Yasothon Home Hak

Joy !

2006-12-20T18:53:00.000+07:00

C'mon ! Let's go !
Never have I seen such energy as you during a Home Hak evening party !
Now the rest of the time, you're a model of peace, quietly helping out and loving your big and little brothers and sisters... I even heard sometimes you fall asleep at school !

But when we PARTY ! I actually wear out before you do when we dance together !

And this last photo : you seem to say once more, « P' Pah, c'mon and play ! »
... Wow !

Flouk

2006-12-14T15:53:00.000+07:00

Well, Flouk is a surprising name, isn't it ? My sister used to say that with the right rythm and ordering the names well, you could make a great rap song just calling the names out one after the other.

Flouk Faloo Nam Pao King Gai
Deng Kao Am Paak Nat Tee Mai

Well... it's what my sister says, anyway. But it's fun !

People use only their nicknames to call each other. "Real" names are only relatively recently necessary for administrative paperwork. Before that, each village was small enough to not need the "official" names !

God within a smile

2006-12-07T14:48:00.000+07:00

I'd like to explain a bit what's behind this image. We put it in the "oratory" - an extension to the big wooden Sala that we had built last year with the scouts. In it we kind of made a little prayer area, as it has the advantage of being slightly off the beaten tracks of the Munithi, which means it's a bit more quiet than usual... And on top of that it's also across from the forest, so Nature is present to help one meditate.

And so the image hovers above an inclined plane of ceramic tiles - the same that serve as roof tiles for buddhist temples - and water trinkles down on it from above, through a drilled bamboo pipe. The hoverinng invokes air, the tiles earth, the water speaks for itself : Nature as a whole is present to lead the praying person to contemplation. And the image itself is pretty straightforward : in the House of Love, both people referring to Christ and the teachings of Buddha work hand in hand for the children and adults with Love as a basis for all actions.

Back home

2006-12-06T02:27:00.000+07:00

Well, all's well that ends well ...

After a year and a half of living at Home Hak, my mission drew to an end. I now am back in France, rejoicing with my family and friends, and preparing the Christmas feasts.

For those who followed on my adventures, I'd like to thank you for halving helped me have this opportunity to give love and care to children.

I'll keep on posting every now and then; when news of Yaso pops up...

Smile !

2006-09-04T09:05:00.000+07:00

This week we have two very special guests : Pi Sophie and Pi Mangkon (Dragon) ! And these two friends are very special, they came to donate time and a very precious competence : they are dentists ! So for the past few days, a children's nightmare, they've been wrenching old teeth out, filling in cavities, sanding tart away... and now kids smile like crazy, full of confidence and joy in their smiles !

Boxing Frenzy

2006-08-05T08:21:00.001+07:00

What's the best way to get a flurry of hyperactive kids under control ?

Ready for BOXING, anybody ?

Pao gets a kick out of the duffel bag

Phyak ready for action

Boxing Frenzy

Djele punching his soul out

And Ben the Batterer looking mean...

Lui the artist !

2006-04-14T11:27:00.000+07:00

Lui came by for a month and gave the children much love and attention. He came a while ago now, many days have since gone by, but I just recently found a great drawing he has sketched of little En... before giving to En for her to save preciously in her own personnal folder, she allowed me to take a picture of it to put on the internet. This is to show not only that Lui is an artist, which anybody who gets to know him will soon learn, but also that his presence here is symbolic of what we perpetually aim to be : a friend, and to just play and share love with the children. It is one of the mysteries of Home Hak, one of the simple magical things that set smiles on all these little faces, regardless of their past and not withstanding the fears about the future.

Lui comes from Japan, a country greatly helping the Foundation through the double blessings of sending volunteers regularly and also helping out materially : the japanese embassy has offered the first "real" building called Home Hak, and last year offered the new "Home Hak Bus" which drives and picks up the children from school, and brings us all to week-end outings ! Before Pi Lui, we had many volunteers : Tengmoo, Som... but Lui is the first to stay a whole month ! And the cherry on the top is that Lui will be coming with us to Doi Inthanon !

Here is a photo of Lui, on the right, together with Pi Djee, another "one-month big brother" at the foundation.

Back to Doi Inthanon !

2006-04-04T23:42:00.000+07:00

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Opening children’s minds is a necessity to ensure the successful transition from childhood to adulthood. Not only does it benefit the children directly on the spur of the moment, but it also translates into a greater well-being for the present and future society, as the children interact creatively and positively with their peers and environment.

Teenagers linked to Home Hak – “the Hearth of radiant Love” – are at this crucial stage of life where a greater vision and understanding of the world is necessary. Specifically for these children, Home Hak caretakers want to generate opportunities to promote open-mindeness.

The Doi Inthanon National Park near Chiang Mai is at the crossroads of exuberant nature and deep-rooted culture, and on top of this we already have good relationships with the staff present on site. Experiencing grandiose sites and and confronting a different cultural heritage will enhance the self-awareness of our teenagers, and help them decide and prepare their future.

But to be able to go, we will need certain support ! I invite you to discover and support this project, in the joined word document you'll find detailed information. If you are interested, you can always send me a mail at gaspard_lorthiois at hotmail dot com, that way we'll get in touch !

Thanks ahead of time !

Graduation Day !!

2006-04-01T19:07:00.000+07:00

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So this week we had a very special event : En, Paak, and Satang have graduated from pre-school ! So it seems to be a very special event here, from costumes to invited personnalities everything is done to make the children feel honored as much as possible ! Now they do say the costumes are too hot and that the weird hats keep falling, but heck, the parents just looove taking pictures of their little precious... and Benedicte, Betty, and I certainly weren't about to forget doing the same thing too !

Smiling Satang

Rodeo Paak

Swing'in En

Then you've got two model families - uh, if the father and the kids are the same it's normal, call it cost reduction. The first is Benedicte, a volunteer that has been here a month already, and will stay until october ! Betty is a genuine englishwoman, who came here for a week and among others just treated the children to hamburgers ! Delicious !

Follows a picture with a teacher of the school :

and then starts the ceremony ! You can download the whole school singing the Glory to the King, the thai equivalent to the Pledge of allegiance to the flag ; later on, we all go to the ceremony hall, and during the recital of the prayers Satang seems somewhat elsewhere...

Paak and a friend

And now the famous giving of the (empty) cardboard diploma ! Who has the nicest wai of all?

We were treated to a show by the littler classes, the Three little Pigs, it was cute !

And finally a few snacks (again) before we head back home...

Picture of Keo taken in parallel, I couldn't resist putting it in it looks great, doesn't it ?

Learning Thai

2006-02-20T22:18:00.000+07:00

How important is it to learn Thai ? For me, it's one very interesting aspects of life here. A language is so many different fundamental things all rolled up in the single fact of opening our mouth to speak :

- respecting your counterpart : talking his language is a great sign of respect, actually honouring him with the fact that his language is worth learning, and recognizing that we are on the same level.
- grasping new concepts : each language has a few or many words that do not exist in other languages, and very often, the concept or idea linked to that word is unique to the language also, and can only be expressed through a long paraphrase, if even it is possible. I just love the spanish word "tramitar" which describes the fact of going to do paperwork with an administration.
- discovering the deeper underlying unity in a language apparently full of inconsistencies : why does hôpital take a "^" on the "o" in French ? Because is replaces the "s" that used to be there, still found in english or in the word hospice. Satisfied ? But then, why does the symbol look like a little hat, and not something else ?
- picking up the history of the peoples and region specific to a language : why does the french word "laïcité" which in its orginal sense simply means "not a religious clerc", actually invoque a whole battle between persons wanting to purge society of religious influence and those simply estimating that religion being a part of mankind, tradition recieved from religion is not systematically evil.
- finally, learning new languages, or any other disciplin, handicraft, just the plain fact of learning, gives a fizz to the brain and stimulates curiosity ever more.

As I was learnin Thai in the first weeks in Bangkok, I had done a little programming to learn through funner ways, and only today I took the time to write a small manual of use. If anyone wants to play around or seriously learn thai, feel free to download it ! Zip file with excel datasheet, with macros, no viruses.

Pui Poetry

2006-02-02T23:33:00.000+07:00

Pui has been named responsible of the small “library” that the kids have. This will develop her sense of responsibilities, and through her we’ll also teach the children to respects books, until now they still have the habit of ripping out pages that they like for the pictures… And Pui will also read a bit more, which can only be a good thing as she is somewhat lagging behind the others in class ! In a couple weeks we’ll see how this is working out, normally she writes a favorite paragraph every day – and I hope to help Pui launch a project to enhance the library ! I’ll tell you more about it then, stay posted you’ll be able to help out !

วันไหนประเสริฐที่สุด วันนี้
Which day is the most excellent ? Today
สิ่งใดง่ายที่สุด ทำผิด
the easiest thing to do ? to do wrong
ข้อบกพร่องใดใหญ่ที่สุด เห็นแก่ตัว
the biggest flaw ? selfishness
ความผิดใดใหญ่ทีสุด การละเลย
the biggest mistake ? to ignore others
ความสุขใดใหญ่ที่สุด การรับใช้ผ้อื่น
the biggest joy ? to be of service to others
กานสูญสลายที่แย่ที่สุด หมดกำลังใจ
the act that is the most void of beauty ? to be disheartened
อาจารย์ที่ดีที่สุด เด็ก
the best teacher ? a child
ความร้สึกที่ต่ำที่สุด ความอิจฉา
the lowest feeling ? jealousy
ของชวัญที่สวยงามมากที่สุด การอภัย
the most magnificent gift ? forgiveness
ความรู้ถึงเรื่องใดสำคัญที่สุด พระเจ้า
the most important object of thought ? God
อะไรเป็นสิ่งที่สวยงามที่สุตในโลก ความรัก
What is the most magnificent thing in the world ? Love

ปุ๋ย จาก หนังสือ
Pui, from a book

Working for the future

2006-01-31T01:20:00.000+07:00

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This week-end we privileged the teenagers at the Munithi, and together we set out to a village nearby, where Sister Nuan comes from, to learn how to make … fertilizer !
The village used to buy chemical fertilizer and spread it every year over the fields to increase the yield. For five years now, the village has taken the bet to convert itself to “bio-farming”, as we would call it, and “traditional ways”, as they do call it. After two years of hardships, where the rice couldn’t live in a barren earth without fertilizer, the yields have started to rise, and now are even higher than the years before ! And they are getting better every year at making fertilizer, so reaping the rice will be more plentiful still. Oh, and the crabs and fish living in the rice patties have come back, interesting and delicious side-effect of coming back to natural ways !

This phases in totally with the Munithi aim of using the deep-rooted traditions to reunite people, especially the generation gap. The people teaching us how to make fertilizer were adults, and happy to share their knowledge and motivation to younger generations. And our kids were happy to imagine where rice gets its nourishment from. Oh, and we also made dishwashing soap from perfectly natural products as well ! I just went shopping today, this saved us over 500 baht for this month, all the while having the kids enjoying themselves !

So we climbed up in the pick-up for an hour’s drive… bags, covers and all – authorities in Europe would holler to hell about carrying kids around like this, just don’t overreact, will you ? It’s a heck of a lot more fun than a plain bus, and we don’t have much choice anyway – a pick-up will go where no bus has ever gone before !

Note the dashing smiles of the three Charlie’s Angels for the day : Duang, Nam and Op waiting to leave. It was a great time during the week-end to get to know these kids better. Duang is opening up more and more, she’s always been rather secretive, this week-end joy shone through her eyes and she had fits of honest laughter which were a pleasure to hear. Nam is also stepping down from her pedestal : for some time she had become a little arrogant with everybody, since she had been chosen in her class to lead the school procession during the new year parade. And Op, she’s a heart inside out, always helping out or sharing with others. It was a tiring week-end for her though, she finished it off suffering of a bad stomach ache, it was difficult to witness the tears in her silent eyes as she was suffering without word. She’s sadly used to this, the medicine hurting her, but she has no choice but to take it…

So step one in making fertilizer is… knowing what to use ! Here we go through the different plants used that can make a good mix of nutrients, kids wrote it all down on a small notebook for the week-end. Here I’m explaining Piya about the Farang tree. Farang is a kind of goyava, but it’s also the way we white people are called. So when I eat a farang I never have to wait 10 seconds to get the same lousy joke over and over again, “Farang gin [eats] farang”, but when you see the laughs it’s worth the frustration a million times over.

So then you gather the leaves…

… assemble them …

… looking nice as doing so, Duang makes me think of the Sister Theresa wanting to be the little flower of God… well, there’s still a long way to go !

And finally starts the chopping ! Nope, no machine here, when these guys mean “tradition”, they mean, “tradition, dude !” Here Nat and Phyak

Ploy in an incisive mood

Bap hits the beat

Duang studiously writes all the steps in her notebook, while Ploy and I watch. Hmm, letting others study and work !

And then you mix this with molasses from sugar cane and cover for two weeks… and then you get this ! Hungry ?

If you’ve lost your appetite, that’s a shame, ‘cause Nui is just about to bring us fishing.

Tang is in the water with Sister Nuan’s father, fishing for pla duk, a fish that can reach up to 200 kg in the Mekong river !

But we’re far from the Mekong, and we get only these few shrimp that disgust even Ninda…

So after all this work, we rest in the shade : Nui, Tang and Bap…

Or go for a little arm-wrestling – note the balancing of forces with Bap using only one finger (he lost, that’ll teach him…)

In the meanwhile, Claire and I try to value the powers of concentration and lines of energy to lift a person easily. Piya and Ninda volunteer to help, Ploy the guinea pig of the experiment. Don’t look under for a picture where Ploy is levitating, it didn’t work. Will try again and concentrate more, I’ll keep you posted.

Or just plain lay down and go for a snooze or play… Ben and I, followed by Pi Kara and Nam.

A final view of a kid aiming for the sky – Ploy ! And each of our kids came back tired, we did too, we were all happy to have learned a lot and new things and eat the most delicious pla dek I’ve ever found yet !

Paan in trouble

2005-12-30T15:34:00.000+07:00

Do you remember Paan ? The new little girl living at the center ? Well, we just came back from the doctor's, and her CD4 level is at 1% of what it should be. This places her in a very critical condition, the least little virus or infection could sweep her away in just days.

But that is just the "good" news.

What makes me sit at a keyboard to share with you something really difficult is that we will not be able to care for her. Not that we cannot give her medecine - we have money enough for that at the moment. Not that we have insufficient hygiene standards, or even housing capacities for her. Not that we don't have enough love for her to be happy, no, nothing of the sort.

Her father, a drunkard of the class that drinks the integrality of his wages to the point of having his brothers and sisters pay his house rent, cannot accept the blow of being dishonored, as he would be if Paan were to live at Home Hak. Because Home Hak is partly associated with Aids. Because in a surge of self-pride, he cannot imagine that other people could care more for his daughter than himself - we had found her on the ground when the rest of the family ate at the table, we had found her undernourished, wearing hags, playing not far from the stacks of empty beer bottles that whittle away her father's reason. Because her father receives 1000 baht a month for the care of his child from the government since her mother died, and 1000 baht less is that much less to drink.

Pi Tiou and Jin, Peo, Dara, all think she will die within two weeks, given the lack of care she receives at her "home". And we can do nothing but wait and hope the family unites itself to care for the child, or bring her to us that we could give this little life a chance.

On your side, dear reader, I can only ask you for your prayers. Thanks.

Christmas in Yaso

2005-12-25T18:40:00.000+07:00

I was feeling kinda woozy at the idea of having a first Christmas far away from my family – even though I’m 26, this will be the first time I’m not with my bro, my sisters, my parents and of course all the exceptional cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles I have. I didn’t know what to expect, on top of this the planning for the week-end had been prepared by the thai people only, we were running errands without having the big picture.

And Christmas Eve was yesterday, Christmas morning has settled down, and I thank the Lord for having given me such great people to celebrate with. Thanks for your prayers, dear sponsors, for surrounding me with such a great team ! The thai staff led us through mass and a show by the kids, ending in a huge party at the village church with all the other parish members. And Claire, Ben, Pi Bua and Pi Linchi were simply perfect for the night, when we all played Santa Claus and went to give presents to each of the children, setting little games in a hand-made bag at their own name on their flip-flops at the foot of their beds… and on top of that we had made presents for each other, and the better part of the night was pure laughter we had so much fun !

Short flashback on the highlights...

Pai and Tonreng climbed up the X-mas tree, pretty cute, no ? We spent an afternoon to have the kids make the decorations, now that was what you call messy. And we only lost 3 pairs of scissors ! Note for eventual donators working in the electronics field : equipping scissors and glue with GPS beepers would be a great investment, financially we’d balance out in less than a month, whatever the price of the GPS…

Jane is still as beautiful as ever in front of the little nativity outside… somehow in Thailand they just have to put fluorescent neons everywhere. Just tell yourself that this a rather sober one…

Duang is as last year the virgin Mary, but this year she wears a pink shale instead of blue.

Paan has arrived just two weeks ago at the center. Now Nen has a virtual twin ! She is also very sick, in two days on the 27th we go to the hospital to retrieve her first CD4 status, which will help the doctor prescribe the right medecine. But she's coming along fine at the center, eating well, and guess what : Nen was actually jealous of her at the beginning, since Nen wasn't the only center of attention ! Now they're fast friends and brought their beds next to each other last week.

Khun Po Tenaud kept us all to attention during the mass, which as it is in thai is still not very easy for me to follow.

Top Tep was disguised as one of the pastors, he overdid his hairdo a bit though.

Khim and Kratey pose in front of the Nativity which was in the chapel.

No comment on Ung-Ang's capacity to transform his looks to the most... today, I present to you the Unidentified Flying Ung-Ang !

Couldn't resist putting this smile, Satang radiates joy these days.

Ah ! Now we get to the interesting part : we spent at least 100 man-hours preparing the presents for the people of the Munithi, each one of our kids ! 42 Bath gloves to keep them clean, which we filled with little games and the likes, we had alot of fun preparing them once the @#$%^&* gloves were finished. Here I am with Benedict giving out a thai massage to keep me going.

42 gloves ! And we didn't do any for the teens, but got them good presents anyways... boys got a special treatment : Equipe de de France football posters thanks to Peng, the scout who can't seem to have enough of Yaso - they were really happy, and I expect to lost a roll of tape soon once they start taping them to the wall !

And while the kids clean their shoes and put them at the foot of their beds for Santa Claus to find them...

... we're having fun stuffing the gloves with presents ! Helicopters, telephones, shampoo and hairgel will be the new fashion here before long...

Cute, no ?

Now I just gotta tell you how great the other volunteers are : we laughed our heads off for half the night as we celebrated after everyone was in bed our own little christmas. For all of us it was the first far from our families, and boy were we lucky to be together to celebrate it ! So here we are, me laughing uncontrollably, and then Pi Cara wearing one of her presents...

Left Pi Bua (Lotus) and right Pi Linchi (lychee) holding little Khaw Niaw (sticky rice), a fish that Ben got for christmas... I got a little turtle dubbed Som Tam (spicy papaya salad), but Som Tam ran away last night, I spent an hour calling after it this morning to no avail - not a very talkative turtle, we decided to go find a Som Tam Song (idem 2) tomorrow, like a friend's grandpa used to say, "Faut pas s'laisser abattre !"

Ah well all is well here in Yaso after a moment so filled with joy, the children are peacefully blaring their telephones in our ears and shooting flying helixes all over us, using their bath gloves as handbags, dirt bags, cookie bags (the kind of cookies that make lots of crumbs, mind you) earmuffs, or socks, so we're gonna have to tell them one day how to use it, preferably before they get lost in The Great Myterious Vault Where All Missing Things Go of the Munithi, somehow the scissors didn't fill this crummy vault yet. Don't worry, the kids are working on it...

And so I wish you now a merry after-christmas, and a happy new year, as well as a good night's sleep, I certainly need it ! God bless you and guide you, and give you as much love as is worldly possible, I'm telling you here I'm just starting to feel how much that really is !

Reapers in the light

2005-11-06T00:35:00.000+07:00

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Great week-end in an extension of the Munithi at a town called Sikolaphum. We spent a long week-end there with the older kids, joined the 5 kids already there to reap rice, fish and eat fish and generally relax… let’s let a few pictures speak for themselves, k ? Note – on some pictures clicking on them will load a larger image.

Kratey and I

Phyak’s Prize

Djele fishing around

Jaaj and a friend – make that 2 friends with the fish…

Little Lot

When you gotta do it, you gotta do it !

It’s important to stay hidden, or the fish’ll swim away…

Vermeer : “Fried Fish and Two Mademoiselles”

Jogger and Flouk

Lot in lots of water

Phyak and the golden sickle

Ea, my new godsister – and gosh is she nice !

Nam reaping what she has sown – that was six months ago !

Jane is just plain happy

Fon and Duang learn to work with clay with Pi Kara

Toh preparing a snowman

Nat Jaaj proud, oder ?

Pi Kara cooling down

Toh says good bye !

Now this is the hit of the week-end : be patient, these 18 Mb are worth the wait!

Marie still with Home Hak !

2005-11-01T14:21:00.000+07:00

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Marie just left us, off to Bangkok and beyond, on her way to lead on the rest of her life ! I've got to say I can hardly imagine Yaso without her, Marie was the one who welcomed me, took me around on the motorbike to see the important spots of Yaso, who told me all about the 1000 surprises I would live everyday, so it's pretty clear why Yaso and Marie are so linked ! I guess the best thanks I can give Marie is just the fact that thanks to her my integration in Yaso took place without clashes : it shows how much she did to help me find balance here ! And many children have already started writing letters to her, now isn't that cute ? Sorry Marie, your little favorite Ten is in Siko, I don't know yet if he's going to write one or not...

So now we are back down to 3 volunteers : Claire (not Marie ;-D, on the right) is now Pi Kara, and Ines (center) is now Pi Hohm, and finally myself on the left. I'm really happy that we already get together well, and it'll really be alot of fun to work on the many projects we have for the Foundation and all the children there !

And for those of you who have been praying and thinking about little Nen, I'm happy to present you with a little girl whose every day demonstrates the power of loving and caring : she's gotten over the worst part of her infection, and is now slowly and steadily recovering, and I gotta say it seems like the doctors have once again forgotten that at Home Hak miracles happen every day ! So keep up the prayers, you are all participating into making Yaso a place where Love is the only law !

Yaso Fever !

2005-10-28T22:15:00.000+07:00

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Yaso is running around full of activities ! Next week, the last of the children will go back to school, on the 1st of october. So far, kindergarden and the teenagers have started already, but we still have all the 6-12 year-olds playing, cooking, helping out, generally noisy and nosey like kids like to be... which makes for alot of fun !

We have a french doctor for the week, and already have done check-ups and prescriptions with about 150 patients, coming from neighbouring villages, and today like yesterday we go to other foundations we're friends with to do the same. It's alot of fun, we get to meet new kids and also take with us all our sauna and massage techniques, which not only heals the ailments of so many aged persons, who have been growing rice for the past 60 years, and who complain a little about back and hip aches – now that's a surprise, I didn't think staying bent over for hours a day could lead to that, could it ?

Pi Tiou brought 10 of the kids (10 to 13 years old) from our foundation to participate in a youth camp, where about 200 seventeen to nineteen year-olds from many horizons, from drug-addicts to child abuse to high society, coming together to share experiences and learn about one another. Pi Tiou is a visionnary in this respect, acting on the knowledge that through education and opening kid's minds we can change the future for the better. That's for sure ! And so there were ten groups, each of our kids participating in one of them, listening to the older ones share their past, debate over the present, and plan for the future. Everybody learned alot, and of course our own kids as juniors were the little mascots of each group, the older ones taking good care of them and cuddling and offering candies and in the end everyone were fast friends – some knew our kids had aids, most didn't, Pi Tiou had left them free to talk or not about their problems. So on the last day, a stage was set up, where each group kind of summarized all that had been lived and discovered during the camp. And a special moment was when our own little ones were invited to share what they had thought of the work done during the week. Little Mai almost crying saying she was overjoyed to have experienced so much friendship with the teens. Nong Nam held a moving testimony – "When I grow up, I want to study to be a nurse. I want to be able to help people to live long and well. But will the government let me have a job... if I have AIDS ? "

Everyone quiet, fighting tears back. Most didn't know our kids had aids. Disbelief, as they confronted the image of sick weak bodies in their minds with the bright strong kids so full of life they had spent the whole week cuddling and playing with. Needless to say it was a strong moment, how is to learn that a friend you thought healthy is actually fighting a losing battle ? This silence, this emotion and the will to still remain friends after the camp, are as many signs of hope in this society : there will be things done to recognize the hunger for life of aids-infected children in this country ! Maybe not today or tomorrow, but in some time a society so closed to these kids will open up !

Two weeks in Europe

2005-10-21T09:08:00.000+07:00

My visa running out, and my plane ticket reaching its six-month limit, a return to France for a short while became necessary... and was also a great opportunity to share with as many persons as possible a few of the great discoveries I had made here in Yasothon !

Seeing my family again was a great moment, hugging my little sisters, laughing out loud with my Bro, and pleasant conversations with Mom and Dad really recharged my batteries for the year to come ! Yes, initially I was considering a 15 to 18 month mission. Now, I decided for 18 months, just under a year from now. This will enable me to take full advantage of my growing thai skills to learn and help ever more !

Meeting friends was also a very important point, because it's only through discussions with friends that I can really learn from my experience. If I don't have anyone to talk to that knows me for a time, then I can't understand sometimes why I feel frustrated or elated at times. And I even got to meet and talk all about Yaso with one of the scouts who had come two months ago ! Talk about long discussions to give an update of the situation there, it was cute and felt good to talk in Europe with someone who knew what I am living.

Finally, it wouldn't have been complete without meeting two journalists ! One wih whom we prepared a TV project – sadly, it won't run as they couldn't free the budget fast enough to be able to shoot scenes while I was still in Europe, so nothing will come out of that one. But a second journalist I met wrote an artical in La Vie, a catholic magazine, about Missionaries. Since one of the many aspects of my mission is based on living out my faith, I contributed also ! But contrary to the impression you will get by reading, I am NOT on my way to becoming a priest... this is just a little tweaking of words to better suit the aim of the article, courtesy of the journalist, it surprised even me ! You can download the pictures here (.zip file with scanned images in it).

See you soon, with more news from Yaso, finally after periods of thought and action, I'm back with energy for alot more !

>>French<< >>Deutsch<<

Chiang Mai training

2005-09-22T23:54:00.000+07:00

This week we went to Chiang Mai, actually a bit south of the city well-known for the nice natural scenery. But we didn't go for the fun it, but actually worked in this place where all Farangs (white guys) usually go for holiday !
Pi Tiou, the founder and director of the Home Hak Foundation, has a reputation that exceeded what I first thought. Not only a voice fighting against AIDS and for youth, but also she's got a pretty good standing in seminars about innovative thinking and group dynamics ! Now that came as something of a surprise to me, what with our limited mind placing people who care for kids far from anything having to do with business or the modern world, but actually Pi Tiou really has an outstanding charisma when it comes to dealing with groups, especially youths, and also breaking conventional ways of thought.

The Doi Inthanon National Park staff called up on her to share experiences and enrich their program concerning camps they organize for schools of the Chiang Mai vicinity. Pi Tiou, Yin, Peow, Dara, Pi Puu and I were the team chosen to help out. So for over a week, we discovered the motivated persons of the staff, aiming at making children discover the marvellous specificities of the biggest and highest park in Thailand. Days of training alternated with short camps when children were on site, and I really discovered the meaning of the thai, “mai pen rai” - it's not a problem – once more. Plannings for the days were changed about every 2 hours, not only because of the often-changing mountain weather, but especially because the main goal of the exercise was to constantly observe how the children were reacting to what was happening. If an activity really pleases them, run into overtime without hesitating, and in the same way, if 20 minutes into another you're hearing a lot of fidgeting and yawns, break it up and get them running ! Great training for me, also it's the first time I really see Pi Tiou in action, totally in her element leading groups of kids and adults alike to discover the riches the have within, and to find the energy to share and build on it.

Of course this was also a great time for me to discuss of many things with these key persons of the Home Hak staff, away from the daily routine and once again in an engaging natural environment. But I started missing the children from day 1 of the camp, and since I have then 2 weeks in Europe for administrative visa issues, these will be hard weeks !

Nong Nen is still at the hospital, but living away from all her friends seems to be taking a toll on her stamina... we're thinking of bringing her back home for her to try to get better. Never underestimate the power of the mind on the body ! And since nothing in particular is done at the hospital that cannot be done by Aude, a voluntary nurse, it's just as well.

Oh, and the staff back home phoned that Nong Pai, a 5-year old boy, hit his head real hard falling from somewhere in the new building. Now how is it that kids don't know if something is dangerous until they try ? But his crying was a good sign, better than still silence so we could laugh about it. He's a strong kid.

>> Francais << >> Deutsch <<

Home Hak grows, Love Grows

2005-09-16T00:36:00.000+07:00

New kitchen area, new clothes-washing machines housed in a new extension, new tiles where cement used to sand our delicate feet away... What will we not do to enhance the living environment of our 50+ little souls ? Often when the kids are at school, I take advantage of the free time to work with Deng on one of these many projects.

Deng is 26 years old, like me. I'm older by about a month, I get to call him "Nong Deng", which makes us both laugh because the kids always look at us funny : for them, he has always been Pi Deng, "older brother".

Back 5 years ago, when the Foundation was more concentrating on saving drug-addicted youths - AIDS kids arriving slowly changed the scope over the years - Deng was one of those fighting to free himself from drugs. The Foundation methods were pretty harsh by our standards : full severage from drugs, and also any eventual addiction replacements like coffee, alcohol, smoking. This would never have succeeded without the fundamental specialty applied in the Foundation : relaxing the body through massage and herb sauna cycles, administered by two assigned "guardian angels" who themselves often had been saved by the Foundation.

Deng has been living since then at the Foundation, gradually finding balance in his life. According to Father Tenaud, his rather lazy character greatly improved, he just finished a degree in civil engineering. He now takes on projects and responsiblities that today almost make me doubt that he was once a "troublesome" kid... So when I talk about spending time building things at the Foundation, you can put a face on the one who actually does most of the work !

Not all faces are fully relaxed though... Nong Nen is at the hospital now, a vicious bacteria invading her fragile blood stream. Since 5 days we've been awaiting blood from Bangkok for transfusions... Doctors opinions range from "no problem, just wait it out" and "she's only got a month left"... and next week we have a training camp 800 km away ! So many questions, what if she's not there when I come back ? Will the blood from BKK arrive on time ? Will there be enough ? And none of can be in my hands ! Nothing to do but wait, pray, and call for news as often as possible ! Perhaps the most reassuring is her cheerful smile on her thin face, shining joy and confidence from her hospital bed...
>>Francais<< >>Deutsch<<

From Glaciers to Greatness !

2005-09-09T17:40:00.000+07:00

[Francais ici] [Deutsch hier]

Wow ! A couple weeks of trekking really do clear the mind ! Together with friends of many horizons, we hiked through the most incredible mountain range in the world : the Himalayas ! Rising every day to reach a pass at 5100m (19,000 feet), in a scenery of raw stone tortured by wind, ice and time, it was a great opportunity to realize how much the world as a whole is full of meaning. Always leading us to search for answers, each new discovery leads to a magnificent bouquet of new questions, the quest for understanding is never to stop !

But why should we understand ? Why should we feel compelled to find answers ? I’m going through pretty many shortcuts here in giving you my own answer: because each and every one of us, every one of you and I, have a place and a role to play on this Earth, in this universe, here and now. So looking at the world around us, and discussing about it with the people we meet, leads to understanding what we deeply want to do, demeaning the often easy wishes that pop up as initial answers to the question, “watcha wanna do ?”

But I’m straying a bit from the subject here – I better let a few pictures translate the grandeur that one can feel, climbing on the rooftops of the world…

[Papy] [Bridge] [Cyril]

[Cliff] [Summit] [Cold Waters] [Stupa]

[Me] [Mother_Child] [Prayer_Flags]

Yasothon on Google Earth !

2005-08-11T22:22:00.000+07:00

Hi all, I just couldn't resist sharing with you where the Home Hak Center is... just a little further round the corner of the same globe you have your two feet on ! Welcome to Google Earth, which prooves how small the world is and how all of us living on it are neighbors and brothers. I find it amazing to see that we can zip around the world always more easily, with my Airbus airplanes or this peppy programme here, but it seems all the harder to reach out and meet the people we fly above, to really get to know them. I'm glad to try to help out a bit in making the world not a smaller place, everybody knows that, but also a more brotherly place...

Bien le bonjour a tous, je voulais simplement partager avec vous ou se trouve le centre Home Hak... a un saut de puce de vous, sur le meme globe que celui ou vous vous tenez a l'instant ! Bienvenue sur le programme Google Earth, qui encore une fois demontre que notre planete est minuscule et que tous ses habitants sont voisins et freres de sort. Je trouve ca epatant de virevolter d'un pays a l'autre, que ce soit dans mes avions Airbus ou bien avec ce petit programme pas idiot, mais en meme temps il devient toujours plus difficile de tendre la main a ces gens que nous survolons, de chercher a les connaitre vraiment. Je suis fier de poser mes petites briquettes sur le pont qui nous unifie tous, qui nous fait dire non pas ue le monde est petit, c'est deja une evidence, mais surtout que le monde est fraternel...

Hallo an Allen ! Ich wollte unbedingt euch mitteilen, wo der Home Hak Zentrum wirklich liegt... und zwar auf diese gleiche Kugel, wo Ihr heute selbst steht ! Wilkommen auf Google Earth, der noch einmal beweist, wie klein die Erde ist und wie wie alle den gleichen Schicksaal teilen. Ich finde es geil, links und rechts zu fliegen, mit Airbus Flugzeuge oder mit diesem geschickten Programmchen, aber gleichzeitig scheint es immer schwieriger, diese unter uns bleibende Leute zu treffen, kennenzulernen. Ich bin schon etwas stolz, meine kleine Tropfe im Ozean der Bruderschaftligkeit reinzugiessen...

Install the Google Earth Programme – you've got to have ADSL to use it

Installez le Programme Google Earth – c'est indispensable d'etre en ADSL pour s'en servir

Installieren Sie den Google Earth Programm – ohen DSL geht's nicht

Then download this Placemarker I've created for the Home Hak Center

Puis telechargez le Placemarker que j'ai cree pour le centre Home Hak

Dann laden Sie den Placemarker herunter, den ich fur Home Hak eingerichtet habe

Talk about having lots to do !

2005-08-06T22:42:00.000+07:00

Since about three weeks now three scouts from the south of France have come over, bringing us a little of the french sunshine in these monsoon-covered days. Together we've launched the construction of a magnificent "sala", a kind of patio where we'll be able to rest and play protected from the rain and sun here, which are kind of binary : steaming hot On//Off, pouring buckets On//Off . We were pretty ambitious in designing a six-sided project, but in two days we'll be finished and it's already looking great ! Now all I'll need to find are a few hammocks, to at least dream of being able to take some free time...

Two days ago we had an exceptionnally heavy day. The Japanese embassy in Thailand has offered us a six-wheel truck, transformed into a bus to drive the kids to and back from school. The Ambassador in person came over for the official ceremony, we had also done all our possible to reel in the chief of the Yasothon Province and the mayor, both of whom are still wary of Aids. But they did send their deputies, at least. We had organized many activities during the day, from Sauna and massage to cooking courses, including sushi (my contribution for this, I'm glad there were not many Japanese present...) And of course we had many dances, even we Farang danced too !

On Pi Tiou's request, I did full public relations with many of the VIPs who came, convincing them into believing that you don't get AIDS just by living with HIV+ kids and people. I can't yet say it worked, but I have good hope that we'll be able to present the subject soon in certain schools in front of classes, and so on. Sometimes people are just throwing everything related to AIDS in the same batch, labeled "discard and keep away", including the kids and people infected...

These are just a few of the things that happened in the last few days, I could go on for ages about the last little bruise of little Keo or the new treasure (today a plastic paper clip) that Ung Ang found and tried to eat (again), but even if this is the heart of what we live in our everyday lives, I can imagine it might get a bit boring... as all parents know, only your own kids are worth hearing about !

Auf Deutsch hier

En francais ici

Discrimination by health in villages and Schools

2005-07-05T11:30:00.000+07:00

Saturday.

For many of you it’s a day for resting, relaxing maybe not but at least the daily activities differ from the routinely weekdays. Here, week-ends are also very different from weekdays : but they usually mean MUCH more work, as we have the children on-site ALL day ! Of course, this means organizing games, activities, and so on… On top of that, it’s been raining all day : 40 kids playing inside a concrete-wall building make a heck of a lot of noise.

The morning was interesting : we went with the Home Hak teenagers to visit a village not far off, spending a good part of the day entertaining the village in the name of the Home Hak center. Small village, about 20 houses, and it starts with running around to call the children to the leader’s house, where the games take place during over an hour. Then we cook sweets, and the actual lunch which we all eat together, before going to visit the elderly and sick who could not come. The whole operation is to spread a message of love and recognition in this village many neighbors think cursed. A generation ago, 30 years, leprosy raked the village killing many and sending many fleeing. Now there is no sign of the illness, but bad habits and beliefs are hard to change in these animist and nature-fearing parts. One of the goals of the center is to fight against these mindsets frozen shut by tradition, to thaw them into loving and consideration. Its actually the same fight that is being led also specifically for the HIV and AIDS stricken children and people.

I also wanted to mention today two little girls, Pui and Ea, both thirteen. They arrived last year at the center, stayed home a few months and finally restarted school two months ago with the beginning of the school year. They are both HIV positive, but the school doesn’t know it yet. And the school is having doubts about the health of other children as well, and decided last Friday to have blood analysis run on all the students… without parental consultation ! Peo, one of the thai staff, of course went to pick up the girls first thing, and then could start talking to the teachers a bit to see what was going on. And it doesn’t seem positive : undercover of a health-assessment operation, the school probably wants to check who has HIV, possibly in order to throw them out. This is a daily experience here, people being so afraid of Aids that they refuse to even come near to these children. For example, at the pre-school last year, which the center finally succeeded in convincing to take in the few 3 and 4 year-olds of the center (only one is HIV+) the enrollement fell from 80 children to 15… luckily it is a catholic institution and they preferred to stick with there ideals than throw out the kids. This year about 25 kids attend. For Pui and Ea, big schools of over 500 students are not ready for such a gamble, and Peo says that even if the director and teachers agreed in principle (a very wishful “if” at the moment), it would take several years to reach any kind of progress on the acceptance of HIV kids in class… So all understand and respect the girls’ wishes to not mention anything, and their liberty in deciding this is key. I hope and pray this will go in the right direction !

Klicken Sie hier fuers die deutsche Version

Et cliquez ici pour l'avoir en Francais

Take the Time !

2005-06-29T16:33:00.000+07:00

Take the time ! This must be the hardest to do since I’ve arrived in Yasothon ! But, as Mom and Carol have often repeated, it’s the most important if I want to share and progress on all that I’m experiencing… and needless to say, there is a lot ! So now I vow to block maybe half an hour every few days, to tell you all a bit what all these children and thai environment are bringing into my life – much more than I can ever hope of bringing them, even if I do my most to help !

And perhaps that’s the first thing to understand : as a voluntary worker, we are and will remain always a few steps away from the heart of the project, in which so many thai staff and previous volunteers have invested years of their life. It is a necessary distance, of course more noticeable now that I have just arrived, but thanks to it we can have a special vision of what is being done. And also, even though I think every day about all the people I know : family, circle of friends, over in other parts of the world, it stays crucial to take the time to phone, write, mail – and this also creates a small bubble of time during which I am not at the service of the center… so a necessary distance, of course it will become thinner with time (and the thai language…) and I am glad to be able to live thius experience for you and myself, too.

Hier haben Sie genau das auf Deutsch (recht-clic und RTF-datei herunterladen)

Et ici vous l'avez en francais (clic-droit puis telecharger le ficher RTF)

First Blog-In !

2005-04-26T06:14:00.000+07:00

First blog-in !

Well, try out before going "really" net for the duration of my mission here at Yasothon. I kinda intend this blog to enable flash-backing both for me and for those interested in what has happened so far if you just hitched the ride. Who knows what this could become ?

Premier Blog-on !

Ben en fait plus pour faire un essai que pour mettre deja sur web des elements croustillants de ma mission sur Yaso. A travers ce blog, on devrait pouvoir faire des flash-back un peu sur ce que je vis, et permettre aussi a ceux qui prennent le train en route (j'ai bon espoir que maman y arrive un de ces 4) de voir un peu le chemin parcouru.

Erster Blog-on !

Eigentlich ist das hier nur ein Versuch, irgendwann schaffe ich es, etwas vernuenftiges hier auf diese Seiten reinzuschreiben. Im Lauf der Zeit, koennen wir vielleicht zurueckgreifen auf die ersten Eindrucken, und ein neueinsteiger kann ja verstehen woher wir kommen.

Also see you soon !

Gaspard