Fiesta!

When I went home at Christmas time, my mind wasn't always far from Thailand, and the kids at Rainbow House. I was trying to figure out something to bring back, something fun, and something they can't access easily in Thailand.

I remember having a conversation with my mom about it, and coming up with the idea of doing a Vacation Bible School, or VBS. Since I've grown up with these my whole life, I'm very familiar with them. However, very few volunteers had ever heard of it, so in case you haven't either. . .

VBS is typically a week long bible camp held during the summer time. There are songs, skits, puppet shows, crafts, snacks, games, bible stories, and prizes. They often revolve around themes and decoration is a huge part of the excitement.

The highlight of my childhood summers really.

So I contacted my old youth pastor from Bridgewater, Sarah Scott, and asked if I could borrow one of the VBS programs that they had used in the past.

In the end, I arrived in Thailand with a suitcase full of books, music, puppets, and Canadian candy. I couldn't wait to get started on the planning process. I have always attended VBS's when I was a kid, and when I was in grades 5-7 I often helped out the leaders. However, I have never led one before, and believe me, it's 100% different. The theme of the program was Mexican/Spanish and was called Fiesta!

I reserved February 15-19 as the week of Fiesta!, and created a fundrasing video to send to my home church  to help buy snack supplies, prizes, craft supplies, and decorations.

This is my home church, Cornerstone Wesleyan, and the generosity from the congregation totally surpassed all my expectations. In total they gave 500 dollars to help support the VBS at Rainbow House! Incredible!

The toughest part of it all, was the language barrier. All of the volunteers speak English, but the staff at Rainbow, who make all the decisions, speak Thai. This caused a few misunderstandings, but I was surprised with how much was actually understood. The head teacher, Kru Tong, was amazing with giving me permission to use an abundance of resources at Rainbow, and as well as permission to use his staff for the week!

I always get stressed out when I'm in charge of things. I go to bed late, and wake up early, because the thought of sleeping when I could be doing something else, terrifies me. It's probably a bad quality, but it got things done and Fiesta! was a huge success! Here are some photo's and highlights from the week!

This was the opening of Fiesta!, which happened every morning and lasted for about 20 minutes. This was my responsibility and it was a blast to do. We led the children in singing and dancing, and then performed a puppet show. One day we had all the kids perform a puppet show for us using tons of finger puppets!

This is when the kids were distributed their name tags for the day.We know all the kids names by heart, but I really had a desire to make Fiesta! not feel like a normal day at Rainbow House. I wanted it to kind of feel like they weren't at Rainbow, and that they had gone to a VBS! That's also the reason why the staff all wore matching shirts.

Which, tip for travellers, the colour red is anti-king. Why I decided to buy red shirts for the staff is beyond me. . .a true slip of mind. It was fine in the end, but at first, there was question to whether or not it was appropriate.

Anyways!

Snack!

Snack was probably one of the biggest hits! Emma and Lynn took over in this department and I was so grateful for their organization and help. The snacks had themes based on the story of the day, and were mostly western style goodies. Which, Thai kids absolutely adore. However, diluted juice was not popular. Thai kids would just drink the concentration straight over having it watered down; there's no such thing as too sweet in Thailand. The snack was a craft/eat combo where the kids got to build or decorate their food. The Rainbow House staff probably appreciated this station the most. Thai's love to eat, and this was the place to do it.

Bible Story

This was my station, and definitely the one with the fewest pictures. My camera is broken, so I apologize for the lack of variety here. Bible Story was a good spot to be! It was inside and chilled out, which I think was a nice break from the heat and humidity of outside. Charlotte helped me out here and it was great! We did re-enactments of bible stories as they were explained in Thai, and then the kids coloured a sheet based on the story of the day. It was really neat to have the Thai staff read the stories. One of the teachers always got really into it, and the dramatizations were more fun!

Crafts with Sethi. Sethi was absolutely fantastic with the organization of this station. Kids that I never would have expected to sit down, understand how to do a craft, and then do it, actually finished crafts every day, all week. It was such an encouragement to walk by the craft room and see the kids focused on what they were doing. Trust me! That is a rare blessing!

 

 

 Pictures from the games station are also pretty much, non existant. James and Rachel took over the games station, and the energy burned there made a good balance in the day. The kids were always loaded up on sugar from their thai snack in the morning, and then their VBS snack an hour or so later. Games was the perfect place to let them run it all off, and let the staff and volunteers recouperate.

The last day of Fiesta we had a PINATA! I made it out of a paper bag, thinking it would be all too easy to bust. Well the handles didn't last long, but the body was tough and nearly invincable!

At this point the handles had come off, and Joanekke and I were holding the pinata at the corners. True bravery at work.

The staff give it a go! Kru Nok slams it!

Caught Lynn! Lynn, the beautiful girl in the red, standing right behind me, was winding up for a big swing, and missed! Hitting me right in the leg! It was a good laugh.

My turn!

And here's the hit that finally broke it! Done by the tank, Kru Thea.

At first the kids didn't really know what to do. But after a little encouragement, the swarm came.

Enjoying the sugar sugar sugar

At the very end of Fiesta! on the last day, we finished with our theme song and dance, and then handed out treat bags. The bags were filled with fun toys, and candy. The kids didn't get to keep them because they're not allowed possessions in the government wards, but I still wanted them to have the bags regardless. For that hour, they had something that was theirs, and it was a lot of fun!

Some of the kids waiting for us to pass them out

And then it was over! The weeks of planning became reality, and then Fiesta! was finished. It was such a good time and I'm amazed at how well it went. 

It never would've happened without the incredible support from the staff, volunteers, and people back home. Thank you!

At the beginning of the week, when we were decorating Rainbow, we finished by reading this verse

2 Corinthians 4:18 (New International Version)

¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

It was so easy to wonder why would we even try to incorporate the message of Jesus to these kids during VBS. What was the point? There's no way they could understand with their various mental disabilities.


Really though, that's not true. To think that way really demeans what abilities God has to communicate to these children. 


I have to focus more on what's unseen, and not always only notice things that are tangible. There are more important things that can't be touched, held, eaten, or purchased. 


Like love.


Even if the kids last week didn't understand the bible points, and didn't understand the connection between the crafts and games and snack and story, and even if they didn't hear the words, or couldn't see the pictures, they can understand love. The effort demonstrated by the awesome staff and volunteers is only out of love.


And if God is love, they can understand God.

Good-Bye

Today, the Oasis team left.

Wasn't it yesterday that I wrote about their arrival, and their stock of chocolate dominating the freezer? No, it was five months ago.

It has been five months of living together. I know some of these girls better than I know friends I've had my whole life. You get to really know people by living with them, they can't hide their bad days from you. You learn when they need space, when they need love, when they need to talk, when they want you to talk, when they're cranky because they're tired, and when they're cranky because you've just done something to make them cranky.

It hasn't always been easy. There have been times I've just wanted to run down the street screaming and flag the first taxi I see to whisk me off to the airport. However, the good times chatting and laughing are far more superior in number, and the idea of seeing these girls leave seems unbearable.

Well, the unbearable's happened, and I've cried my guts out. They all live so far away from me, it's just so unrealistic to think that we'll all be together again. For my female emotional heart, I'm being unrealistic for now.

Here's a tribute to my Thailand sisters!

This is Sarah and I in our last week together. Sarah was the grown-up of our group. She was the only one to have already gone through University and had a little more independence experience than we did. She has a beautiful singing voice. I always loved standing next to her in church, or sitting next to her at house group. Her harmonies are perfect! She had so much patience for one of the children at Rainbow House, Nueng, who I was constantly getting frustrated. Her determination to stick with him was so inspiring! I will miss you Sarah!

 This is Holly and I. Holly is the person that is always smiling and always has something positive and encouraging to say. She is hilarious in her cute little blonde way. She has a passionate love for chocolate, which I totally appreciate, and she loves everyone and everything in her path. I am so lucky to have met her!

 This is Lynn and I getting ready to bowl. Lynn worked with me every day at Rainbow House and I absolutely loved every minute I got to hang out with her! She was hilarious and smart and easy to talk to. She loved the kids passionately and it was always so cool to watch her interactions with them. I never wanted her to leave!

 

 

This is Emma and I, always trying to bring the cold to Thailand. Snow and Christmas Trees! I don't think I could've enjoyed Rainbow House anymore than with this amazing girl! She was so ready to do anything different and organize fun things for the kids and youth. She was great to talk to, always ready to do her famous and hilarious laugh. No one can compare!

And this is JULIA.
However, I'm not going to really boost her ego at all.
Since she's staying ON! Until I leave, which is amazing and I can hardly wait for the good times we have yet to have.

I love these girls and am so fortunate to have met them.

I will miss them!

Welcome to Rainbow House!

There are two new residents of Rainbow House, and I could not be more excited.

I often feel like I should explain this orphanage because it's a little complicated. It has children who live there and recieve care higher than that of the government orphanages in the same area. The government orphanages are overloaded with children and understaffed, this creates huge abuse and mistreatment problems.

Rainbow House takes in some government orphanage kids every morning Mon-Fri from 8:30-2:30. They participate in the Rainbow Day Care program with the other children who live at the orphanage. The kids who are residents at Rainbow, often come from the government orphanages.

So, after all that, two children who were previously just coming to the day care, are now going to live at Rainbow House! In fact, one of them is getting adopted!

 

 

This is Bee! She's 8 years old, very chatty and very cute. She isn't able to walk on her own at the moment. She struggles walking with a walker, but with proper physio, could do very well! She's determined to stand.

 

 

This is Lilly! She is 9 years old and is in the process of being adopted by two volunteers, James and Rachel. She is deaf and has cerebral palsy. None of this stops her though, from anything! She's always running around, jumping up and down, and climbing all over everyone and everything. She falls constantly, but it doesn't phase her.

The lives of these two children are going to change so much. I can not wait to see the improvements in their lives as they carry on at Rainbow House.

Welcome Lilly and Bee!

Say YES for VBS!

This week has been amazing so far! VBS is working out so much better than I ever hoped or expected. The kids love the songs, and snacks, and crafts, and games, and stories. The staff and volunteers have been absolutely incredible with their help and support.

I want to do a more thorough post on VBS, but I think I'll wait till the end of the whole week! However, here are a few of the photos thus far.

note: These are Emma's photos, who is stationed at snack, which is why they mostly revolve around snack. My camera has recently encountered a broken screen which I need to fix.

Sunday afternoon, decorating Rainbow for the week!

Charlotte making some maracas!

Tee came to watch

The decorating crew outside of Rainbow!

As soon as the music comes on, the kids race to the front to stand with us and dance. Or if they can't stand, they beg the leaders to hold them so they can dance. That's why Lynn and I are crouched over!

First morning was a monster puppet.

Second day was Flo! The kids absolutely adore the puppets. Afterwards they always approach me and ask if there's more. Potential missions trip anyone? Hint hint.

This is Kru Nok, my favourite staff member at Rainbow! She's sharing some fruit with Ton. Mmmm Farang!

Au and the snack from day two; Rosa the Rabbit! They LOVED this one.

 Lynn and Samon at snack.

That's all folks. The staff have been taking an immense amount of pictures, so those will go up when I get the opportunity to snatch their camera away and upload them.

I'm so happy. It's a success, and now I can breathe and enjoy it all along with the kids. Thank you seems insufficient for how I want to express my appreciation to everyone who has listened to my stressed out talk, given financially, and prayed continually.

I'll wait to the end of the week. I'll come up with something.

Monday Monday Monday!

It's coming! FIESTA!

I've spent the past two weeks buying craft supplies, pasting, and gluing and running around asking permission for this and that. People here have been so amazing with their help and people at home have been so amazing with their support!

Paper for signs and backdrops, as well as terrific orange placemats for snack.

Some of the goods going in the end of the week Fiesta! bags. (Colouring books, crayons, balls, bubbles, kazoos, glow in the dark stars, hair clips, etc.)

Emma and Lynn creating their beautiful backdrop!

Some of the Fiesta! bags awaiting the treats

Cacti and corn, courtesy of Sethi!

The jumbo fiesta letters in transition before getting put on their big banner

My lifesaver! Thai/English bible stories for children. This find from Bridget made my day!

Some of the signs for the week! There are two more without poles that are just as cool. (Sign behind it says, "Hot Bible Adventures" by the way. . .not just "Hot Bible")

It's the last weekend before the VBS, and I am anxious with excitement and nervousness. I took a lot of liberties as far as scheduling and uniform and staffing. Rainbow house has a really repetitive schedule, so it's a little terrifying to shake things up and not only for me! The Thai staff have been amazing with allowing me to use rooms for certain activities and take charge of next week even if they don't completely understand what I'm communicating to them. They don't know what to expect!

 But I know that people are praying, and I know that volunteers are offering their total support, and I know that structure isn't the most important thing, I can be flexible!

Planning this VBS has been such a blessing. It's really challenged me to allow other people to take responsibility for things and not try to do everything on my own. I've had a lot of fun with Lynn and Emma planning snacks and activities, and it's been a good bonding experience with the staff as well.

All that's left now, is to decorate the place, come up with actions for the songs, buy a few essential supplies, and then watch the smiles, and hear the laughs.

Here and There and In Between

What a crazy few weeks. A crazy HOT few weeks. Cold season is quicky changing into hot, sweaty, sticky and uncomfortable hot season. Seriously, is 30-34 degrees too cold? Must it be 35-40?

However, even though I often get cranky and useless in the heat at home, I am thriving here! I've filled up my week so that I'm the busy bee that I love to be! Here's what's been going on my temporary home-town.

I went to CBR 3! CBR 3 is a rehabilitation center located in a small village three hours from here. Vicki and I went for a week to help out, hoping to offer our vast knowledge of crafts and fun to the few kids that go there. The result was an amazing week, where Vicki and I had tons of deep and thoughtful conversations, while we did the crafts. . .by ourselves. The kids were scared of paper mache, or unsure of paintbrushes, or cried when we showed them what to do. They were quite happy to nap instead, so Vicki and I utilized our supplies and crafted away.

Our paper mache heads, that now reside at CBR 3 permanently 

The pictures we drew

My rendition of the CBR 3 staff.

The actual staff, who we really grew to love! They are extremely hardworking, and such an inspiration to watch!

When I returned, Peterson and Gaelle were safely in Canada, with my family! It was such amazing news, but it made me a little homesick. I wanted to meet them, and was anxious that our meeting date was 4 months away. My fellow volunteers knew this, and threw me an amazing "THEY'RE HOME!" surprise party. It was an awesome feeling to know that people care about even the small things, enough to make some peanut butter sandwiches (which I hadn't had in a month!) and make Canada crowns.

Some of the crew. (from left to right TOP: Emma, Sarah, Lizzie, Joanekke, Charlotte, Holly, Rachel, and Lynn. BOTTOM: Nicole, Biamon, Me, and Julia)

Last week, our brand new and very talented physiotherapist, Charlotte, created an exercise class for the children. It was a blast! Full of hula hooping and jump roping and bowling! The kids absolutely loved it and didn't want to leave the garden. I had some fun too, trying to explain how a jump rope works. I got to show off some of my hard learned skills from kindergarten. Oh they were all impressed I assure you,

Ton and Ploy bowling

I think I was a little more enthusiastic than Phet and Un-Un were. . .

Deow loved the foam

The beautiful physiotherapist who planned it all, Charlotte! And a very happy Look-Dow

As well, work in general has just been such a blessing. Even days where there are no special activities planned, we manage to have a lot of fun just goofing off and throwing the children around. It's not always easy though. Many of the kids have severe behaviour issues due to either their mental disabilities, or just the surroundings at the government wards that they have been exposed to. A child last week was bitten on the face by another child with downs syndrome, creating a deep gash that is likely to leave a visible scar. Another child has just returned to the orphanage after being taken away by her mother and used for begging on the street. Her behaviour reflects this in a negative and violent way. It's tough to punish them when you can't imagine what the anger and disobedience stems from.

However, they're all cute regardless, and I couldn't resist throwing in some pictures to prove it!

Bee showing off her teeth

The two adorable faces of Leo'Q. Either she's dazed, or giggling.

Playing one of Pet's made up games. This one involved an imaginary sword fight (I think) with badminton rackets. We had to point them (I think) then run to the cupboard (I think) and hit it with our foot. . .I think. Believe it or not, communication with a child who doesn't really talk, is difficult. . .but always amusing.

Lily and one of her famous funny faces. Lily is currently in the process of adoption by two fellow volunteers! Rachel and James!

Vicki, a volunteer who has been living here since October, and a close friend of mine, is leaving in less than a week. This was her good-bye photo at Rainbow House. It's always sad to see friends leave!

This is how taking care of Thai children differs from taking care of Canadian children. All concern for health and safety goes out the window, and ideas like this (it was Emma's by the way) seem like really good ones. It was fun in the end, and no one crawled out of there more disabled than they already were.

And for old times sake, Vicki and I braved the kitchen again and attempted to cook. Our last experiment (Banana's and chocolate, if you can remember that far back) failed with a happy ending. This one, just failed really. We were given the task of mashing chillies for Tom Yam soup. "Just a little bit" Nan said. Oh but Vicki and I, we do things wholeheartedly and mashed those chillies to a pulp and then proudly presented them to the real cook. This was the reaction.

"No no no!"

Whoops. It appeared that the more you mash them, the spicier it gets. We grilled those chillies so powerfully that we made a paste too spicy for even the Thai taste buds. We got it right the second time.

FINALLY!

Next week, the volunteers and I have planned a VBS! "Fiesta!"

My church has been AMAZING with their support and the week is looking like it is going to be fantastic! I can not wait to pull out my maraca's and dance with the kids all around Rainbow House. The program is going to run for two hours every morning, and is complete with crafts, snacks, bible story, games and puppets! Thank you so much to everyone who donated money or who offered their support in prayer and encouragement! It has been such a blessing to see how many people are as excited about this as I am!

And now I'm off too bed. I've broken my 10:00 curfew by an hour to write this, but it was worth it. It has been great to keep in touch in some way to my friends, church, and family at home. You are all so special to me!