Everyone say cheese
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As a Westerner who has lived in Thailand for a few years, I didn’t have much experience with volunteering in the local communities. However, a true believer in the axiom that a good deed is its own reward, I jumped at the chance to spend a day with Smiling Albino as they led a group of HIV-positive orphans from the Phayathai Babies Home to spend a day at Dreamworld, a local amusement park. We were joined by some of the wonderful Phayathai staff as well as a couple of new volunteers from GVI Co. Ltd., a volunteer organization that works with Smiling Albino to place volunteers on different projects in Thailand.
The children from the HIV ward often get only the ‘scraps’ when it comes to events like these. For sad but obvious reasons, their chances of being adopted are nearly zero, and due to complicated health restrictions their exposure to the rotating cabal of volunteers is limited. In my mind, this makes trips like this all the more vital.
getting ready for the snow saucer
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Their excitement was palpable as we helped herd the 21 five and six-year olds onto the tour bus we had rented, laughing when we noticed that many of them were too small to step up the adult-sized stairs to the top level, leaving them to scramble up as if it were an obstacle course. The fun had begun!
Wandering around the park for the next 5 hours wasn’t as difficult as I’d imagined. The kids were remarkably well behaved, sticking together at all times and never complaining if they turned out to be too small to get on a ride….which happened at a number of sites. I know that when I was five, I would have thrown a tantrum of biblical proportions if that had happened. One of the many moments of Zen I experienced that day.
living it up at Dreamworld
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Probably the most enjoyable attraction of the trip was the Snow Zone, a building filled with Christmas decorations and man-made snow. In a country where the temperature rarely gets below 20, the 8 degree air was a surreal and chilling experience. Despite their cold hands and red cheeks, the kids had great fun in their puffy green jackets, sliding down the snow covered hill on padded mats, crashing into the soft wall at the bottom.
As I walked back to the bus at the end of the day with random kids swinging off of my arms as if they were monkey bars, a sobering thought occurred to me. I wasn’t merely babysitting these kids didn’t have anyone to go home to at the end of the day, no Mom or Dad to tuck them in or Grandparents to spoil them. On top of all this, some of them were likely to experience never-ending complications from AIDS. To see these laughing, smiling kids seemingly oblivious to these somber thoughts really puts things in perspective. Compared to these wonderful young children, my relatively unexciting life had been that of a prince.
crazy driver!
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As we navigated our way through the labyrinthine Bangkok traffic, a smiling little girl named Sii curled up on the seat next to me, put her head on my lap and promptly fell asleep. As I looked out the window I was excited at the prospect of spending more time with these kids in the future. They may not have a healthy or prosperous life ahead, but as much as I can, I’m going to make sure that they know that along the way, someone loved them.
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