BUPA 60th Thailand Challenge

Is it really the last day……it has gone so fast and doesnt seen 2 minutes since we arrived here in Nong Khai. Today is the day that we have to say goodbye to the children and carers at Sarnelli!! What will I take away from this truly amazing experience ….memories! filled with laughter and fun not only from my new found friends but from the children as well. If I could bottle the experience that I have had here and sell it then the children not only at Sarnelli but millions around the world would benefit from it.

They say ‘Home is where the Heart is’………it truly is here.

You may think all I say is great and happy about being at Sarnelli but it is. After arriving yesterday the group of us went back to the wall which when measured by Catriona and Ian was 100 meters! delighted to find it still standing we touched up and finished with great delight applying the yellow as a mark of respect for the King. Looks great and villagers arrived to take a look and express how good it looked.We were rewarded for our aches and pains by Tadum she is 15 years old. Little is known of her past but she was brought to Sarnelli in 2001 after her parents died and she was sold to a taxi driver, she is beautiful bright and intelligent and sadly 3 years ago went blind after a severe case of chicken pox. Her Grandmother taught her massage and she has the most amazing strengh in her hands. One by one in we went and she sang softly the whole way through. Group split after lunch and I stayed with Tracey Pauline and Pam we tackled the main gate and finished the day helping to put the new plants in which, the rest of the team had been to purchase at the garden centre. Finished the day at good old Tesco buying the delights for the party we are having Thursday evening. All of us know we are going to be sad at leaving I also know we are all committed to remaining in contact with Father Mike and Sarnelli in whatever and however small a way we can as we know anything we can give or do will benefit. xx

First job this morning was to check over the wall to make sure that everything was just right. I was not surprised that everything was just hunky dorey- Not that I expected anything else 6 OCD BUPA painters had tackled it, The wall is approximately 100 metres long, as the day went on it was 500mtrs, then 1 mile by the weekend and the return journey home it will be a 26mile marathon. Whilst checking the wall a grandmother and son came over to see what we were doing she told us that we had done a beautiful job, then another lady came to tell us the same. It was nice to be stopped and told this, as those people were locals not people from Sarnelli. The task of painting a wall to brighten the house up went as far as to brighten up the locals in the community,

Next task was to rub down, wash then paint the gates. Gates are almost finished only the gold fiddely bits to do tomorrow.

Planted the plants next and the kids all came down to help us. The enterance looks grand.

What kind of group would we have been if we had not gone to TESCO! The journey was made and lots of things were bought, teddies, blankets, pens, paper and not to mention the obligatory sweets.

Tomorrow is our last day at Sarnelli and we have a few jobs to finish off.

I am sure it will be tough day tomorrow!

Cat

DHL not here as yet but I sure it will arrive Thur am.

Sawasdee Ka, in the middle now having the time of my life. Anyone out there not having done any thing like this ….. don’t be frightened it’s FAB If there’s anyone from week 6 reading don’t bring hairdryer - I’ve bought one in Tesco in Nong Khai for 3 quid am leaving with Jo. Enjoy ! a wee pressie from week 5. Have gotten so attached to the kids I’m now a member of the 3 degrees Oh-Ay and Aye and me Pauline. We’ve been singing dancing planting flowers working in the grounds - what a team. So for you guys coming next week don’t muscle in on my team because they’ll let me know by carrier pigeon. So anyone whose ready to come over then be prepared for an experience never to be missed. Have a ball. I know you will. P x

Weather has been beautiful today (& so far this week) just thought I’d mention it as haven’t so far and the sun lover in me needs to mention this even though haven’t been in the sun at all but it is lovely and warm. Got the horrible rusty gate re painted black today (gold bits tomorrow) we thought big problem 2nd coat for sure but the amount of comments from the kids / wonderful carers / Father Mike about “beautiful beautiful” clearly it’s not as bad as we feared. Still the perfectionist in me wants to do a 2nd coat tomorrow as well as the gold. Lovely moment today when a car pulls up at the gates ” do you speak Thai” big rush to find someone who does, not sure exactly what was said between Thai speakers and visitors. But I sure could understand the ” Thankyou thankyou this is beautiful” to which I said “Thanks but we have to thankyou love this place” lady just hugged me and said “No we love you” don’t know who she or her husband were but wonderful ! Trip to garden centre successful, won’t say more but plants outside the gates look great and inside …….. already for next week. Su you’re a star, spoke to birthday girl, Jules thanks for comment will do (& you’re blog tonight great) there’s a queue so have to go lots of love Trace xx

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

We all arrived eagerly to start the 2nd day’s work - split into two groups. Spent the morning painting the heart of the house. I know my husband would be really proud to see me using a roller especially on the end of a long bamboo pole. The hardest part was white on white and after a few hours I became totally confused !! I then moved out with the girls onto the front perimeter wall entrance to Sarnelli House and the first thing all the visitors see. What a state it was in before we started today. The staff are amazing and are so delighted that we make a fuss of them and talk to them as well as the children they are so humble they also melt our hearts as much as the childrens. We worked throughout the day and finished the whole 100 metre wall (at least we’re going to measure it today) Photographs to prove it. The team are great and we’re all working together really well. Tracey is an absolute lunatic and the salt of the earth she runs around helping each and every one of us. At the end of the day when the majority of us could barely walk she was freaking out on the dance floor with the children. It was an absolute delight to see, persuaded me to get up and dance too ! More tomorrow xxxx

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