Songkran!

Songkran is the Thai new year and happens every April around 12-14th. The word is from Sanskrit and refers to the astrological passage of the sun into any sign of the zodiac. More interestingly, it is celebrated by mass water fights!

The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. However, now, people line the streets with buckets, fill pick ups full of water bins and spend two days getting each other thoroughly drenched. It's hilarious.

We rented a pick up for a couple of days, piled the kids in the back, tooled up with water pistols and joined in. Needless to say, as there are precious few farang in Chiang Rai, we became something of a target. And believe me, they don't just go for the people who are joining in! I headed out on my own on my bike to get dinner one night and was thoroughly soaked on the way into town. By the time I reached my destination, I was dripping wet, my African sandals had distintegrated so I was sort of hopping along the street and the restaurant I wanted to go to laughed at me and told me to sit on the wicker chairs. Ha.

Hilltribe visit

All the children at our center come from the hilltribes in the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. 

Most of our kids are from the Lahu tribe. The Lahu were originally hunters but now live an a mainly agricultural lifestyle - a mixture of cash crop and susbsistence. They clear forested areas of the hills and then plant them for crops.

Previously, they would then move on to another area after a while to allow the ground to recover, but movement such as this is now restricted by the Thai government so many areas are suffering from deforestation. About a third of Lahu are Christian from missionary activity and educational programs in the area. Lahu have their own language and culture - totally distinct from the Thai language and culture. This means for our kids Thai is their second language, English their third. It makes school for them pretty challenging - and communicating for us pretty entertaining!

A real problem for some of our children, is that because they were born in the borders, some of them can't prove which country they are from. Their families don't always have the necessary papers for them and can't exactly say where they were living at the time. Many of our children have their birthday on January 1st because they don't know when exactly they were born. Without this information they are not recognised as Thai citizens, which means that later in life they can't open bank accounts, buy houses, obtain passports...

Some of our children so have family members - maybe one parents is alive, or they have aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters who they go and stay with in the school holidays. The hill tribe people and children are particularly vulnerable to the problems of sex trafficking and prostitution and so one or two of our children are staying at the center because their parents felt it safer for them to be here than to be exposed to those dangers in their village.

Chiang Rai

So this is my new home!

 IHF Chiang Rai is much smaller than IHF Kenya. It's home to 16 children - most of whom are in their teens. The kids all come from the hilltribes in the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Most of them are from the Lahu tribe - which has it's own language and customs very separate to the language and customs of Thailand. For our children, Thai is their second language, English their third - so communication with westerners is difficult!

The center is richer than the center in Kenya. As there are fewer children it's less of a challenge making sure all are sponsored and so the center has a big enough budget to afford everything it needs. Also, as Thailand is a tourist and backpacker destination, the center is very popular with short term volunteers which helps both in terms of income and workforce!

Chiang Rai itself is a decent sized town with shops like Boots and EVEN a Tesco lotus. My head nearly exploded in Boots when I first arrived. I just needed to buy some soap. I walked into Boots and it was basically a shop full of soap. Even after only a month in Kenya I had been so used to not having choice or access to luxuries. A shop full of soap was a little much to cope with. Thankfully it was a few weeks before I ventured into the new shopping center not far from the center which has a Maccy Ds and a Starbucks...