On Mon 3rd June, Adrian, Jenny and Niti visited Hoay Maw returning on Tues 4th. This was to be our last visit before returning to England. We wanted to check the status of the home and also gather information, photos and video. We wanted to portray a day in the life of a child at Hoay Maw. By staying overnight on the site of the home, we had an opportunity to see and experience many aspects of the day.
On the way up, we shopped for hygiene and food provisions for the home.
School Uniforms:
Soon after our arrival at about 3pm, the children began to arrive home from school. We wanted to get some photos of the uniforms to be able to report back to supporters, in this case: Links Christmas Gifts and remaining money from ACC Blessings in a Bag and other individual donations. The money that we have been able to pass on to them them has provided 1 shirt and 1 skirt/shorts per child plus the annual school fees and some basic stationery items. It would be ideal for the children to be able to have a 2nd shirt, socks and some replacement shoes. Even so, it is a great step for the children to be able to attend school and it was a joy to see the young students wearing their uniforms with pride.
“A Day In the Life of a Child at Hoay Maw”:
| 5.30am |
wake up and get dressed |
| 6:00am |
prayers and worship in church led by house-parents |
| 6:15am |
Chores – sweeping, litter picking, make beds, tidy shoes |
| 6:40am |
Breakfast of rice with some chillies and egg mixed in |
| 7:00am |
Line up and walk to school – more chores at school |
| 8:00am |
School starts |
| 12noon |
Eat packed lunch at school (rice from breakfast) |
| 3:30pm |
Home from school |
| 4:00pm |
Chinese school for 2 hours |
| 6:00pm |
Play and Meal |
| 7:00pm |
Time in church |
| 8:00pm |
Homework (or “family group” time on Fridays) |
| 9-10pm |
Bed-time |
The children have a very long hard day compared to that which most children are used to. It was however a joy to capture fun moments as the children are developing relational and recreational skills in their “family groups”.
Fellowship:
We felt that Joseph and the family were pleased that we were staying over. We enjoyed an evening meal together and were pleased to see that Joseph is at last looking in better health following the bout of Dengue fever.
Wa Bible:
We discussed the Wa Bible. Joseph reported that the modification phase has been completed. Now Joseph's brother Solomon is preparing the changes in an electronic form for us to incorporate into the sources and re-format. We have emailed Dr Paul in order to check that the recording of changes is being done correctly. We are willing to visit Mae Sai to assist Solomon if required.
Children:
There are 8 new children who are refugees from Burma. They are in the process of trying to get papers for them so that they will be eligible to attend Thai school. Of course at the moment they don't yet speak Thai but Burmese and Chinese. They are attending the Chinese school.
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We wanted to be able to communicate something of the backgrounds of the children. We decided to focus initially on children from Burma as there are a significant number and Burma is in the news at the moment. We took some video of some children whilst Paul explained their background. The story of the children from Burma is generally that their families had to flee from their villages when raided by soldiers. Their parents were shot and killed. The children, some only 6 years old, manage to escape through the jungle and over the Thai border. There, they hang around the streets in the border area where they are extremely vulnerable to unscrupulous people wishing to exploit children in the drugs and sex industry. The Thai soldiers know of Hoay Maw as a place of safety for these children and so bring them there.
Paul said that he was reluctant to take the children knowing of our advice to limit the number of children but that he felt that he could not send them away. I'm afraid that we have to support this decision.
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Paul said that he will try very hard to keep the total number of children below the max of 80. The significant change is that the children at Hoay Maw are now all 'true orphans'. This is in contrast to many other homes. Some, called “hostels”, are like boarding schools and enable children to receive an education – a valid goal. The proliferation of this type of home in Indonesia has recently been featured by the BBC (Reality behind Aceh's 'orphans'). Whilst we feel that these “hostels” meet the important need of enabling children to receive an education, we personally feel that there are issues of undermining the family unit and community. We also feel that it is essential that supporters are clearly aware of the purpose of the home that they are contributing towards. We can now clearly state that the focus of Hoay Maw is on the care of 'true orphans'.
Chinese School:
We were pleased to hear that Dr Paul (Taiwanese) has managed to secure sponsorship for the Chinese school of 20,000 baht per month (~£300 / $600). This is covering the expenses of the school including the teachers. The school is certainly an asset to the children in the home as well as in the community. It is a positive development that there is now a clear separation between the finances of the Chinese School and the home.
Pigs:
The pig pen and pigs are in good condition. The piglets are quite small because they have only had natural food. We are now able to provide money for nutrient food to give the piglets a boost. The money is from the Links Christmas Gifts this year.
Staff:
Paul and Ratanaporn have been on a 3 week course on child-care in Taiwan. They found it beneficial. It was good to see that they are taking the management of the staff and home very seriously.
The old man, Wan, who feeds the pigs became seriously ill with a brain cancer. He went to his daughter's house. His daughter rang to say that he had no pulse. They took him to the hospital and prayed. At the hospital he revived!
Somchai is a very good worker. He is the cook for the home and is currently feeding the pigs as well.
Kitisak, the boys care leader has had to leave to care for his sick mother. Another male care worker has come from Burma. He has experience and is turning out to be a real asset. He interacts well with the children and is a good role model. He also leads worship for the children.
Finances:
Niti audited and signed the accounts. They still have 10,000 baht (£165/$330) outstanding at the market for Apr. They have spent further money this month of May (probably a similar amount). This is a relatively low amount required to provide a basic diet for the children. However, if there is no regular support then it is inevitable that debt will increase and become a serious problem. It is still our desire to try and set up a basic level of regular support but we would like to seek input as to how that might be done. Our feeling is that it is not big money. We also set an even higher priority on the relational aspect of being able to partner with people of all ages who would have an interest and heart for these children.
Obviously there are more costs involved than the food from the market, e.g. clothes, school, gas, electricity, staff and maintenance. We don't know the exact figures but have a fairly confident inclination that an amount of £15 per child per month (i.e. one take-away meal for a family in the West or equivalent to the pocket money that many youngsters receive in a month) would make it possible for the home to run at a basic level.
Rough estimate of monthly costs:
| 20,000 baht |
staff (currently covered by an individual supporter and Open Hands) |
| 10,000 baht |
food market |
| 10,000 baht |
hygiene and other misc |
| 5,000 baht |
gas / electricity |
| 5,000 baht |
pig food and project |
| 5,000 baht |
home maintenance |
| 5,000 baht |
medical expenses |
| 10,000 baht |
school uniforms, fees and materials |
| 70,000 baht |
Total per month |
£15 per month, per child, for 77 children = 71,610 baht / £1155 / $2310
Update:
We are grateful to be able to report at this point that Open Hands have indicated that they will be able to provide increased support over the coming months. This should make it possible for Hoay Maw to subsist without going into debt at the market.
Other needs:
It has been decided that rather than repair the mosquito screens, that it would be cost effective and straight forward to buy mosquito nets for each of the children to have over their beds. There have been Malaria and Dengue warnings in the area and obviously Joseph himself has contracted Dengue. The total cost of the nets would be 10,000 baht (£170 / $340). We have decided to forward the money for this from our project account in order to avoid further delay.
We have used remaining money donated from a coffee morning in Cirencester towards reusable plastic boxes so that the children can take a box of rice to school for lunch. The cook prepares enough rice at breakfast time for the children to take for lunch as well.
Care Policy:
We have been pleased to be in touch with Sarah Armitage, the children's projects co-ordinator for Partners World. She has kindly agreed to allow us to use their care guideline document as a basis for our own.
It is our intention to also liaise with the Haven Foundation based at our church here in order to develop a policy for Hoay Maw and potentially for wider use. It would also be used for the new children's home in Laos.
Home Visit:
We will be in the UK from 20th June - 8th Aug. We will be doing a mission focus on Hoay Maw at Powerpack, Kingdom Faith.
