the MEKONG mission
Thursday, January 10, 2008
view from the back of a motorbike
On Tuesday (8th Jan), we had devotions, and enjoyed our last buffet breakfast in the Thong Tarin Hotel in Surin. We set off for the Cambodian border in our van. When we got there, we passed Cambodian immigration. At the Cambodian side, we set off to a nearby village on motorbikes! That was a really fun trip, except for the part where Danica and Hazel were on a bike by themselves and the driver drove us almost the whole way to the village, and then suddenly turned back because he said our passports were stuffed up. Fortunately, they met Acharn Chan Chai (a pastor from Surin we were travelling with), who cleared everything up for them, and they were safe to go back on the motorbikes and be driven to the village.
When we got there, many of us were overwhelmed at the amount of kids that were present. We were expecting about 100 kids, but over 300 showed up. These kids were really different to the Thai kids. We realized that these kids had no food, clothes, or money to buy toys. These Cambodian kids were far poorer than the Thai kids. The Cambodian kids were much rougher. They would talk and snatch things much more that the Thai kids would. So, we were a bit amazed at the difference it made, just across the border. We ran a kids program, where we sang songs, played pass the parcel and gave out lollies to the kids there. We also gave them lunch (provided by the church in Surin) and blankets (the ones we raised funds for at Christmas) to their families. The poverty of these kids and families really struck many of us, and made us think about how lucky we were to be in Australia. JuLee gave some medical advice to the medical guy there (who wasn’t even a doctor!), and helped him with diagnosing some villagers.
We also saw some kids at the Cambodian/Thai border who were very poor, and possibly orphans. They would offer you their service of holding the umbrella over your head, in exchange for 1baht. These kids were really dirty, smelly and scrawny. Off to the side of the immigration offices, you could see a few kids looking through a pile of rubbish. These kids were looking for food, and possibly anything they could sell. These kids would come up to you, and ask for money. We ended up giving them lollies. These kids touched many of us, and really showed us how lucky we are, yet again.
After this kids ministry, we took the motorcycles back to the Cambodian/Thai border, and drove back to Surin where we once again enjoyed the yummy food of “the Bowl”. Then, we drove for five hours all the way to Mukdahan (near the Lao border). There, we found our hotel, had dinner at another night market, this time near the Mukdahan town hall. We all tried to fall fast asleep (which all of us eventually did), while outside, we could hear very, very LOUD drunken people partying and singing “happy birthday!”.
When we got there, many of us were overwhelmed at the amount of kids that were present. We were expecting about 100 kids, but over 300 showed up. These kids were really different to the Thai kids. We realized that these kids had no food, clothes, or money to buy toys. These Cambodian kids were far poorer than the Thai kids. The Cambodian kids were much rougher. They would talk and snatch things much more that the Thai kids would. So, we were a bit amazed at the difference it made, just across the border. We ran a kids program, where we sang songs, played pass the parcel and gave out lollies to the kids there. We also gave them lunch (provided by the church in Surin) and blankets (the ones we raised funds for at Christmas) to their families. The poverty of these kids and families really struck many of us, and made us think about how lucky we were to be in Australia. JuLee gave some medical advice to the medical guy there (who wasn’t even a doctor!), and helped him with diagnosing some villagers.
We also saw some kids at the Cambodian/Thai border who were very poor, and possibly orphans. They would offer you their service of holding the umbrella over your head, in exchange for 1baht. These kids were really dirty, smelly and scrawny. Off to the side of the immigration offices, you could see a few kids looking through a pile of rubbish. These kids were looking for food, and possibly anything they could sell. These kids would come up to you, and ask for money. We ended up giving them lollies. These kids touched many of us, and really showed us how lucky we are, yet again.
After this kids ministry, we took the motorcycles back to the Cambodian/Thai border, and drove back to Surin where we once again enjoyed the yummy food of “the Bowl”. Then, we drove for five hours all the way to Mukdahan (near the Lao border). There, we found our hotel, had dinner at another night market, this time near the Mukdahan town hall. We all tried to fall fast asleep (which all of us eventually did), while outside, we could hear very, very LOUD drunken people partying and singing “happy birthday!”.
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