BUPA 60th Thailand Challenge

Those five simple words from Father Mike just about sum it up.

The challenge is finally over and everything’s back to normal. Or is it? The experience might be over but the memories and spirit associated with Sarnelli House will stay with many forever. As one of the volunteers so succinctly put it, “we came to give and received so much more”.

We in Community Connections had hopes that this challenge would be a success for both the volunteers and the children of Sarnelli House. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to be so overwhelmed with support and passion from the volunteers and everyone else who has contributed along the way.

Every single person involved in the BUPA 60th Anniversary Thailand Challenge should be immensely proud of their achievements, commitment and spirit. This challenge has shown what dedicated employees we have at BUPA and has united people up and down and across BUPA businesses around the world.

In summary, we achieved more work than we ever set out to do. Thanks to the absolute determination of each and every volunteer Sarnelli House now has: 

• Four newly re-decorated houses both inside and out
• A landscaped BUPA garden
• New beds for the older boys
• New furniture throughout all the buildings
• Four new sports courts
• Four new playgrounds
• New kitchen at the girls’ home (together with new appliance and a raised ceiling to make it bearable in summer)
• 20 new bathrooms
• Hot water allowing the children to have showers in the morning before school
• Protected rice fields so rice can be grown for the children each year
• Newly painted front fence and signs

Wow. A truly amazing achievement in just six weeks and it couldn’t have been done without you. 

Just as Sarnelli House will never be far from our minds it appears that you also made quite an impact during your time there. We heard from Father Mike just the other day and his honest words show how you have touched the lives of so many. We thought this would be the perfect time to share them with you:

 “We have photos of six weeks of BUPA volunteers and the kids can pick them out and give their names. I go home for five weeks and when I return, the wee ones stare at me like I have a bunghole growing out of the middle of my forehead. They can’t remember me. They sure do remember their favourites from BUPA. You haven’t just sent money from some unknown location from unknown people, but you are friendly, caring, loveable, huggable people who have entered their lives.

We will always be beholden to you. Thank you for all the BUPA people did. We look at the flower garden and the memorial, and miss you all deeply. Have a wonderful Christmas and all God’s blessings in the New Year!” Father Mike 

 Lots of love, Claire, Jo and Siobhan. 

Note: Please continue to use this blog. It is a way to help ensure Sarnelli House stays top of people’s minds and we will use it as a way of communicating future plans with you all. 

The video diaries for week 3 and 4 volunteers have now been uploaded on to the site.

Find out more about their individual experiences in Thailand by clicking on the relevant links.

Week 3

• Debbie Cook
• Gavin Nicholson
• Annette Tanchittiwat
• Jackie Travers
• Maria Garces
• (Elaine) Florence Cross
• David Soanes
• Loida Lopez
• Ilja Pospisil
• Ben Sutton

Week 4

• Julie Fox
• Alistair Good
• Suzgo Chibambo
• Lonie Hon

Happy viewing!

Siobhan x

At last I’ve worked out how to post several pictures.

Enjoy!!!

Thanks week 4 group for making it an experience to enjoy. Siobhan (our project leader) what a star!

Oh dear - look what happens when one leaves their paint brush out during the lunch break! At least one mysterious child culprit will be able to continue the good work the BUPA volunteers started…

Happy birthday Man U and Mark!

That awful yellow gloss Andy talks about, but we still did a grand job on this door!

Auhn - what a delightful, happy, cheeky chappy

The mother of all water bomb fights - truly raised the sad atmosphere on our last night

I’m hundreds more pictures - happy to share on disc, just let me know.

Thanks Jules XX

Andy,
What an amazing blog, I was hooked reading every word. The pictures you’ve uploaded brought a lump to my throat as I sit here at my desk desperately trying to get back into the daily routine. I love the photo of Auhn sitting on top of the parrot, what a superstar! I miss him and the others so much.

Like so many have said before me, things now seem so trivial on our return. Getting home to unopened bills and trawling through the work emails it really is a struggle. However, I had the perfect text message yesterday off Ben Sutton from week 3. It helped me enourmously and may help those others of you that are finding being back tougher than you expected.. “Keep your chin up and remember, without being at work we can’t earn the money we need in order to go back!”

Enjoy every minute weeks 5 and 6 and keep writing as we all love to hear how you and the children are doing.

Love Siobhan x

Sa-wat dee (Thai for hello!)

It’s not often that I am lost for words but I have found it very difficult to write a blog this week so apologies that this is my first entry (and for its length). I have struggled to write a blog for fear of trivialising something very serious through platitudes, or over-dramatising something which, when you’re amongst it, feels very normal. And I think therein lies the problem – for something so extraordinary as Sarnelli House to me and the rest of my fellow volunteers, the life the children and staff at Sarnelli lead and the situation they find themselves in is so very ‘normal’!

When you’re in an extra-ordinary situation, surrounded by extra-ordinary people and children it’s hard to reconcile that with the routine the children have (which is probably very ordinary and mundane to them). Watching them return from school is a joy to behold. They get off the school bus, hang up their school rucksacks, take off their school uniforms (putting them in the washing basket), shower and get changed, have dinner, play some games or watch TV before going to bed. A similar routine to every kid in the UK including my own nephews (except that the children at Sarnelli do it with such discipline it’s remarkable). In fact, at first sight the only difference between these and other children is that after dinner these children will collect their own mug (neatly put away in a wood cupboard with each child’s name underneath), line up in perfect order and receive the AVR (anti-retroviral) drugs they need to manage their HIV/AIDS conditions. Without this task (which is seemingly insignificant to the children) their evenings would be very ordinary.

But there is so much which is extraordinary in their lives and you don’t always notice it. The fact that there are 60+ children living under the same roof, that none of these children live with their parents, the fact that many of the children have seen things that we’d find disturbing even imagining. This you don’t always notice because the children are happy, content, and set in a routine which gives them love and care.

This really is a remarkable place and I have been privileged to see it.

Now there are a few things I’d like to write but I haven’t got the ability to formulate them into coherent paragraphs and I don’t want to write history’s longest blog so I will keep the points short:

· Thanks to everyone who sponsored me and made it possible for me to come here. Your kind donations have been very well spent.

· Thanks to the group who I went with and Siobhan our leader. It’s been great working with and getting to know you all. What a journey…and I don’t just mean the travelling!

· Kids who are loved want Nintendo Wii’s (amongst other things). The kids at Sarnelli want love.

The simple pleasure they get from being hugged, picked up or holding your hand is similar to the feeling of being able to give someone you know the best present they’d ever wanted, a hundred times a day.

· One of the children (Palm) taught me to count to 100, say the months of the year and days of the week in Thai. I’ve never seen anyone so proud when I recounted what he’d taught me, shook his hand and called him my teacher (In Thai of course). He then dragged me around and made me perform my new trick in front of the staff and children at Sarnelli House. I’m not sure they have ever heard and Englishman count in Thai with a Geordie accent (and for some reason I couldn’t help adding a hint of French to some words!?!) No wonder they laughed.

· The man who set up and runs Sarnelli House (Fr Mike Shea) and all those who assist him have the face of God and I pray that He gives them strength, health and encouragement to continue their work.

· Something I have wanted to get off my chest as it has made me boiling mad all week. I am a practising Catholic and all the children go to a Catholic school run by nuns (children with HIV/AIDS aren’t allowed to attend state schools). The Catholic nuns have tried to stop some of the children going to school but if one of the children is removed all will be removed and they can’t afford that so they stay. This is outrageous, anyone coming to Sarnelli House will not fail to see that all the children there are all children of God and should be welcomed and treat as such.

· And finally, good luck to the following weeks (week 5 there now) and week 6 to follow. You will each have your own wonderful experience and I hope to share it with you when you’re back. Ps. The yellow gloss is a nightmare.

Best wishes,

Andy.

Well it’s Monday night now and I’ve been home since Saturday night. Still catching up on lack of sleep during the journey home. Spent today loading all my photos onto my pc and viewing the camcorder material and it’s if I’m still there, certainly wish I was anyway.This is been one major experience for me. Knowing how much the money raised is helping the children at Sarnelli, the work we have done in brigthening up their home and the joy we bought just by playing with them, cuddling them and bringing simple gifts. I met some great people in Thailand and worked with a good bunch in week 4.

The children were so grateful for what we are doing, they are always smiling and given their circumstances that brought them to the orphanage (their case studies make heart wrenching reading) this is one for kids in the UK to take heed. Just walking round Sainsbury’s shopping on Sunday and listening to whinging kids not getting their own way made me want to sit them down and tell them how life is for the kids at Sarnelli and to be more grateful what they’ve got.

The one major disappointment for me was not having Father Mike and Derek with us in week 4 due to other business that called them back to Pattaya. I feel we missed out on getting to talk and listen to this wonderful man and all that he has done. We did get to meet him on the day we left Nong Khai for about 15 minutes but there wasn’t the bond that I’m sure other groups formed with him. I did get handed a letter from Cebow though which he translated for me and left a lump in my throat. I am writing a letter to Cebow and sending it out with Dawn in week 6.

I am going to sponsor Cebow and hopefully if the uploading of my photos has worked you can see who she is.

I will definitely be going back to Sarnelli to see her and all the other children again and I want to thank BUPA for selecting me to take part and giving me this opportunity which so many other people would have wanted to do too.

Hope week 5 are enjoying the experience as much as all the rest of us clearly have and good luck to Dawn and all in week 6, which I suspect will be awesome being the last group to be there.

Thanks once again for everyone who sponsored me and continues to add to the JustGiving site.

Jules XXX

( Little oi the orphan i have decided to sponsor)

Back home in a so called civilised country greeted by my loving family and friends at Heathrow. The images from the past week were over shadowed by barging irate people tooting their horns to get somewhere they didn’t really want to go to.

Reflecting on the past week brings back memories I will never forget,the smiling faces of the children whom have no parents to come home to greet them with a smile and a hug . They all rely on each other for companionship as they are all in the same boat, most deserted by family and shuned by their villages for something they had no control over. All of the children with AIDS/HIV will at some point die in the future, some sooner than others , my eyes are filling up with tears writing this remembering the laughter and joy from each and every on of them apparently without a care in the world. At the least they are in a safe place now being looked after by some wonderful people,  namely Father Mike and his team.

Thanks to all the team on week 4 you all done a grand job, you were all a really good bunch and I will never forget the experience.

Special thanks to all the people who donated money to the project , I can confirm it has been well spent.

Many thanks to Community Connections for the chance to take part , it has taught me a lot .

All the best, a very emotional Martin Moran.

GOOD LUCK WEEKS 5 & 6

The last day in the orphange is pass so qucikly and today, we are going to leave here…

Its hard to say goodbye to the children as we were together and share a very precious moments with them for near a week. But times has to go just like life have to go. Its really bad time for the children, even for us. Although, much of toys, candies are giving to them after the ceremony, you will never feel that is enough for expressing your love to them. Tears dropping off from my eyes eventually but I don’t like the atomsphere like this. So lucky I am, the water bomb and the toys here helping us to go through the last moment with them.

Definitely, I miss the children very much. So, I decided to take parts in the sponsorship program with the children here. Actually, it is not much both for myself or the children, but I think its better than just doing nothing or thinking of what to do to them.

Finally, this will be my last post here and I just wanna to say a big thank you to the volunteers and the coordinator with me in this week. They all do a great jobs here with the children or to me also. Communication breakdown occurs sometimes for me as English not my primary language, but really enjoy the moment when we are together. (I even needs sometimes to call their name even the week is over, as I am too bad in name matching.)

I forget if there are any non English speaking volunteers will coming here for the next two weeks, but just wanna to let you know that I have a good time together. You won’t feels you are an outsider in the group.