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...

Breaking up with 20 people in the same evening

After a month in Kenya, I'm transferring to Thailand. A bit of a surprise but exciting none the less. I prepared by talking to my colleagues in Thailand, finding out about the center there, trying to get as much work done as possible to cover my travel days and of course the inevitable packing.

What I didn't prepare for was leaving the children.

I was only in Kenya for one month so I assumed that the children (even the 20 girls in my dorm) wouldn't be too surprised or sad at me leaving. Volunteers come and go all the time at IHF so I thought they would be used to people coming in and out at the center. I was wrong. Some of them were really angry with me, and the rest of them were really upset.

Chelatan spent the whole evening with tears in her eyes, Chembalau wouldn't really talk to me. I didn't appreciate how important love and affection is to these kids - and how much they rely on the stability on someone's continued presence in their lives. I think I allowed myself to forget that they don't have anyone else.
Thankfully, Madie arrived in the dorm to hang out the last evening I was in Kenya so the general depressed mood was lifted by general mucking around - including games that my family will recognise as being reminiscent of Sisters-de-McKeon action. Hearing the sound of giggles was a big relief.


- flying Chemongot...

Keeping clean in Nakuru

So, one of the theories about the name "Nakuru" is that it's derived from tribal words meaning "swirling dust". This would make a lot of sense. It's a pretty dusty place. Everything is coated in a layer of dust. You step outside and after a few minutes you are covered in it. You would think that you'd need hot showers three times a day to cope with this. However, you quickly learn how to keep clean with the resources you have available....

Kenyan cuisine

Food is important to me. There's not much I don't like about food. So when the type and quantity of food I am able to eat is restricted, I turn from a food enthusiast to a food obsessive. So here is a blog all about Kenyan food.

In the morning, the kids have tea for breakfast. We have tried many times to persuade them we should spend the money on porridge instead but they have none of it. They are determined that they have sweet kenyan tea (brewed with loads of sugar) with loads of sugar as their morning  intake.

As a result, I nip over the road to a little shack by the factory and grab a bag of mendazi for 20KES (about 15p). They're like doughnut-type things and you get five in a bag. I have managed to eat all five in one go, which left me in quite a lot of pain but was pretty enjoyable.

Lunch at the center is githeri - maize and beans in a soupy kind of thing. It's pretty uninteresting but hey, it's protein. Dinner is ugali - which is made from maize flour - and is sort of like a palenta-type substance. We have it with cabbage or kale (althernate day). Thankfully it gets quite addictive, which is just as well when you eat it every day.

I'm very grateful that I bascially enjoy any food and the only thing I draw the line at is beetroot (not come across any beetroot in Kenya) as it makes eating the same, tasteless food every day much easier. However, I spent the last six months in England eating fantastic food - including a final meal at a delicious chinese featuring crispy fried fillet steak. It was a long way to fall. I blame Griff...

As a result, I've found that I've turned into one of those grim westeners who go to a different country and only want to eat their own rubbish food. I crave burgers, pizzas, big blocks of processed cheese, chunks of stodgy bread and potatoes. However, my occasional treats are more general on the healthy side as the one food stuff that is amazing in Kenya is fruit. Kenyan mangoes at the most delicious mangoes I've ever had. They're 20KES each, really big, really juicy and completely amazing and to be honest make the endless days of ugali totally bearable....

A quick tour of IHF Kenya

So here's a little video I made...