Project Term 2016: Ricefields, Monks, and Smiling Children: Nong Khai Boys Home

Our first planned activity on Saturday morning was a visit to Nong Khai Boys Home, an orphanage for about 120-130 boys, aged 6-18. We would likely spend our time with the younger boys, as the older one usually have things to do - the objective is training and educating these boys so that they can find jobs and housing in villages.

The Boys Home is near the Laos boarder, so in addition to taking care of their own children, the institution also takes care of boarder children. We arrive about 9:30 and were greeted as soon as we drove through the gate by boys of all sizes. It was a bit overwhelming. We had just spent a day with 30 Thai school children. This seemed impossible. How would we ever be able to love all these children.

Dazed, we got out of the song-taew and were greeted by the Head of the Home. He was casually dressed and seemed to very much love the children, and they, him. We gathered our "donations" from the back of the truck that joined us with familiar faces from the staff and headed to make the delivery.

The first was the delivery of 2000 fish for their fish farm. They raise their fish in an enclosed cement "pond", so to speak. In fact, we put all 2000 fish in to one giant "tub". There were two others filled with water, and when asked why not those, we soon learned that the fish in the other two were of two different sizes. They keep the fish segregated by size so that the little fish have a better chance of surviving. We also brought three bags of fish food.

Next, the group of boys that had assembled and remained with us took us around back. There we found 50 holes, each with a small plant next to it. We would be planting 50 papaya plants for the boys. They would water and take care of them. Like the fish, within about 3 months, the boys would be able to eat the fruit from the trees. We found that hard to believe, but perhaps the extremely warm weather helps to facilitate their growth.

After planting, the boys took us to a large, open are space that looked like an assembly or gathering hall. Organized chaos reigned, as boys chased boys and ASH/Rustic girls chased boys and laughter was heard throughout the space. As Chris had told us, these boys want to be loved, and there was plenty to go around.

Soon, Mr. T (he is a leader where ever he goes) got everyone's attention and organized us into a giant duck, duck, goose game. After a quick reminder not to touch the boys' heads, we were off. Mrs. Wilcox found herself in the "pot", only to be released by Chris. It seems these boys are very quick.

While we were playing, a group of, presumably, university students arrived, giggling, to deliver snacks to the boys. Well, they were so taken by our blonde haired girls, that before a single snack was delivered, the university students were posing with Chloe and Jeannie and several others. It was pretty funny.

Mr. T organized the boys so that they would file up to receive a drink, jello, cookies, chips.... some of the boys were leaving with their shirts filled with snacks. The whole thing was a big success, and the University professors actually thanked us for allowing them to serve.

We decided on a giant soccer match on the big field, but after just a couple of runs up and down the field, the morning turned into a dance party in the song-taew. The boys know a lot of words to popular Thai tunes!

Before we knew it, our time was up. We said quick good-byes, and the boys scurried away. It was like magic - poof - leaving us standing, wondering what had just happened. There were several comments of wanting to stay longer or come more often, but Chris reminded them that our time was to have done just what we did - make the boys laugh and smile.