Tis the season…for Christmas Parties…

Last Sunday will go down in my memory as one of THE BEST days I have had since I came to Thailand. Each year DR plans a Christmas Party for all of the children in our care.  This year all of our girls from Burma, Laos, Bangkok and Chiang Mai were brought to Chiang Rai to join in the celebrations with our rescue girls and prevention kids and all our staff.  This in itself was no mean feat but ever so important in enabling our girls especially to spend time with others that have shared similar experiences.I remember “breaking-up days” (not the end of a relationship ones but the last day of the school year) and the fun and excitement of relay races and games that used simple materials with a prize for every player.  Of good “old fashioned” fun…with not an electronic device or remote control in sight. .. of laughing at how hard it is to run with your legs to tied to someone else’s…of how hard it is to move in a sack…of what a rotten shot I  am at knock ems!!!!!

Our Thai staff created the most amazingly well organised and fun day for everyone despite the torrential rain of the previous two days.  In fact they turned even this into a way to have fun with this as our first relay event…

What’s a little water on our playing field huh?????

So let’s turn getting rid of it into a game!!!!

Everyone was given a team colour and we all got quickly into the spirit of things!  The blue team (mine) really didn’t perform too well but we certainly tried our hardest.  Although Joy was in the red team and not happy with me for not being in her team we did manage to spend most of the day together.

Who in their right mind wouldn’t put me in the red team???

Apart from relays the staff had set up 8 games stations…things like knock ems and hoops over bottles and basketballs and buckets.  Simple games that children of all ages (including the big kids like me) could have a go at and everyone who tried got a prize.  Between Joy and me we filled a whole plastic bags with chips, lollies, drinks and treats.

Everyone’s a winner!!!

 

Lunch for over 400 people was effortless.  Actually everything that day seemed effortless…no fighting…no kids crying…everyone participating…healthy competition and rivalry…great team spirit…perfect.

We even found time for Joy and Gracie to Skype again and share a few special moments.  Gracie had practiced saying “I love you” in Thai, which brought a huge smile to Joy’s face.  Our connection wasn’t great and Gracie wasn’t feeling well but at least they were able to spend a little time together before Christmas.  I really love watching them together!!!!

We had soccer and volleyball finals to watch in the afternoon and then  the most delicious pork bar-b-cue for dinner.  The evening was spent being entertained by groups from each of our projects.  My girls had complained the previous night that they had no time to get an item ready…all they do is work, work, work and sleep.  Well I swallowed this story hook, line and sinker and spent the night agonising over the injustice and feeling guilty that I hadn’t made some provision for them.  Imagine my surprise when not one but TWO groups of my girls performed the most beautiful dance routines to entertain the crowd.  Now I would have taken photos but someone (little and dressed in red) flattened my phone battery!!!!!  One group wore their new work uniforms which just goes to show how proud they are of them.  The other group wore tutus made from small plastic takeaway bags (hmmmm none left in the storeroom at the café but you have to be impressed with their resourcefulness and creativity!!!) and danced a lovely contemporary styled routine.  Both were to be a surprise for me…a special Christmas gift that I will never forget.

Last night our café and salon girls celebrated Christmas after we had closed for the night.  We had food and drinks, henna tattooing, nail art and Christmas crafts and of course PRESENTS!!!!  Just like my kids would do, every present under the tree was shaken, listened to and its contents guessed at.  Just like little children they excitedly ripped off the wrapping on their gifts.  They had all purchased a gift of at least 200 Baht ( around AUD $7) to swap and then Stephanie and I gave them individual gifts.

Ready to party!!!!

Our Christmas tree

Only Mrs Claus can spoil a group pose

Pansar enlists the guys to paint her nails….brave move

Revenge is sweet!!!!

Beautiful henna tattoos by my friend Mint

 

The girls head off for holidays today and tomorrow and, whilst I know they are tired and in need of a  break, I know that it is certainly a well earned one.  The last six months in the café have seen many changes most of  which are of my doing.  The girls have worked  hard and had to adapt to new ways of doing things. We are moving forward and I know we are on the right track , not just with the café, but also more importantly, with the girls themselves….how they are healing and maturing’ how open and loving they have become.. how damn funny they are!!!  I have come to love these beautiful young women dearly and I will miss them over the next 11 days (and worry about them too).  I know this love is returned which makes my time here so incredibly special.

Merry Christmas and thank you for sharing my journey thus far!!!!!

Love and hugs

Kerrie

 

 

 

 

Miranda’s Gift…

My dear friend AnnA has the most beautiful daughter, Miranda (actually she has a lovely husband, son, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, grandson and granddaughter but this story is just about Miranda).  Recently Miranda celebrated a milestone birthday…the big three oh!!! (Oh how I wish!!!) Anyway… this special birthday was celebrated in AnnA’s  spectacular garden and her guests were asked, in lieu of gifts, to make a donation to the work of Destiny Rescue. Guests were able to learn more about Destiny Rescue on the day and I even managed to Skype into the party!!!

I was entrusted with the proceeds to do whatever I felt was needed most in the café to support the girls.  The challenge then to decide on what  to choose as we have so many needs and so little in the way of finances to make a reality of our “wish list” items.  At then end of the day I decided to focus on what would impact most on my girls…and that certainly wasn’t a new freezer , mix master or food processor!!!

Since my first day in the café the girls have been complaining about their uniforms.  In their culture you only wear all black to a funeral.  They were tired of comments from stallholders in the market about whose funeral they were going to and therefore they wouldn’t go to do their daily shops without a jacket or other shirt over the top.  Whilst some may see this as just teenage girls having a bit of a whinge, I respect the cultural differences that exist and had promised the girls to come up with something new for them.

What better use of Miranda’s gift then to help my girls feel great (and look fantastic) about working at Destiny Café!!!  Our café has a very specific colour palette so we needed to find something that would compliment this. After some research and consultation with the girls we finally settled on a design for something very different to what we had.  Gone are the faded black screen printed t-shirts…the funeral clothes.

Introducing the new-look for Destiny Café…

My girls look stunning…and they know it!!!!!!!!  No more covering up to go to the market, in fact they were delighted to report that people had told them how beautiful they looked when they went to buy our fruit and vegetables.  Feeling proud of how they look has also had an impact on how professionally they deal with our customers…an added and unexpected bonus.  They are more confident and obviously so proud of wearing this uniform.

It is freezing cold at the moment ( 5 and 6 degrees in the mornings when I ride to work) so I have also bought stylish black jackets for our front-of-house staff to wear.  These are currently being embroidered so hopefully we can have these for January when it is likely to be just as cold.  Our cooks are waiting on their special chef’s coats which are being made in January.  They  are all keen to look as good as the girls out the front do.

Thank you Miranda for turning 30 and having such a generous and loving heart.  Your gift has made my girls look and feel fabulous…what greater gift is there for girls who have been convinced that they are worthless.  Every time I am at the café and I am watching my girls at work I am reminded of Miranda’s Gift.  Thank you also to everyone who gave so generously that day. You might not know my girls, or much about the lives they have led, but trust that every act of kindness they receive shows them that they are loved and that there are people in the world who genuinely care.

Our media department has just released the following video…grab a hanky!!!!

https://vimeo.com/80625118

Love and hugs,

Kerrie

And so this is Christmas

Thinking about the orphans that we have in the care of DR and how we try to make Christmas as special and filled with love and laughter as possible it occurred to me that this year I will be an orphan at Christmas for the first time in my life.  That being said, I am not alone though, as I have made amazing friends here and those special people (including my girls at the café and Joy) make up my “family” here.  My friend Tracey and I had decided that we would spend Christmas together.  Both mums, divorced, 51 years old, come from Maleny, living in Thailand, working for DR…we have a lot in common.  Tracey is the artistic & creative one, she is our writer for DR, and I am the organised one (or organising I am not too sure) apparently.  In other words our personalities are pretty compatible and we have a lot of laughs together.

Creative + Organised
(hairstyles by Joy)

Recently Tracey spent time traveling with our media team to the red light districts of Pataya and then the rescue projects in Cambodia and the slums in Phnom Penh.  Her experiences in the slums were particularly impacting on her and I have loved listening to her stories of the beautiful people she spent time with there….mainly the women and children… and how meeting them has changed her life…

Through a series of chance meetings… someone who knows someones…. and good old Mr Google …we have changed our plans for our orphans Christmas in 2013. Instead of our original plan to spend a few quiet days in Phayao we are off to the big smoke…Bangkok…to volunteer in the Khlong Toey slums with the most inspirational Australian nun, Sister Joan Evans.  Sister Joan runs an organisation that provides uniforms, books and shoes for the slum children so that they can attend school.  She also has the “Milk Run” which is designed to provide formula milk (extremely expensive in Thailand) to the young mother’s in the slums.  The babies were suffering badly from malnutrition as they were being fed the froth off the boiled rice (all carbohydrate) and nothing else.  She has to cut the top off the packets so that they cannot be sold on the black market to ensure that the babies are the ones benefitting from this project.

My family had always supported the local Christmas appeal to provide food hampers for needy families in Biloela so it was with delight that Mr Google lead me straight to the appeal that Sister Joan has for Christmas and New Year of Family Food Parcels.  Now what better gift can I give my family in Australia than knowing that each of them has provided one family living in the slums with some essential items for Christmas?  Not only that but Tracey and I fly to Bangkok on December 22nd to give Sister Joan a hand to prepare and distribute these in the lead up to and on Christmas Day.  She is just so excited that we are coming!!!  I know in my heart that if I can’t be with my family this Christmas then I am happy to be helping to make other families lives a little easier during this time.

So from being inspired by Tracey’s experiences in the slums of Phnom Penh to being inspired by the work of Sister Joan our Christmas is going to look a little different this year.  If  you want to read/see more about  Sister Joan please visit her website at    http://www.sisterjoan.info/home.htm

Here’s to making a difference wherever and whenever you can!

Love and hugs

Kerrie

My special girls

For those that have followed this blog it is no surprise that I consider Joy to be someone incredibly special…and therefore dear to my heart.  It is becoming clear to me that there are also girls at the café that share this place.  I love all of my girls, that goes without saying, however it is becoming increasingly apparent that some of my girls need more loving and care than others.  Gunya is one such girl.

Gunya has made many friends at the café although she is awkward in social contexts.

You will have read that Gunya defied her parents by returning to the café to work…but that is sooooo yesterday’s news.  So much seems to happen here in such a short space of time, and with 15 girls in the café alone it can be hard to keep up with it all (especially if you don’t speak the language and are therefore clueless as to the meaning of the  daily conversations in the café amongst the girls (and their house mums!!!!)  So…since my last blog, Gunya’s parents have threatened to sell her into marriage to an older man in Burma who has just lost his wife.  She is just SIXTEEN YEARS OLD!!!!! For a Burmese man to pay for a bride it is usually an indication that he is a drug dealer(they are the only people with money in Burma) and this terrified us.  Gunya’s parents threatened to disown her if she didn’t do what they asked.  So not only has this girl been abused by her parents, and trafficked to the sex trade she has now been manipulated/threatened by her parents to be sold into marriage or disowned.  I struggle with just how much abuse and abandonment this precious girl is expected to handle.  I rage at the culture and circumstances that force these decisions on mere children. I think about the more safe and carefree life that my children had at this age…

We suggested that Gunya not go home for her last days off…my fear of course being that we wouldn’t see her again and that her parents would have her married and living in Burma before we could blink.  Fortunately she heeded our advice and stayed put but she looked like death warmed up.  More counselling sessions revealed that Gunya had stood up to her parents and refused  the marriage.  For all of her vulnerability, Gunya has the most amazing inner strength.  I know she loves being a part of our café family however, she still, despite all odds, loves her family too. I wonder at the toll it takes on her to stand strong against the wishes of her parents?????

With the café  closing for 11 days over Christmas and New Year and most of our girls heading home during this holiday time, Gunya’s situation again raises some concerns and dilemmas.  That she has options is important…she has a choice.  I presented our proposed options to her, stay with DR Thai staff, stay with falung volunteers, stay with one of the house mums, or come with me to Bangkok.  I know Gunya has a fierce sense of pride and never wants to be a burden on anyone and I pray that this is not the reason she has decided to go home during this time.  She says that her parents will not try to sell her off or force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do…she wants to go and help on the farm and help her little sister with the house work.  There is no joy in her decision though…just a look of resignation that unsettles me.  One thing I have learned is that my “mothering instincts” or “intuition” regarding Gunya are not to be ignored.

I have asked Gunya to consider all of her choices and let me know if she changes her mind…even if it is the day we close the café.  I have also secured a promise that she will contact one of the rescue team or me should ANYTHING at all happen to her while she is in the village…and I mean ANYTHING.  Our team will act quickly to remove her from harm if she needs us.

And then there is little Joy, still not fully recovered and back to her bossy, happy little self.  We managed to set up a Skype call between Gracie and Joy and, despite the poor connection (sound fading in and out…mostly out),  these two little girls finally got to “meet face-to-face”.  Joy was captivated by Gracie, looking to me for confirmation that this really was her special friend in Australia.  I had a tear in my eye as she gently touched the screen of my phone where Gracie’s face was… and then a smile as she watched as Gracie’s little brother almost climbed through the screen to get to her.  This is technology at its absolute best!!!!!  Gracie’s concern was that she can’t speak Thai and tell Joy that she loves her. A quick email fixed that and Gracie is practicing for our next Skype chat (hopefully next weekend!!!)

Our shared lunch after church. She ate the lot…way too spicy for me!!!

Today we celebrated Christmas at church with gift giving, carols (at least I think they were) and a shared meal.  Next Saturday all of DR in Thailand, Burma and Laos will come together at Barn Mai for our huge Christmas fun day.  I am hoping to make this little girl feel very special and loved, along with the other girls that have a special place in my heart (it is a good thing I have a big one!!!!)

Posing for the camera!!!! Now that is MY Joy.

Pure Joy!!!!

Love and hugs,

Kerrie