A Day in a New Old Life

Hey!!

Today was the day I was waiting for. We had our awareness tour today and saw some absolutely amazing things. We started off the day by going to see the Golden Triangle. This is where Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos all meet! After that we went to an Opium museum and learnt all about its how the people used it: including the best position, the different types of pipes, how it can be used in morphine and heroine, and the consequences for using it. After the museum we went to what I considered my favourite part of the day: we went to a temple. This temple is for Buddhism and Burmaism. In here we learnt what the different poses mean and why people go to them. For example, one pose means teaching and another means control. After walking around the pagoda we asked the monk some questions. Following this he blessed each and every one of us and told us that beauty is in everything. When he blessed my hand he was encouraging all of the bad and evil problems to leave my body and then put a white bracelet on my wrist. It was so enlightening and interesting to learn about the culture in Thailand. One of the main things they focus on is embracing sacrifice. With our religion we always see sacrifice as a problem and as negative, where they actually encourage us to dig deep and figure out where that sacrifice can lead you in the future.

The Golden Triangle:

In the afternoon we met Kru Nam, the founder of the orphanage we will be working in. She told us the amazing story of how she went about finding the orphanage. At first she was focused on art and making money which drastically changed when she realized there were people in her own country eating from garbage and struggling each and every day. With this she decided to help the children of her country. She found out that the largest HIV outbreak was in Chiang Mai, not far from where we are now. Kru Nam began to show the children art and realized how happy it made them. It brought meaning and worth to their lives, which was so inspiring. She then realized that she can use her art to help other people and focused on opening up the orphanage and allow children an opportunity to get off the streets. She noticed that taking the children away was not necessarily a good thing since they were a source of income to the family so she offered help to the mothers as well. This has allowed the children to receive education, some even post-secondary which is absolutely incredible.

Kru Nam is my hero. She is exactly the person I needed to meet in order to be inspired again and realize that I can make a difference. She struggled with how overwhelming it can be to help such a huge issue but never gave up and now has over 100 children in the orphanage. Kru Nam is without a doubt a hero. She is so beautiful and genuine and so selfless in every action she does. I cannot wait to continue working alongside her for the next couple of days.

Our projects for this week are working on the chicken/pig pen, working around the playground, and if time painting in the nursery! We finally met the kids today, they are all so beautiful and full of life. It's amazing to see them so happy and actually enjoying life as a child. What struck me most about today and which will continue to strike me throughout the trip is when I was sitting in the orphanage today... I was playing with a kid and then we stopped and I sat there alone, I looked up each child and thought to myself: I don't know what any of you have been through... and all I could think of was the worst. So many of these children have been sexually exploited, and they range from 3 months old to 19. It really does show you to never judge a book by its cover and that everybody has a story. It encourages me to treat everybody with respect and dignity- because that's exactly how everybody should feel- wanted and loved, no matter what. I cannot wait to learn more and more about the children as the trip goes on, they are all so inspiring in their own unique ways!

I titled my blog "A Day in a New Old Life" because of all of the memories that came pouring back to me from my previous trips. The happiness within children, the inspiration among people like Kru Nam, it reminds me so much of why I come back on these trips and I love it- I never want it to go away. Although Thailand is different in terms of culture and our project, it still has the same hope and love as any other country I have been to. I love the life here and look forward to experiencing it over the next week

Tomorrow is our first work day! I will hopefully have a blog up tomorrow evening explaining how amazing and awesome it was :)

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

I love and miss you all!

xxoo

B

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle"




P.S. until I learn to rotate pictures.. I am sorry :)

Opium Flowers

Big Buddha :)