NEWSLETTER NO. 29

THE MUANG MAI ORPHANAGE

Thursday, April 13 through Tuesday, May 2

We’ve gotten really, really soaked, we now have our own Buddha statue, we now have sun shelter over the parking lot and the playground, we now have the children from Isan back with us, we now have Prai back with us, and last and least – we now have little Jokk, home from the hospital, back with us.

We lied a little in our introduction; we never got that soaked during Songkran. We’ve been here long enough now that we had to drive the cars this year.

Well, all right, then; at first we did get a bit wet. Arriving at the orphanage on Thursday morning, we found the kids all set and fully loaded. It was impossible to leave the car without being chased by water guns and we got soaked rather quickly. The other volunteers told of having been woken up already at seven or so by someone banging very loudly at the door. Of course they were worried that something had happened and opened the door, but – tricky, tricky! No sooner had they opened the door before they were attacked by cheerful, crazy kids with loaded water guns.

Around ten we took off in three pick-up trucks fully loaded with children, adults and water. Our first stop was Tha Reuna, where we picked up large ice blocks to give our water “an extra boost.” Then off we drove through all of Phuket and down to Patong, coming to a screeching halt whenever we came across people who were ready for a fight. So many were heading in towards Patong that the cars just stood still at times. We grabbed a late lunch at Patong Beach, and then we took off for home. Honestly, it felt quite good to do the driving on the way back. The gang returning to the orphanage around five was wet and weary. But a fabulous time was had by all!

Mony, one of Sussi’s former colleagues, visited the orphanage on Friday the 14th together with her husband Jan and their two children, Masja and Jonathan. It was a sweet reunion of friends. And it didn’t take many seconds before Masja (9) had climbed up on the trampoline with all of our kids and Jonathan (13) had Saman on his back.

Masja and Jonathan had decided on their own to donate a large sum from their savings. It is especially at moments like these that we realize the enormous responsibility in ensuring that all of our funds will indeed benefit the children – at all costs. Jan and Mony will also help us produce the first thousand pieces of silver jewelry.

…That one hopefully caught your attention – silver jewelry? Well, here’s the story. When we were back home in Sweden, we saw Viktor, Simon, and Lisa. Lisa, who’s a silversmith, gave Sussi an incredibly beautiful bracelet that she’d made. That gave rise to an idea – what if we could use a piece of silver jewelry as a symbol for the orphanage?

Viktor, Simon, and Lisa had visited us at the orphanage a year earlier, so I asked Lisa if she’d be willing to design a piece of jewelry in silver inspired by the children at the orphanage. She’d be happy to, she said, and that’s exactly what she did. So when we recently left Sweden, one of our bags held our fantastic little original piece of jewelry.

When Mony, Jan, Jonathan, and Masja came to visit us, we were busy searching for a silversmith in Thailand who’d be able to produce that piece for us. It seems most fitting for the production to take place locally, so that a Thai silversmith may benefit from it. Never could we have imagined what would happen when we proudly showed off our little piece to Mony and Jan! It turned out that Jan has silversmith connections here in Thailand and that the Kanevad family also wants to assist us financially with the first one thousand pieces.

By early August sometime, silversmith Lisa Hållstrand Skoog will have designed the first thousand pieces for us. And this thanks to Lisa and the Kanevad family.

The weeks after Songkran went by slowly. Our time was spent swimming and relaxing, except for in the morning on weekdays, when we had English lessons. We put up the sun shelter over the playground and the parking lot and got to step 2 out of 3 of the course on child protection given by Save the Children UK. But the weeks were otherwise fairly calm. 

But then Friday the 28th arrived and the Wat Muang Mai Temple gave the orphanage its very own Buddha statue for its spirit house.

The monk explained that it was the only suitable day, as it was the first day of the suitable month according to some Buddhist calendar, or perhaps it was the last day of the suitable month, or whatever. It was the suitable day in any event, and it would be long before the next “suitable day.” In addition, most of the children had returned from Isan the night before.

A most beautiful ceremony was held and all the monks of the temple were in attendance. In attendance were also representatives from the Red Cross of Phuket, all of our children, and others. Afterwards good food was served – once the monks had first been given food.

Walking up towards our pagoda and seeing our beautiful, calm and kind Buddha fills us with warmth and almost brings tears to our eyes. It feels safe having him there, he’ll probably be able to protect our children from almost anything. And he can always turn to his dear little angel of a friend, if need be.

As a matter of fact, the weekend barely turned into a new week before little Jokk finally returned from the hospital. It was a joy to see her. She’s now quite chubby and has been able to go from diapers for newborns to medium-sized ones. How about that!

Today our pretty teenager Prai also returned home. Her leg that she broke in the motorbike accident has healed and is all well again, but she’s now even thinner. But she’s pretty, our Prai.

We’ll actually be pleased when school starts again, since everyone will be settled and we’ll be back to our daily routine…but don’t tell the kids that we said that.

Love,

Sussi and Hans