Guest Blog Post by Cecilia Langley, aka MOM! That’s it for ESPAGNOL! Stef apparently is tired of watching me either stare at the sights, sounds, and faces around me or slide the on switch on my kindle. She wants to see me write (and then, I imagine, she’s dying to see what I’ve written). Nosey, but she’s been like that ever since she was 4 years old and decided she didn’t need need my help or advice anymore. So here I am, on a hot as blazes afternoon, having strolled down the hill from the Children’s Home, which is now HER home, too, and sitting at the “bakery” doing Stef’s bidding. I really need to reposition the angle of the small fan on the wall behind me because I am steaming from all over.
This small village is not as quiet as Stef lead me to believe; Sanghklaburi, Kachanaburi Thailand is a hilly subtropical village that surrounds a lake, with a submerged ancient Buddhist temple, and is crossed by rivers and a famous wooden bridge. It is dotted with guest houses for travelers. The center of town, the market, is a 30 minute hilly walk from the children’s home. There, Stef can access the ATM for baht and shop for detergent, soap, cookies, stop for ice cream at the 7 eleven, say hello to the taxi drivers (they’re all small trucks with covered bench seats in the back, and they all know her), and other teachers and volunteers in Sanghkla.Western tourists are everywhere, from the tall blonde kid with too short shorts to the more mature world kayaker who apparently collapses his ten thousand dollar kayak and just travels the world’s waterways. The villagers themselves seem to ignore us = the foreigners, I swear the street dogs seem to take more notice of us.
After 25 years, every villager knows about Baan Unrak Children’s Home, its founder, Didi Demavala, and the other Didis (similar to nuns) who, along with a steady stream of volunteers run the school in town and help house, feed, educate, counsel, comfort 140 children. The home sits atop a hill overlooking the village. The girls concrete 3 story building has the nursery school on the bottom floor, young girls on the second and teenagers on the third. This is also where Stef and I sleep. It’s private enough, with a separate locked entrance and its own bathroom. No shower or tub, but yes to a toilet and sink. With a 30 gallon plastic can under a faucet, bathing isn’t hard – really! The boys building is newer and faces the tin and bamboo covered shed that houses 7 weaving looms run by the home’s care mothers. Every day, after school, I marvel at all the activity, boys and girls going in and out of the outdoor kitchen and eating area, the girls playing tag, kids on the newly donated playground slide, monkey bars and seesaw, a group here and there playing dress up with paper crowns, boys on a dusty soccer field kicking with flip flops or using these same flip flops for gloves when its their turn to play goalie.
Stef absolutely is content here, all I’ve heard from the other volunteers is how wonderful she is with the kids. Last night she was out after dark driving into the village to look for a couple of runaways. Actually, 3 kids were absent during the nightly gathering for singing and one was eventually found asleep in the boys dormitory under a sink. The other two had walked down the hill into the village and were brought back to their dorm.
Every morning, at seven the children gather in a big, airy room next to Stef’s and sing then go off to school by 7:20. If there’s no school then some kids will gather outside Stef’s window, 2 floors down, and shout STEF! STEF! We are here, STEF! It’s hilarious! We brought back some dulces mexicanos, just exactly what the kids like, kind of sweet but with chile, and it is slowly disappearing out the window.
Stef’s relationship with the children is like an older wiser sister or a younger more in tune teacher-counselor. Her relationship with the older Didis is just as positive, she is loved and respected here by them and her ideas as welcomed. It has to be a big reason she has committed to volunteering for two years. It still breaks my heart to leave her behind when I return to Miami, but I, too, will be content when I leave. Her work is important, she impacts the lives of homeless and orphaned children and tries to ensure that they will have a better life when they grow up, leave the home and become independent.
For anyone else who reads this:
- · The school is looking for teachers, for a 6 month commitment or longer
- · Go to the Baan Unrak weaving center and buy, the $$$ will be used by the home.
I went on one of the ISV trips with Stef 2 years ago. This is so beautifully written it takes me right back to Sanghklaburi, to the children's home, the market, the river. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did and great to hear Stef is staying on at Baan Unrak!
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