BUPA 60th Thailand Challenge

Ben has summed up beautifully some of the heartwarming and emotionally challenging experiences we are all having here at Sarnelli House.
I must start this blog by praising week 3 for their incredible enthusiasm hard work and total dedication to this project and more importantly to the children. Last night they decided that rather than setting off at 8.30 in the morning today to start a full day of painting, they would like to leave an hour earlier so that we could spend the whole day giving the children’s medical room a full makeover. And what a makeover it is! Well done everyone, you came here to make a difference and you’ve certainly done that and more besides! You’ve worked so hard and your friends, families and work colleagues should all be so proud of you.

The main picture shows the team in front of the medical centre door. It was a real team effort with each of us painting a panel in a different colour to make our own individual mark. I think you’ll agree that it looks so bright and cheery and it will now be a much nicer place for the children to visit! The top panels were painted yellow to represent the King of Thailand, this being his favourite colour.

There have been so many highlights today, Week 3’s last full day of work as we have the leaving ceremony tomorrow afternoon, but what has to be mine is the children’s faces when they saw the plastic elephants, lions, pandas and zebra we had positioned in the playground for them! Their faces just lit up and those that were able to run over to the animals did so speedily. The infamous ManU is pictured here sitting on one of the Pandas. Those that have already returned home from Sarnelli House will not need reminding of ManU, those that haven’t visited yet… be prepared to fall in love.I know how overwhelmed this team have been by the whole experience and the mixture of emotions is great. Eager to get home and tell everyone about their time here but dreading leaving and having to say goodbye to the children and the inspirational Father Mike!

I have been moved by so many things so far this week and I can honestly say I’ve never felt such a mixture of emotions. I am so lucky and thank my lucky stars as I have another week here at Sarnelli House.

Week 3 I’ll be sorry to see you go – you’ve been amazing!! Week four, I’ll look forward to seeing you in Bangkok airport …….. prepare to have the experience of a lifetime.

Siobhan xx

Well, I don’t know how, but tomorrow is Thursday, which means it’s our last day at Sarnelli.

Sometimes time seems to travel quickly, sometimes slowly, right?

Get this - to me both have happened. Part of me feels time has flown by. Part feels like we’ve been here forever. Wierd, but the saying goes that time goes quick when you’re having fun. Which explains one. Yet we’ve experienced so much that surely we haven’t got it all packed in so fast???

The group has gelled so well - no cross words, no snaps, no rows.

We work well together and socialise well together. Siobhan needs all the credit we can give her. Despite the pressure she has kept us well ahead of our schedule (slave driver - hehe), so much so that tomorrow we are doing work that wasn’t going to happen during the 6 weeks, and almost always with a smiling face!!!!

I think work-wise today has been my favourite. Not only did we totally re-decorate the drugs room including new furniture, but also found time to put some new playground furniture in. The picture is of two of the girls having a whale of a time on a panda!!! The new elephants even got some of the less happy children smiling!! It was truly satisfying. When Loida led Tadum , a blind girl, over by the hand and helped her feel the texture and outline of an elephant a big smile spread across her face. I actually choked up and had to move away, otherwise i’d have blubbed all over a new lion!!

I’m dreading the leaving ceremony. I’m not sure if i’ll be able to leave these kids without a trail of tears behind me. Which is something - I normally avoid kids and refuse to cry!!

I called my girlfriend tonight and told her that I was coming back here with her in tow. To my delight she has agreed. So next year those of you not lucky enough to be here now - i’ll meet you in Bangkok!!!!!

Ben

I thought I’d give you a small story today.

There are 11 BUPA volunteers in Thailand this week working hard to improve the lives of those far less fortunate.

We live in a modern country, get paid a wage for attending work. Live in safe, secure houses. Have family who we look forward to seeing, talking to, loving. If we get ill we go to the doctors, who gives us a diagnosis and a prescription. We then take this to the pharmacy and pay 7 pounds and get some tablets to make us better. If we are a little bit more ill then we get sent to the hospital where they will go to any lengths - at any cost - to make us better.

We have hot taps in our bathrooms, with water that is cold and 100% safe to drink. At night, when it’s cold, we turn a knob or flick a switch and metal things on the wall heat up to keep us warm.

And yet we moan and whinge when we get a big bill. When the car won’t start. When we get a cold. Here in Thailand the computers in our rooms have been playing up. And we’ve moaned and whinged about it.

But the eleven of us are having daily experiences that made us realise - so what the computer doesn’t work. At least we have them. We have everything we need to live a happy life. I can’t remember the last time I gave to charity. 20p in the poppy box doesn’t count. If I want something I save up and buy it. I rarely give gifts to people for no reason. Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, St Valentine Day, Easter. They don’t count. I’m talking about just a gift.

When was the last time you did?

I ask because yesterday I was playing games with a little girl at Sarnelli House Orphanage.

She stood up and in her hand had a small sticker with a cartoon chicken on it. And she did no less than reach up and put it on my t-shirt.

This little girl, with no mom and dad, no family, with HIV/AIDS, no money and very few, if any, possessions was giving me a gift. The fact it was only a sticker means nothing. To you and me at home it’s just a sticker. To her it was one of the few things she owned. One of the few things that make her happy.

Just a sticker. And it was on MY chest. A gift to ME. To make ME HAPPY.

Now that is humbling.

So think - if she can give a gift - so can you. Go to the Sarnelli House website and donate.

Ben

xx

Today we officially started our challenge and what a busy but fun filled day it has been. An early start today, up and ready to start work at 9.00am at Sarnelli House. Our challenge today, should we choose to accept it (not that we had a choice you understand!) was to firstly wash down the walls of the girls building and then paint the exterior walls and then rub down and paint the tiled concrete perimeter. It was a hot but comfortable heat to work in, but as the day moved along it got quite a lot warmer and I lost count how many bottles of water I had drank! We made a good head start on our project, by the time lunchtime came around. And what a lunch!!! We took a slow walk across a field and down a few lanes to what I believe was Father Mike’s house. As we walked we saw several giant butterflies gliding gracefully from exotic plants to tall papapya trees (not your average lunchtime walk I would imagine!!). When we arrived we found that we had been cooked a wonderful selection of authentic Thai dishes that smelt and tasted heavenly. This gave us all the much needed energy to push on through into the afternoon, painting the higher walls of the house with paint rollers on bamboo canes (you won’t find those at your local B&Q!). At one point in the afternoon, I had stopped for a water break and saw some of the sarnelli house workers sorting out the laundry on the floor in the main house and I suddenly remembered that my wife had sent me off with a few tops and dresses that my daughter has now outgrown, in case they came in handy for the younger children at the home. So I took them over and offered the clothes, which they were very appreciative of. We had just about finished by 4.30pm in time for the children returning from school. Firstly some of the girls started appearing with their identical red and blue backpacks. They were quite interested in what we were doing and came over, laughing and giggling to say hello.

By the time we had packed up, more of the children had returned home and playtime was well and truly underway. Once we had packed up I sat down for a few seconds, when all of a sudden one of the charity workers who I had seen, when I took the tops and dresses over, appeared with the cutest little baby girl called “Nin Nate”, wearing one of the tops I had just donated. She looked absolutely lovely and straight away I cuddled her and coudn’t help myself from asking some of the group to take a photo of me. I wanted to be able to send a photo home to my wife, so she could see that a few seconds thought from her, had already made a difference to another little baby girl.

What an amazing first day we have had!! We had pretty much achieved what had needed to be done to the house on day one and had put some un-used clothes to good use, on the back of a baby that needed them far more than we did.

What a feeling to go to bed on…..and that is just where I am going now!

Goodnight!

David

There are no enough words to describe what an amazing experience we are enjoying. As David and Debbie said the children are so cute and they love playing and smiling all the time. We all were so excited waiting the time when we could visit them for the first time.
The works from week 1 and 2 at Sarnelli House are very noticeable, well done all of you!
I cannot stop taking pictures and videos and although after painting under the scorching sun for several hours all of us want to spend time playing and making them as much happy as we can. I can’t wait to come back to Sarnelli tomorrow morning. Hopefully we’ll paint the playground very soon. All of us are getting on brilliantly well and laughing a lot.
Thank you very much for your comment Ronna and I wish you could have made it. Be sure that you will have lot of information about this great experience and you will see all the pictures.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
We will keep updating the blog!
Best wishes
Loi xx

Well, our first day of hard graft is now over and what a great job the volunteers have done! Enthusiasm is sky high and everyone worked so hard. Today we completed the job of painting the exterior of the medical centre with white emulsion paint. It was a big job and everyone pulled together and worked really well as a team. Tomorrow it’s the more detailed work of glossing the window frames, doors and painting the bottom of the building green and after today’s success I’ve no doubt that the vols will rise to the challenge.

As well as the eleven of us, it’s great to have Nook and Jax from BUPA Thailand who have joined us and are a real asset to the team.

The children arrived home from school as energetic as ever and we all enjoyed lavishing them with attention.

To finish the day off in true Thai style, Derek and I decided to take the group out for a fantastic Thai meal at a market restaurant overlooking the busy street of Nong Khai. The food was amazing, the best Thai food I’ve ever tasted and i’m sure the others agree.

We’re all looking forward to another busy day tomorrow and most of all to seeing the children of Sarnelli House.

Thanks to all those that have sent messages of support..keep them coming as it really means a lot to all of us!

Siobhan xx

Well we have finally arrived and as Siobhan mentioned in her opening blog, it did feel like it was taking forever to get here and it was really good to finally pull into Nong Khai station yesterday morning. After being delivered to the hotel by Derek who met us at the station, we tucked into some breakfast (scrambled eggs and bacon believe it or not!) and then we all had a much needed shower. Yesterday afternoon we were taken to the girls home and shown how some of the money everyone has raised, has helped among so many things, to put a new roof on the kitchen and has allowed a rough area to be transformed into a football/basketball court. It felt so good to see that the impact of all the fundraising has already begun to help the lives of the children at the home. After seeing two of the other homes, but having not seen any children yet, (because they had all been taken previously to Sarnelli House to prepare for our arrival) the anticipation was building.

I just wanted to finally meet the children and see how they reacted to us and us to them. As we pulled into Sarnlli House and up the driveway we began to see the children, a scattering at first and then more and more. Some were on swings in the playground, some were playing football and others just running around and playing games with each other. Straight away the children began to approach us and take us by the hand and started to lead us off to show us there play areas. We were firstly lead over to the house on the grounds which housed the babies. Just walking into the room and seeing several cots, began to bring a lump to my throat and looking inside to see the beautiful babies, got you more emotional still. Two of the babies were being changed and I went and knelt down by one of them and placed my finger in his hand, he squeezed my fingered and after some coaxing, a smile appeard on the little boys face, which brought tears to mine. After he was dressed, the helper stood the baby boy up and I was able to pick him up and just cuddle him. He was very content and appeared to take all the fuss in his stride. I have left my fourteen month old daughter at home this week and just kept thinking about her while I was holding this little baby in my arms and thinking how lucky both she and I were to have the life we do back at home. After some time, our group headed back over to the mai house and we were given a very lovely welcome party, which included songs and dances puit on by the children. We then each in turn, were asked to stand up and approach the stage when out name was called so we could receive our name badge (translated in English and in Thai) and a lovely necklace made of flowers, which was placed around our necks by the children.

After the welcome party, everyone ate. The chilren laid out rugs and sat round in circles eating their food….which I think fuelled their soon to come onslaught of high energy play. We were al in for a rough ride…..we were out numbered at least ten to one, children coming from all angles, leading you off to play areas, showing and sharing with you their toys that were given too them just a few days before, by some other support workers assisting at Sarnelli House. Every now and then another child would come up to you and just start cuddling you and joined in the games we were playing. Some hours later, we were finally rescued by Derek, (who himself was not given a moments peace since he arrived…and how he loved it!) who escorted us back to the mini buses. After saying our goodbyes to the children at the gate, we were driven back to the hotel.

What a start to our time here and what an insight to the week ahead!! It is 7.30am on Monday and I can’t wait to get going on all the work we have to do today and especially can’t wait to see all those smiling faces again this afternoon…to carry on where we left off yesterday…work trips aren’t supposed to be this good are they?

Best Regards

David

Have you ever you had a dream, where you’ve been running for miles and miles but you never seem to reach your destination?.. well, it seems like we’ve done that and finally reached our destination and now we’re living the dream!

Week 3 finally arrive in Nong Khai!

After a long, fascinating and daunting journey for some, week 3 volunteers finally arrived in north eastern Thailand today to be greeted by Derek.

We saw the wonderful work that has been completed by weeks 1 and 2. What an amazing job you’ve done! We haven’t even been here a day and despite the jet lag we’re raring to go, but we realise we have a lot to live up to!

Our main job this week is to paint the exterior of one of the houses in white and green, weather permitting we’ll then tackle the landscape gardening.

The volunteers on week 3 are fantastic and you wouldn’t believe we all only met yesterday. What a experience this is. Thank you for all of your support and we’ll be in touch soon!

We’re looking forward to telling you more about our once in a lifetime experience!Watch this space…..Pics to follow!!!!

Speak soon

Siobhan