbled in teaching parents and elders but I don't think it's been too successful.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to observe the dental nurse teach the kindegarten class at one of the schools.  

I was even more shocked when they told me to slap on some gloves, squeezed some fluoride gel on my finger and told me to clean the little guys teeth!  I was scared I would mess up but it was a lot of fun!  The kids were so good.

There's actually quite a bit more in the works, but will wait to tell those tales until after the fact.  Till then, choke dii ka (Good luck)!

Kuhn Da cares for Yai - July 28, 2011

I know I haven't posted for a really long time and I really have to because there is SO much to update on - but so many updates means I'm busy so I apologize for not being more dilligent, but glad that I'm busy!  I will update you on all that has gone one the past month or 2, but I wanted to share this brief story with you all.

Before I get into my story, I must preface a bit with some Thai culture and history.  In Thailand, there is a hierarchial system making age, social status, gender and appearances the end all be all.  I don't mind the age hierarchal thing, but everything else related to this system is probably my least favorite thing about Thailand.  All the people who are socially 'higher' are usually the assholes and do the least, yet they get the most respect.  And in my eyes, this system has added to the stereotypical gender role problem.  Typically in Thailand, the women run everything....they do all the work in the house and they work the fields, in addtion to taking care of the kids while the men hang out together smoking cigarettes, lounging around and often getting drunk (alcoholism is a really big problem here).  While living with my host family, I was expected to help in the kitchen and do all the 'womanly' things while the men literally came into the kitchen to eat and then left and never lifted a finger.  I didn't mind helping at all, I mean these people were housing and feeding me so I tried to help as much as possible.  But there were a few instances when I wanted to deck my host dad - a few arrogant moments on his end when I guess he thought we could treat me as his 'Thai daughter' and have me cater to him....because women cater to men, it's just the way it is here. 

Although I see this stereotypical gender role issue in my community, I do think the men in my community do not fully fit this stereotype.  This could be because most of the men I spend my time with at my site are really great men who are patient with me, respectful towards me, work hard in the fields and are involved in the community (my community is still dominated by men - there are 5 female leaders out of 40).  These men I am referring to are also 40-45  years old + as many men 20-40  years old move to Bangkok to work, so the age could be a factor also.  Overall, I love the men in my community but I certainly don't love all of the dynamics.  Although they are great men, there is still the mind-set that women and men have certain roles and doing anything outside of that box is viewed as not beautiful or not good.  I also rarely see a man taking care of a child - if I do it's the grandfather of the child.  Now that I'm comfortable at my site, I will try to use these situations to explain what it's like in America and how woman have equal opportunities and men actually wash the dishes. 

Sorry for the cultural rant - back to my original story which is short. Today I went to visit friends of my Nayoke to deliver a wheelchair he was donating to them.  I did not know the situation, I just went along for the ride. As it turns out, we were giving the wheelchair to an older woman who was diabetic and had been in some kind of accident that caused a lot of damage and she couldn't do much for herself, including walking and eating.  So when we got there, I see this elderly woman (Yai=grandma) sitting in a chair and her elderly husband (Da=grandpa) sitting on the floor in front of her (Note #1: this scene alone was rare for me to see) WHILE HE IS FEEDING HER!  It was one of the sweetest things I've seen - he was so gentle and sweet with her.  They were so genuine and so grateful for the wheelchair - he helped her into it, they tested it out and he was teaching her how to use it.  I told him that he took very good care of his wife and that he was doing a great job.  I actually cried and had to compose myself to not make them feel uncomfortable.  It was just so nice to see all 'expectations' and typical scenes of the woman catering to the man, washed away.  Gender roles no longer existed at this point and he was just taking care of somebody that he loved and cared about.  It was really nice to see such a tender moment. 

1 week in the life of a Peace Corps Thailand Volley

I'm often asked what my typical day is like and I find it difficult to give a simple answer.  I could have my day planned out and then, whoops, nothing goes as planned.  So, I had a bright idea while taking my bucket shower tonight to give you all a taste of my life in the span of a week - enjoy!

Monday: I go to the SAO office (the sub-district government office) and hung out with my co-workers, checked email, learned some Thai and ate lots of food.  After dance aerobics (every night at 5pm) I went home, ate some dinner and went to clean my dishes.  I don't have a sink or a water source in my kitchen (I have 1 faucet in my bathroom) so I wash my dishes in a bucket from the water source outside in my little backyard.  I found this spider chilling in my water bin and nearly fainted.  Quickly composed myself so I could grab my camera and share this atrocious creature with you all :)

 Tuesday morning: I went to teach some English at the daycare centers.  When I got to there, the kids were lined up to brush their teeth as they do every morning.  One girl immediately began crying because many Thai toddlers are afraid of farangs (foreigner = white person); a few more kids followed in the crying, but most of them were a little stunned and stared at me with their adorable faces.  I began playing with them, showing them how to brush their teeth while beginning an improv English lesson. 

My morning continues with the letter 'A' and we had a lovely time singing songs about apples, alligators, axes and ants.  In Thailand everybody takes off their shoes before stepping into a home, building, school, etc and so I was barefoot.  I really enjoy this aspect of Thai culture, except for when you step in a fresh puddle of pee from the little 3 year old who happily just handed you the picture of the apple she colored.  And I'm not talking about a little dribble down her leg - she had no pants on and it was quite the puddle - so I assume she took her pants off with the intention of just going to the bathroom in the classroom. This is not uncommon as I see children practicing on their training potties in the front yard, or naked kids squatting in front of their house, or anywhere for that matter,, to relieve themselves.  I always want to take pictures but feel like that would be creepy, so I just laugh and carry on.  

Tuesday afternoon: the pleasure of sitting in my supervisor's (title is Balat) office having a 1-sided conversation (on her end) about my work.  She called in 2 employees (who I happen to love) and asked me to give her an assessment of how they work, as if this is my role here.  Typically, I would have told her I wasn't comfortable with this, but I only had positive things to say so I informed of her my thoughts.  I started speaking in Thai as a curtisy to the 2 women I was 'assessing' as they don't speak English but my Balat told me to speak English instead.  She thinks she can speak English and insists I speak only English to her, but she never understands me and tells me it's because I have a NY accent.  So, conversations about work and such, often result in frustration and disagreements.  I could write a book about my experiences with her, most of which are awful, and I'd throw in a few chapters about the ridiculousness of the hierarchial system that is Thailand...but, that's not what this blog is about. Anywho, I 'conversed' with her for 3 hours and went to dance aerobics with a headache.

Wednesday morning: Attend a training for the tobacco farmers in my village (farming rice and tobacco are the main source of income in my community) on using organic fertilizer and organic pesticides to make the cigarettes more healthy (are you laughing yet?).  We also had the health station come to test the blood of the farmers as a preventative measure for something that using farming chemicals causes. I'm always proud when we do things like this :) Some people say everybody uses organic products here, while others say nobody uses them.  Not sure if I'll ever get the real answer.

Wednesday afternoon: the SAO had many left-over lunch boxes and so my Balat suggested her and I go deliver the extra food to the 'disadvantaged' and poor families in my community.  This is the best suggestion she has made since I've been here.  We met this one grandma who was amazing.  Her daughter lives in another province to work and so grandma is left to take care of her 5 year old grand-daughter who has severe developmental issues.  She was born with an underdeveloped brain and can't speak and can barely move, but she can hear.  I sang the itsy bitsy spider to her, which I used to sing to my nephew Connor when he was a baby.  She didn't respond at all, but I have faith that she heard.  Not sure if this was a good thing, considering I wasn't blessed with a singing voice, but I do plan to go back and read to her.  I later attend a 2 hour meeting (in Thai, I practically fell asleep like 56 times) with some big-wig guy who wants to make a video of my community - guess who will be the main feature?  Yep, that'd be me.  Better get my "Sunday best" out for the video shoot next week.  I skip dance aerobics because I'm so tired I think I might keel over.  My friend Cartoon unexpectantly cpmes over - unexpected guests show up all the time, and I'm never really a fan soley because I'm toast by the end of the day, but it was great to hang with her and we made plans for her birthday party next week!  Oh, the pic below is 1 of the women's group I paid a quick visit to - they were sewing shirts that they sell to Tesco Lotus (kind of like a Wal-Mart in the states).

Thursday morning: did some prepping for the video shoot.  Was about to do bodily harm to my Balat and so after lunch, I hopped on my wheels *aka, bike* and went to hang out with the villagers.  This is one of my favorite things to do.  You never know who you are going to meet, what they will teach you or what they will feed you.  My first stop was the organic fertilizer and pesticide 'plant' I've been meaning to visit.  I hung out with the workers for a bit and they showed me around and explained how they make the organic products that they sell to the local villagers. With my barely there Thai, it was a bit difficult to catch everything and so I'll go back in August to see the process from the beginning.

Next, I was off to visit one of the village council members.  Her and her sister, who is recovering from breast cancer and is a riot, live together so I get the pleasure of both of them.  They decide they want to sing karaoke.  Now, I should preface with the fact that Thai's are OBSESSED with karaoke.  In the states, people get drunk before they have the cahuna's to get on stage, but in Thailand it's just the norm.  So, the 3 of us go to the computer and put on the karaoke program and begin to sing.  I keep my voice low, while they have a serious soprano harmony thing going on, when I'm told to get up and dance.  So I dance, because that I can do.  Then they bust out microphones and tamborines and before I know it we've got a 3-man band going.  I somehow have the mic in my hand and eventually my insecurities about my horrendous voice fade :) 

Oh, do not fret, the day is not yet over.  I go to this other ladies house who calls to yell at me if I don't visit often enough.  So, I hung out with her, lounging on her hammock for a while.  I'll be helping her plant rice on Saturday.  It's been set up as though I'm doing her a favor, but in reality she's doing me a favor because I've been dieing to get out to the rice fields.  Moving along, Thursday nights is market night - so I head to the market to get some food and as I'm buying my mangosteens and ma ngaw (2 of my favorite fruits here) a random old grandma that I've never met before, passes me and tells me I'm fat.  Oh man, you gotta love Thailand...Never dull :)

Randoms (May 25, 2011)

So, it's been a while since I wrote but couldn't really figure out what to write about.  I mean, how many stories can one really tell about monk ordinations, funerals and other Thai events?  That's much of what happens in my life these days, and although it's usually fun/strange/interesting for me, it may not be so much fun to read ALL the time.  So, for fear of disappointing my avid followers (thanks guys!) I thought that I'd have to write about something to keep you guys in the loop on my life in the hood.  So I figured I'd bullet out a few random things - here's my Top 10:

1. There's a lot of paperwork in Peace Corps (PC)....every time I complete something I feel like I'm back in NY, but not for the good stuff!  Sorry PC, I love you but there really is a lot of papework.

2. I was attacked by a chicken a couple of weeks ago.  Most people are afraid of the stray dogs (which there are lots of) while bike riding, b/c they like to chase you, but I'm offiically more scared of the chickens. This particular chicken thought I was going to run over her chick, which I came close to I'll admit, but was able to avoid.  But mama wasn't happy with me and went balls out crazy.  I practically fell off my bike, screaming like a mad woman.  Seriously, my initial reaction was to scream and curse at it.  Once I got away and gained my composure I was completely embarassed and hoped that my neighbors were taking their mid-day nap and didn't see the scene.

3. In Ayutthaya during training, I washed my clothes by hand - literally the worst experience ever.  It takes hours, working hard in this heat is excruciating and once you are finished you question whether or not your clothes are even clean.  So you could imagine my excitement when my host family in Don Nang Hong (DNH) let me use their washing machine and agreed to let me come do my laundry even though I'm not living with them anymore. It's been a blessing.  But the other day, riding my bike home with my huge and very full basket of clean clothes after a nice down pour was difficult (rainy season has begun).  I was pulling into my 'driveway' and fell off of my bike and so did all of my clothes.  Oh well! 

4. The village I live in is quite compact with the houses being very close to each other.  But only about 50 meters away, the land opens into field upon field and it's beautiful and refreshing.  There are always cows and buffalo grazing and it's lovely to see.  Sometimes the cows cause a little traffic jam for me.....they like to hang in the middle of the road and lazily munch on their grass.  It's actually very cute.  One of the farmers takes his cattle for a walk every day and they pass my house on their route.  It makes me feel like I'm living a bit of a peace corps life, even though I'm in my house with my fan blowing on me because I'm fortunate enough to have electricity.

5. I had to leave work early today because I was having some stomach issues.  This is not all that uncommon here, but everybody at work was so concerned about me.  Three people called me tonight to see how I was feeling and if I needed to go to a doctor.  Thai people are kind.

6. I received a few packages from home including some of my favorite goodies (thanks Mom, Jackie and Mo!)  I ate a box of cheez-its in less than 24 hours - can you tell I'm missing cheez-its?  Good story, I was sent huge bags of raw nuts b/c Thailand just doesn't have raw nuts, it's a shame.  But some of the hood kids and ladies came over the other day and asked what I was munching on.  I offered the nuts and the older woman said no because they were fattening.  What I wanted to say was: "you just ate dinner doused in oil with 10 tablespoons of sugar, and you are concerned about my nuts being fattening?".  But instead, I said they are a little fattening but to eat a few are really healthy for you.  So, she caved in and tried it and so did the kids.  the kids loved them and came back for second and third helpings....another health victory for me!

7. I've been interviewing community leaders and other community resources to learn about the strengths and needs of my community.  There are 11 villages in my community, so I've been meeting with a lot of people and it's keeping me busy.  I've assessed that every village has stated that lack of exercise is a big problem.  Meanwhile some of the villagers have told me that they would like the community to have dance aerobics (this is huge in Thailand and great exercise). Apparently, we used to have it but they stopped - they wanted me to teach it but I immediately nixed that idea.  So, I spoke to the women who used to lead the class and she said if I get people, she'll teach it every day!  Now that I've interviewed most of the villages, I am aware of some resources, know some important people and have some great promotional ideas for this (i.e. DJ announcements on a local radio station - the DJ and I are tight; the daily morning announcements that each village makes through the information tower enormous speakers).  I'm so excited to get this started and give the people something they have asked me for.  And I'm  not doing much - I 'm doing what the CBOD program encourages.  Use the communities resources and strengths and make stuff happen that can be sustained when I leave in 2 years....check this one off as a hook up! 

8. I played dominoes Monday morning with some village ladies....they were really good and I lost 30 baht!

9. I helped some village women and young girls make baskets out of bamboo that hold the sticky rice.  I was excited to take part in something very traditional and cultural here.

10. I've been accepted to the Gender and Development GIG for the Peace Corps. There are a group of 5 (2 were just chosen from my group 123, me and my friend Joe) who meet regularly to talk about issues related to gender and development in Thailand (which there are lots of things to discuss).  From there, we have the freedom to do what we want to address these issues.  As a PCV, my work is limited to my tambon, but this is something that allows me to work on something a bit more large-scale/country-wide.  I'm very excited!

11. BONUS:  I skyped my sister and brother-in-law today and got to see my 2 beautiful nephews.  It was the first time I've seen them since I left in January and it gave me such a boost :)

Till next time.....

I'm falling in love....(May 10, 2011)

.....with my community!  The more people I meet here, the more I love it!

I'm offiically living all on my own, like a big girl!  The house I'm living in is quite small, but perfect for me.  It's small enough to manage (cleaning,etc) yet big enough where I can have guests.  My home is on the same plot of land as my landlord.  The village is quite compact and there is not much space, yet there are beautiful flowers and trees.  I think it's better that I don't have land to maintain...if I want the views of fields, I walk 100 yards to my left and it's gorgeous.  There's this one farmer who walks his water buffalo down my block ever morning....so that keeps things real for me.

My first night in the new house, all of the new neighbors came over to watch me cook asking why I didn't use sugar or meat.  Interesting conversation.  One women came over with rice - I told her I had some already, I would just rather not eat rice for dinner that night. I proceeded to tell my spectators that although Thai people eat rice 3 times a day, Americans eat rice maybe 1 time a week.  There was literally a gasp from everybody (adults and children) and then silence.  The silence was broken by the women with the bag of rice as she began cooking it for me.  Again, I thanked her but said I didn't want rice.  This was apparently not acceptable and so the rice was made for me and I ate it for dinner.  It was actually a good thing because she taught me how to use the rice cooker!  Funny, even though now my cooking has become less of a novelty and I no longer have spectators, I eat rice every day.  I guess I'm just melding in. 

Burn the house down - April 21, 2011

There was a very big event in my community this week (in April).   A monk had died about 3 weeks ago and the villagers have been planning for his funeral for 3 weeks.  He was in a casket this whole time in the Wat while the villagers planned.  I attended 1 of the planning meetings and there were so many people there, all taking a part in this.  That alone shows you how important monks are to the Thai Buddhists.  Sometimes I question the sincerity and legitimacy of many of the monks (let’s hope this doesn’t give me bad karma!) but this was an older guy who was a monk all of his life and was well respected in the community.  My host family and I went to the Wat a few nights during the week to help the ladies prepare while the men set up chairs, tables, etc and basically re-did the Wat.  There was apparently some heavy fundraising for the event, so the money went to getting the Wat done up all fancy.  Wednesday was the big day and nobody went to work because we were all at the Wat.  There were tables upon tables of food as each village set up food stations and fed everybody in the community.  It was really nice to see that everybody came together and just handed out food; it was very community oriented.  I did help serve some food at 1 point and everybody came to my station to get food from the farang…it’s seriously hysterical how much of a novelty I am here.  It’s like, I’m just a regular old jo schmo just like you guys but they still think it’s hysterical when I do things like this.  Otherwise, I was fed all day long and chatted with people – 2 of my favorite things: food and people.  So, I’m not sure if it was the aura of the event, the food or leisure socializing but for the first time, I just fit right in and it felt so good after feeling like the odd man out for the past month. 

After a day of eating and chatting the ceremony began with, you guessed it, some chanting with the monks.  I’ve never seen so many monks in one location before.  They all went up to the casket that was placed in this little house-like-building in which you had to walk up about 6 steps.   After that, all of the villagers went up to pay their respects, placed a flower on the casket and said a prayer.  Later that night once the sun set, the little house with the casket was lit on fire and we watched it burn with fireworks in the background.  The fireworks will forever elude me, but the burning was interesting.  I learned that Buddhists used to bury bodies like Christians (if I understood correctly, this was about 50 years ago), but they began to burn for 2 reasons: burying bodies took up too much land and it ‘was dirty’ because of disease then being in the ground. After all was said and done, we went to celebrate, Thai style of course.  The typical Thai party consists of the market stands, like any festival back home, with a massive stage that is decorated with insanely brightly colored curtains and electric lights.  The stage is then taken over by singers and dancers.  These dancers defy the typical modest Thai culture.  The dancers are practically naked and dance provocatively.  Yet women don’t wear clothes that show shoulders or anything above the knee because it’s viewed as inappropriate.  I think it’s just another reflection of a culture that historically has been so sexually repressed and now people are going a bit buck wild.  It reminds me a bit of America in the 60’s and 70’s, although not nearly as wild.  While the singers sing and the ladies dance, the audience gets all giddy like they are at a concert with the biggest celebrity in the world (I love this, think it’s so cute!) as the drunk 14 year old boys, along with some drunk grandmas, tear up the dance floor.  I was given flowers to give one of the male singers – when you do that, it basically means that you think they are great/beautiful so everybody got a kick out of that.  I left at 10:30 that night and woke up at 5:30am to the music still going and people still dancing.  These Thai’s know how to party! 

Bittersweet Wan Song Kran - April 20, 2011

Wan Song Kran is a HUGE event all over Thailand; I’ve heard that it’s most fun in Chiang Mai in the Northern region however Esan people know how to have a good time so I didn’t think they would fall short.  I was not disappointed! 

In short, it’s the Thai New Year.  It’s celebrated with lots of water and wishing good luck particularly to the elders for a happy and lucky new year.  The festivities began in Don Nang Hong (DNH) on Tuesday.  Each of the 11 villages in DNH chooses 1 beautiful and smart young lady to represent their village in the Miss Song Kran contest which is basically a beauty pageant.  There was a big parade that included each young lady on a float and the people in her village dancing, singing, drinking, celebrating, etc.  The parade was led by a special someone in the community…can you guess who?  Yep, the parade was led by me J  I was originally told that I was going to be dressed in traditional Thai gear and make-up and crowned as Miss Song Kran.  However, for reasons unbeknownst to me that unfortunately didn’t happen.  I was actually really looking forward to it, but it was so hot that it was probably smart not to dress me up.  So, the parade marches through the community to the site of the festivities.  Lots of speeches were made, one made by me in Thai of course – this is a regular occurrence now. There’s drinking, eating, dancing, etc.  I was able to see some great traditional Thai dancing.  Some were less traditional with the typical funny guy ridiculously dressed as a girl and just having fun. But the big event is the Miss Song Kran contest.  The girls were beautiful and it was a fun day.   While this is going on, those not attending are out in the streets throwing water at everybody.  People stand in front of their houses throwing buckets of water at people passing by, either on bicycles or cars, it doesn’t matter….everybody gets soaked!  This goes on for 3 more days and was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  My host family took me to this one place where it was like a giant block party where tons of people lined up in front of their houses to soak everybody and put powder on their faces.  There is Thai music blasting, people drinking and dancing in the middle of the street.  People on their motor cycles and people packed in their pick-ups drive through to get wet and soak everybody else dancing in the streets!  And nobody ever became upset! It’s a fact that you will be soaked for 3 days straight and people love it because it’s like a cheers to new beginnings and good luck.  So, the more wet you get and the more powder you have all over you, the better!  It is the type of celebration I would love to bring to the states!   The 2 days following, I biked around DNH and although it was more tame than the 1st day, it was so much fun as well.  People everywhere – I was stopped at many houses so people could pour water on me and to powder my face and maybe stop and dance a bit.  It was a great way to meet people and just have fun.  When I meet people in the community, communication is limited.  So, it’s hard to discuss anything beyond simple conversation.  Meeting people during Song Kran was a great way to just have fun, scream and laugh as they pour water and wish good luck.  Spirits were fun and light and it’s just a general ‘feel good’ time.   

I titled this blog ‘Bittersweet Wan Song Kran’ because despite the fun, there was a tragic event that took place in my community on Tuesday April 12^th.  Two young girls, 6 years old and 7 years old drowned in the large community river where the festivities took place.  The girls were playing in the morning and after the girls didn’t come home, their parents went searching for them.  Parents and community members searched for a while and announcements were made.  Eventually, the girls were found in the river but it was already too late.  It was one of the most heart wrenching things I have ever seen and I feel sad beyond words for the families.  I couldn’t help but think of my 2 scrumcious nephews who I miss so much and simply cannot imagine what those families are going through right now.  One of the families owns a restaurant that I have eaten at a few times.  The day before the festival, I had gone there for lunch and the little girl was so excited to help her mom and give me a glass of water and my meal.  She was so cute – I will always remember her beautiful and happy smile.  I will pray for the 2 families to somehow find the strength to get through this. 

Through this experience I learned that this is a problem in my community.  Nobody knows how to swim here and therefore many children drown every year.  My Balat (supervisor) informed me that she would really like to have a community swimming pool built and have swimming lessons for the children.  I am completely ‘gung-ho’ about this idea.  I imagine this would be quite an expensive project so I am not sure how much of a reality it is, but will certainly look into this and keep you all posted.