Well, this weekend was AMAZING! I am having some really bad back pains and I did my best, thank goodness Greig was feeling fine. Today is worse, I guess I over did it a bit, oh well anything for the kids. So we went to Om Koi the village that we help out as much as we can, the plan, give out clothes from the students at Chiang Mai University and fix all of the desks in the school.
The desk were topped with large pieces of wood which were not even so it was really hard to write anything on them and they were very shaky. We went to Global Home (Thai Home Depot) a few days before, we bought wood, screws, sandpaper, paint, brushes and all the rest of it. Friday morning after stopping to pick up some food and coffee, off we were. After 5 1/2 hours of driving to the village we were greeted by a very nice family 14 of them that was at the village for 2 days, it was a surprise to us, a nice surprise. They spoke pretty good English and told us that they go there once a year to make a donation and bring some school supplies, food, clothes, etc. They shared their food with us and then set off some fireworks, which the kids loved. Later that night we sat outside by a fire, grilling and eating pork ribs and we drank a bit of whiskey, it is Thailand after all, LOL.
The next morning we were looking forward to speaking with them more over breakfast but it was raining all night and I think they felt it was better to get on the road sooner then later, good idea. We were not in a 4×4 so who knew how we would get out of there or if we even could get out. I will tell you about this soon.
After 2 cups of coffee we were off to the races. We had about 15-20 kids around to help us and it took about 8 hours to repair the desk. We were able to do one coat of paint but since it was raining and lot’s of moisture in the air, we would have to wait until the next day to do another coat. Greig and I had so much fun and so did the kids but it was a lot of work. Cutting, hammering, painting! None of the desk were the same size so it took a while to have to do everyone custume. We were also lucky that there was some power from the solar cell to power the drill, it could have taken a lot longer.
Later that night after Na Nu made us diner we met with some of the kids and parents to talk about future projects and they are very keen on the future and us helping their kids, us too.
More rain, oh no, it is going to be hard to get out of here….We laid out all of the donated clothes and let 5 people in the school at a time and they could each take 3 things but after several minutes of this many more people came in so we said have at it, you are all on your own, just be nice and fair. Not one thing was left, if they can’t wear it, they will make something with the fabric. We checked out the coffee plants that were planted last time, cross your fingers for them to have coffee to sell in a few years, it will be a lot of work. I did get to eat a few beans from an older plant, who knew, well I didn’t but it was sweet.
Now it is time to leave and it is raining a bit so the teacher said we should take some of the kids with us to help IF we get stuck and that they will walk back to the village after. I felt bad that they would do that, it is 16 kilometers and raining. So glad they came, we got stuck several times because it was very scary and dangerous at times. I thought we were going to have to sleep on the mud road and someone would have to come rescue us but these kids would not give up, I LOVE THEM. These kids were amazing, pushing, shaking, digging, they were covered in mud. Greigs car was damaged a bit, sorry buddy. When we finally got out we took them for noodle soup and ice cream and we came upon someone in a 4×4 form the village going back so they took the kids and the teacher with them. The end, for now…Next trip planned for 3 to 4 weeks from now, stay tuned.
