Super Sandy!

We were doing our normal walk to the market for dinner an hour ago and I spotted a group of about 10 boys getting off their motorbikes and one had a beer. I told Sandy to be careful. As we were walking by, some of the boys started to beat two of the boys...apparently we walked into a gang fight. What should we do:

A. Keep walking with our mouths shut
B. Keep walking and contact police officials (like they will care about a gang fight!)
C. Scream at them and start to tap the boy who is punching another boy with your umbrella

You can guess which choice our crime fighting friend took. Lucky, they were too busy beating each other to worry about us.

Too Good To Be True?

I had a few meetings with WorldVision this week. They have agreed to pay for 2 kids operations, possibly a woman's operation, schooling for hundreds of kids, clothing for hundreds and assisting with building a bathroom. It could be that all the big problems I was working on could be solved soon....or it could be too good to be true. Either way, a hopeful serious of events and some really nice people who work there.

Getting a little better

Sandy has been sick for a month now but is slowly getting over her dizziness. I have had a couple of small things that have kept me sick off and on... thankfully off right now.

An unwelcome visitor

Yesterday was incredibly hot so I was sitting in my underware cursing my laptop which is finally dying and in walks a man into my house...for the third time. He is the deaf and mute brother of the landlord. The first two times Sandy was home alone. As you might imagine I am concerned and at least a little angry. I scolded him (I know he is deaf and does not speak English but you got to do what you got to do!). Then, I scolded the landlord. We may move out.

I was talking to a friend and she told me about a 18 year old girl who was raped nearby last month. My friend said nobody responded to her screams and the police are not investigating because she is not Thai. Hard to believe, but there really is no justice here if you do not have Thai nationality.

I think it is safe here but I think if we stay in our house we will have to change the locks and always have the door locked.

Words of Wisdom

A very important monk in the area died 2 days ago. I went to the ceremony which runs over several days and will be attended by thousands of people. My friend was introducing me to the new head monk (she spoke Mon, a local language)...this is Steve, is volunteering to help people in the area, he is from America. The monk thought a minute. I was interested in hearing his words of wisdom. Then, he spoke. Fa translated...."He said American...you can fire guns there"; and that was that.

Still Dizzy

Sandy is still feeling dizzy so we went to St Louis Hospital in Bangkok because it is known to be the best hospital in the country. The hospital is quite modern and impressive. The doctor ran a few tests on Sandy and could not make a certain diagnosis, but thought she did not have anything serious and should just rest for a week or two. This, of course, is the remaining couple of weeks of her vacation. At least we know that it is nothing serious.

A'int no dental care here either!

A couple of friends told me the dentist in town is pretty good and I really needed to have crown replaced and a cavity filled. I went and after an hour and a half, they said I needed a root canal also (this was not a surprise). I decided to do it and after another hour and a half, they were finished...kind of. The dentist said, "I could only find 2 of the 3 nerves in your tooth. You will need to find a more skilled dentist in Kanchanaburi or Bangkok." The next day the temporary crown they put on broke.

Since they said it will take 3 or 4 trips, I decided to go to Kanchanaburi since it is only 3 hours away instead of 7 + to Bangkok. Unfortunately, the dentist who can do this work there is out of the office for several more days. Luckily, I have no pain.

Two steps forward, one back in some crap

I have been working with a very poor children's home...no money for food, clothes, education sanition. It has been very difficult because the kids do not have Thai nationality and few are concerned with kids who are in the area illegally.

There has been a lot of progress on all of the issues in the last couple of weeks. I had a big break through on education when I got the support of the local government including the headmaster of the primary school, to let the small children go to the local school (which the law requires but is not permitted anyway). That is until a few days later when the headmaster went to the temple and told the monk that he did not want the kids in the school. I am guessing that he is short on resources and is worried that these kids will not stay in Thailand and will not benefit his community in anyway.

I decided to play stupid (quite easy for me!) and act like I did not know what the headmaster wanted. I am going to try to talk about ways I can help him. I am going to suggest that only kids who are permanently living at the home go to his school. I also have a meeting to find a way to allow kids to go into various grades instead of all of them going into grade one as currently policy requires.

Maybe not so lucky

Cho Cho Aye, the girl who was getting the heart operation, is not quite as lucky as I thought. The operation was to begin yesterday morning (as I mentioned). The doctor did a final exam and said that he could not do the surgery...she needs open heart surgery instead. Of course everyone is very disappointed and the girl is a scared. The operation costs $10,000 instead of 7,000. We are trying to find the money, if we do not, she dies within a year or two according to the doctor.

A little girl in heart surgery

We have become friendly with a family. Nice folks. Very poor. The second youngest girl is 16 years old has a smile that lights the room. She also has a severe heart condition. The doctors told her she would die soon with out an operation. Poor and sick is not a good combination here. Our friend Fa found a donor to pay for the heart operation (costs $7,000 US). I got a message just now that she just went into surgery. Most kids would have ended up dying here in the same situation. If the surgery is succesful, mark one in the poor, sick and kind of lucky column.

Dizzy girl

Sandy has been sick with a viral infection in her ear for 12 days. It is not serious, just causes dizziness. The doctor mentioned in the previous post said to just rest. A friend had something similar and it took a few weeks to get over it completly. The timing is good because she does not miss class because the kids are on holiday. It is not good because we were going to travel.

Devil Eyes

Sandy and I have been sick most of the last week; Sandy with dizziness and me with red eyes and a low grade fever. Some people believe that you can get the red eyes by looking at someone who has it, so it was quite cute to see the kids cover their eyes as a precaution when they saw me.

There is a Chrisitian hospital about 30 minutes from here which, given it's limited facilities, is really good at giving basic care. Sandy and I went there yesterday and were seen by a volunteer doctor from Crofton Maryland, USA... just 20 minutes from my parents home. The total cost of seeing both of us and two prescriptions was $2.50.

I am especially hopefully that we will be well soon since Sandy has time off and I am hoping we can travel during this time.