I hope you all enjoyed last week’s video and photo update. Here’s more:

There are forty-one children at Future Light Children’s Home. We spent the morning playing games and doing art activities. The kids never grew tired of running around or hanging out with their new friends from Bangkok. Had any of them truly been tired, they surely would have been enthusiastically replaced by another brother or sister. By mid afternoon the play time had been converted into a group effort to do chores. The combination of the chores and the stifling Mae Sot heat made the kids yearn to go bathe in the nearby river.

“You know before the water is blue. But today, the water bad. Very brown. The rains not come.” This observation from one of the older boys didn’t seem to disparage his younger siblings at the orphanage. They had already jumped into the river from the rocky shore of the muddy Irrawaddy, not hesitating to begin bathing and playing. I looked up at the movement across the waters, examining the boats who were loudly vacillating between Thailand and Burma. The children, like the boats, are caught in a stateless limbo because of decades of conflict in Burma and Thailand’s muddy policy on refugees and migrants.

The children get three meals of day. A basic meal made of mostly rice and the vegetables that they grow behind the house. So when evening finally came I grinned and proposed to the house dad, Goin, that we sneak away right before dinner and get ice cream for all the kids. He agreed and off we went on his motorbike speeding towards town, but stopping once for gas just outside of Mae Sot. We took off once again to hunt down a bucket sized quantity of vanilla-raspberry swirl ice cream, but the bike stopped again–this time unexpectedly. Mai pen rai–or ‘nevermind’ in Thai I thought. We will work something out I rationed. Maybe someone will offer us a ride I thought, still being hopelessly optimistic. I will just call my team back at the orphanage to pick us up.

No, no, and no answer.

A mile later, still walking alongside the busted motorbike we had almost reached a bike shop that was already closed.

If nothing else was in our favor, the fact that a shop with a tub of ice cream was still open when our taxi arrived brought relief. Goin and I walked back in through the orphanage gates two and a half hours later. Everyone had already forgotten about dinner and kids had gathered singing and dancing their hearts out before bed (see a brief video clip here). Preoccupied with their singing, they didn’t notice the ice cream, the missing bike, or the overwhelming sense of relief we felt upon returning.

That night we scooped ice cream into cones, bowls, cups, and finally bare hands as kids made their second and third rounds for the treat. I can’t recall an instance where ice cream ever tasted so good, nor where the joy it spread was so abundant.

Feels great to have had the opportunity to spend with the kids of Future Light. This week we will be donating $1000 to them on behalf of the Cyril Duncan Siam Children’s Foundation. They are currently rebuilding their house and school and could use the support. If you want more info on making a donation yourself or voluntouring at Future Light you can contact them on facebook (or by emailing futurelightkids@gmail.com).

-Dwight

“Dream Big, Work Smart, Start Local.”

I want to share my visit to a small makeshift school west of Bangkok. The school has been setup to teach the children of mill workers from Burma who can’t afford to send their kids to public schools. These Burmese migrants have come to Bangkok for various reasons including the promise of economic opportunity, bonded servitude, persecution by the Burmese government, and as trafficking victims.

After spending some time with students at the overcrowded school, I visited the home of one child who hasn’t been attending. I found out he stays home all day while his mother who has AIDS is working in the mill. His dad was already dead from the disease. He has an older sister, 15, also away working in the mill and a younger brother who I had just met at the school. Unlike the active younger brother, he was in particularly poor health because he had contracted TB in addition to the AIDS from his parents. Furthermore, he had already lost the ability to open his right eye and the functionality in one of his hands due to his poor health.

Heartbreaking, right? Well this is normally where someone jumps out in a green suit and screams, “Donate Now!” I know what you’re thinking because I was expecting the same thing while I sat on the floor in the tiny room meant to house a whole family. However, I sat almost unnoticed while the boy focused his good eye on the Burmese school master. She asked about the rest of the family, his medicine, his ability to walk and finally made her way around to why I had come. She asked him, “Is there anything you want to eat? There are some guests with us today and perhaps you can request something from them.” He smiled a toothy grin and the teachers laughed and explained he asked for durian. Durian is a favorite among the Burmese, but if you didn’t grow up eating it then the name of this pungent fruit probably strikes fear in your heart (or atleast nostrils). Of all the things he could ask for, I thought. Then I laughed and breathed a self-absorbed sigh of relief because I didn’t have to take him to a Sizzler in Bangkok.

“Does he have any toys? What does he want?” I asked.

“A car.”

“What color?” I inquired further.

“A red car.”

“Ok.”

The end. (You can see pictures here).

There’s no plea here for donations here. Instead, I’m begging you to consider your exposure and response to issues hurting your community. For some of us poverty exists only in infomercials. So how do you respond when you really do have opportunities to help people? Are you afraid of what you have to lose? Is there anything too small to help someone else? Anything too big? While you may not be inspired to start a NGO or pick up and move to a village in a developing nation—I’m hoping that if given the chance, you’d do anything to make sure one sick little boy gets his durian and red car.

~Dwight

We don’t usually think about overcrowded slums and packed out apartments when we’re discussing going green. However, ISOS is proud to announce it’s first “green” project to assist the urban poor.

Project Managers: Dwight Turner, Hy Martin

Target: The urban poor (Bangkok’s poorest residents including Thais, refugees, and Burmese migrants).

Goal: Make a garden accessible in poor communities to educate residents, supplement their diets, and instill proper care for the environment.

Benefits: More discretionary income. Gardening is highly therapeutic, educational and the activity will encourage the interaction of foreigners and Thais without requiring much translation.

Potential Sites: Khlong Toey Slum, Bangkok Refugee Center, and if the budget allows we hope to add additional locations.

Activity: “Play In The Dirt Day”

• We will arrange a day for volunteers and the local community to join hands and “play in the dirt” by building a garden in an area accessible to the urban poor.
• Upon completion everyone will have lunch together and community residents will return home with seedlings to nurture.

Need: Appropriate space for a garden. Materials, gardening tools, and a group of carefully selected species to plant. Also long term community support to insure gardens reach full potential and are properly cared for.

Cost: ISOS events and donations from volunteers will fund this project. Sponsorship is desired. Please contact us to sponsor a garden.

Check out the original Urban Garden Project website and imagine the impact similar activities can have in Bangkok. Thank you for previewing our concept and make suggestions by leaving a comment.