In the line of work that I do, I often talk about the excitement of sex trafficking prevention, giving children a second chance at life, and giving families hope. You as a reader have heard about the desolate conditions in villages that cause parents to even consider "selling" their child for a better life, the beginning of sex trafficking, but I have seen these conditions first hand. I've seen parents sitting on their door steps with babies wrapped around them. I've seen shoeless children with mismatched clothes chasing each other with sticks as toys. I've seen children play checkers with rocks. I've seen children walk right up next to you and hold your hand for comfort. I've seen hope shining is little dark brown eyes.
Yesterday, I was immersed in the Lahu way of life.
Typical homes have one room, which includes an area to cook
The passing of candy and the reaching of hands
Theres that knife again
The Lahu people believe they originated from squash.
The visit to this village was truly humbling. Coming home, all I could think about was how blessed I am and how I have to use what God has given me to help those less fortunate. The most amazing thing I heard on the trip was that when our children go back home to their villages for school break, parents and other tribe members see a difference. Our children go back to their homes with love and excitement radiating off of them. Not many people have the opportunity to go where it all starts, to see with their own eyes why sex trafficking could ever be an option. These parents aren't bad people, they are people with little to no choices left.
The only way to stop sex trafficking is to start at the source of the issue, poverty. When parents are given the opportunity of a choice, they choose right. Every single child in our 7 homes in Thailand is proof that change is happening. How exciting is it that we're all a part of it!
**Warning, this is a super long post..mainly because it's full of a month's worth of videos and pictures**
The month of September and October have been agenda-filled with lesson planning, English teaching, Sport's Day practicing, and birthday celebrations. You may want to get comfortable, because there are quite a few videos and photos you'll be scrolling through.
Here is a recap of Sport's Day. Sport's Day is the equivalent to Field Day in elementary schools. There were 4 teams: Orange, Blue, Purple, and Green. Each team competed against each other in different games like soccer, volleyball, tug-a-war, and relay races that don't really have a name for them but were hilarious to watch.
Each team had cheerleaders, here is a compilation of the cheers sung throughout the day. I have to give major credit our cheerleaders, they cheered from 9 to 3!
There were about 160 children, from 4 of our 9 homes in Thailand, who participated. For weeks, children were brewing with excitement and practicing because Sport's Day is a pretty big deal. There were no major injuries this past Monday, except me jamming my thumb during volleyball, so I'd say it was a pretty good day.
This game is called "Protect the Queen". I
Birthday's
Because there are so many children, birthdays a celebrated every 3 months. Each house will choose what month they will celebrate and then birthdays for the previous 3 months are celebrated. It's a big party. Children eat their favorite foods, birthday cakes are made, soda is drank, and children get presents!
The girls against the wall are the ones celebrating their birthdays.
Happy Birthday songs sung
This deliciousness is called Mookata (moo-ka-ta). It's like Korean BBQ in all of it's brothy pork goodness. I'd say this is probably one of the most flavorful dishes I've eaten so far, mainly because the house mother who prepared this meal for the boys house is a wonderful cook (of course, not better than you mom :-*)
Mookata is eaten by sitting on the floor around the clay pot. You place your raw meat on the grill and wait for it to cook. Around the grill is like a moat (forgive me for not knowing the exact terminology) filled with veggies and broth.
In addition to many celebrations, English teaching has been a positive progression with few to no cancellations (I guess I'm doing something right) and my students are coming to class excited.
she just came to color while her parents learned English
we take a break from 12-1 P.M and share lunch together :)
They feed me really weird stuff. Pork meatballs and fried octopus. Lets be honest, I'll eat anything fried.
Ending each lesson, we play a conversation game. I give each student a small bag filled with folded up conversation starter questions that they have to read and then answer. I do this to get my students comfortable with casual conversation. Here is one response:
Each week I become closer and closer with the house parents and workers. It's nice to feel welcomed by these new friends I've made when I'm so far from home. Also, with being around the homes so much, the children are opening up more... and going through my belongings without permission (I can hear my aunt saying, "Girl, this is payback for all the times you went through my stuff and then acted like it was yours when you'd come to visit me!"). I come with my big bag of markers and paper and they are all over my stuff like ants on honey. BTW (yes I meant to cap-lock "btw") there is NO three hole loose leaf paper in this country. There are no 3 ring binders (I lied, there are, but they are 1"), no 3 hole paper punchers, and there are no paper reinforcement stickers!!! I can't remember if I ranted about this in a previous post, but I'm still worked up about this lack of office supplies. Get it together, Thailand.
On a separate note, I cut off my hair and have gone back to a short curly bob. Many people have asked me why and here's my answer, motorcycle helmets. There is no way I can do my hair and wear a moto helmet at the same time. This way my hair still has its bounce and I don't have to worry about it.
This past Sunday at church, a group of older girls did a dance performance during worship time. I played back the video I took of them and they "ooh'd" and "ahh'd" laughing and giving compliments to one another. It's amazing to see young boys and girls encourage and uplift each other.
Oh! Anyone who knows me, knows I love ginger-ale. So, I'm like, since I'm going to the land of ginger and soy, it shouldn't be hard to find ginger-ale and soy milk! Sike. It is not easy to find. In fact it is very difficult, but I managed to find ginger-ale 37 days into living in Thailand! This made my week.
This was how I acted with the can:
I'd say I was joking, but I'm not.
Well, I hope this post has made you feel more connected with what I am doing in Thailand. I love taking pictures and videos of what's going on and being able to share them with you almost immediately. In this case, it's taken me a month because it's been a super busy month. Sorry if you've been waiting around for a new post! Hopefully this will satisfy your reading desire!
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