A New Friend

If it wasn’t for a childish fight, guess I do not need to go elsewhere besides the office. Browsing through the Mercy Building, where different departments have different staffs running their daily errant, and my footsteps slowly dragged me upwards to the second floor, where the Mercy 6 children are.

It was their afternoon tea-time. Everyday, the house moms would sit around in the slightly smaller benches and long table, monitoring the little ones (age 2 to 6), putting the oddest-yet-somehow-make-sense (for them) color on a dinosaur, a flower, a house or an elephant, the country’s pride. Some are running around playing with their brick toys, sometimes licking it for their own pleasure.

Next to the table, were two baby trolleys; one was pushed around by the little ones, forward and backwards, carrying kids who will stack on each other. The pusher will be the mommy, imitating their house mom when she is doing shopping in the market or bringing the kids when they are sick or sleepy, truth is, mommy’s legs are weak to walk too, and has to depend her weight on the trolley; the ones in the trolley will be giggling and laughing, but cry once in a while when their turn is over, and next child will jump up on one’s lap before one would come down.

The other trolley who will always be at rest beside the activity place, was little Nong Pae. One couldn’t tell her real age by her skinny body and weak legs. She was made blind by HIV virus, and was unable to walk nor speak when she was first sent to Mercy.

With the help of a nurse who has been volunteered to come every week, she is now able to walk and carry on simple conversations such as “ Sawadika”(how are you), “Sabadi”(I am fine), “ chop”(I like), and “di”(good). To my surprise, she smiled to me and waved her hands elatedly when I approached her. She recognized me by my voice!

Before yesterday, I rarely played with her before, but whenever I passed by the house, I will always say hello and bye bye. I have never thought that it would be significant enough to let a person remember me only by that.

So the rest of the afternoon, I was cheered up by little Nong Pae’s effort to make friends with me. She teased her friend, Nong Fon saying that she’s not good but herself is better! She showed me that she could count up till ten with her newly-learned pronunciation skill; clapped her hands to my singing and finally start walking towards my clapping!

It was a new way to know someone. Not by the looks, nor what you wear, but by your voice. Have you try that before?

Papers

Our Wishes for Our Children living with HIV/AIDS

To have anti-viral medicine.Many of our children do not have the citizenship documents required to receive government benefits...

(taken from HDF wish list)

All of us need what we called 'papers' to get around or get what we need. The police in Malaysia put a 18 year old to jail for 6 months upon failing to present his personal identification; Illegal immigrants has to get their way to other countries without valid papers; Hong Kong citizens get to have two passports so they can live elsewhere when the island is too 'packed' or 'politically unsafe'; Malaysians who works or study in Singapore or Australia try to get Permanent Residential Papers so that they could get benefits from the respective coutries, so that their child can have a cheaper education in the country;

I can think of more but right now, I see two urgence of getting papers for the kids at Mercy-- One, to access to education; Two, to get medication benefits from the government.

A very normal story, a bright girl who has just been selected to study abroad. She has the qualities that others don't posses: serious, determined, adventurous, courageous, understanding, but right now she hasn't got the right paper to send her off. She needs to find her birth mom and dad's signature.

The search has been going on even before I was on leave. The staff has brought her all over Bangkok, to ask about her mom's whereabout. A sex worker that has no intention to have a child, this kid was passed around through many hands. To cut the long story short, from neighbours and passer bys, they managed to find her birth dad. First time in her life (how was it certain through this method of looking?) , she has a dad. THey are planning for a second meeting in the holidays. Not the crying and shaking-in-tears , blaming scene I was expecting.

Her mom, still no where to be found. One neighbour has one of her photos from many years ago. That is the only trace...

Story like this happen to many other kids here...all we hope is to help as much as we can.

If this problem cannot be solved, the opportunity of studying abroad might be passed down to the second best choice, someone who does not deserve as much as she does.

Is this a fair fight?

Fire

Its not a very good way to start my first day of work after coming back from New Year.

"There was yet another slum fire in the neighbourhood!"

All the head of departments were at the emergency meeting of aid and relief for the fire that was rumoured to be started off by a candle, electricity circuit or alcoholic maniacs. Whether which one to belief, it is totally up to you, but most of the slum fires were never an accident,says Father Joe.

That afternoon, staffs were busy unpacking boxes and boxes of toothpaste, shampoos, and other neccesities, then I realized the reason behind the abundance of stock back in the storeroom-- For the emergency cases.

There wasn't a sense of panick, more of a situation that has been dealt with pretty often. The tone of the announcement when I first heard, was more like a gossip rather than an emergency. The staffs handle their task with experience. You can't really do any more than being experience, either you support the family with bricks for their new house, or get prepared when their wooden shack is burnt down again by somebody's foolish act.

50 families were affected by the fire. Is it a big deal?

Happy Chinese New Year

One of the most celebrated festival in my life. Just have to go home for it!

So I took a ten days 'leave' , flew back to my parent's hometown, to attend the big family reunion. Probably will not be around for the next few years for it!

Double 'Happiness', that's how we put it in Chinese, its my uncle's ( the youngest brother of my mom) wedding. Rapping it up before it comes to our generation (aiks!)

pic1: the newly weds and my grandparents

pic 2: my beautiful little cousin sis with the balloons

pic3: cousins, uncles, aunts.....


pic4: after the tea ceremony, nieces and nephews getting the big red packets(Ang Paus) from our new family member!

pic 5: at least once a year, we have to come together and wish everyone's healthy and wealthy!!:)

Listening Workshop

It was initially an idea of a Peer counseling Workshop, which the kids can have a 'friend'to talk about their daily problems and perhaps provide some encouragement, comforting advice and just being a person that the kids can trust.

However,Peer counseling is too big a word since counselor often been through professional training and experience. What do we do with the problems of abused kids? What do we do with the kids who had been through sexual harassment? The kids are pretty well protected here, but there are still invisible problems in their heads for sure.

One of the things that is within my strength and ability is to introduce a Listening workshop, for it can help the children in two ways: improving ther skills of receiving information at School and be at ease with their brothers and sisters at Home. Therefore, after referring to various sources and gotten my materials, I started to lead one group of teenagers ( which is my evening English class) through a series of Listening Activities.

First, It was getting anonymous objects in a can and let them Guess what's in it. Then, is to differentiate between Hearing and Listening.
What is the Importance of Listening in Various Occupations? followed by Everyday Problems of Listening, for example: Daydreaming, rushing ahead, putting words in others' mouth, interrupting, etc...then Ways to improve listening, follow by some real discussion in everyday life, which I think is the most interesting part...

My big plan is to have all these into their heads, and made them lead their friends at their houses in Thai, so it is like testing their leadership skills at the same time too!

"Good idea!" Everybody says. However, I could puke and easily have the thought of giving up, because, all the problems I mentioned above about listening, is the problems I am facing when I am teaching these to them, how IRONIC huh?? Yupe, problems of implementing the good idea. Its never a quick process. Right now, I am still at the phase of passing down information. The real Listening Workshop is yet to happen, before all this little leaders are ready.

Worse come to worst, I always have a plan B, which is to ask help from the staffs to assist me in the Workshop.

Let's still have some hope with the teenagers yeah?