We are now back in Chiang Mai having had the opportunity to visit the UK for 7 weeks.

Push-me-pull-you at Bangkok airport

It was a great opportunity to catch up with family, friends and Church and to share a little about what we are doing in Thailand.

Here are some of the things we got up too:

Padded Cell at the Wests

We were extremely privileged to be able to stay with our good friends the West family. Their house is affectionately dubbed - "the padded cell" after they accommodated a student who entered his address in someone else's visitors book as "the padded cell at the Wests". We must say that we appreciated the hospitality more than the student and even though in the midst of various DIY projects - to us the accommodation was 5-star with a ++ for the company!

The children enjoyed endless hours on the trampoline.

The Oliver Family Get Together

The annual Oliver family get together at Adrian's brother's house was a great opportunity to catch up with Aunties Uncles and cousins.

The Oliver Clan

The Beach

A highlight is visiting the beach. Although there are more pebbles than sand, our home beach has huge character and holds many happy memories for us.

The Great British Chip!

Fly a Kite

Portsmouth With Granny and Grandad

We were treated to a fabulous family day out in Portsmouth with Adrian's parents. We visited the submarine museum and the Spinnaker Tower.

With Granny and Granddad near the Spinnaker Tower

Food, food and more food ...

We enjoyed some lovely family meals with Granny & Grandad and Nanny. We were also invited to to eat in the homes of many friends. We probably gained some extra ounces (or pounds!).

Mmmmm! Granny's cooking!

St Margaret's School

We gave presentations about the children's home at hoay Maw to both year 3 classes and a year 5 class. The children were very attentive and asked some searching questions expressing their desire to be people who can make a difference. It was a great blessing when the year 3 classes gave money towards mosquito nets for the children instead of receiving an end-of-year gift for themselves.

Home Groups

We appreciated the opportunity to share at some of the small groups at our home church (Arun Community Church).

Powerpack at Kingdom Faith

A great opportunity for us all to work on team with the children's groups and meet up with old friends on team. More details ...

Camping

Measuring Up

It has become an annual tradition to chart the height of each of the children on the back of the grand-parents pantry door ...

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.

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.

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.

We are aware that the many organisations based here in Chiang Mai and in the border areas are cooperating together in order to get aid and relief to those who urgently need it.

Thailand is an open country that welcomes and gives freedom to "development workers". Thailand itself benefited greatly from their hospitality to NGOs during their own time of need in the 2004 tsunami when there was an immediate and effective response. Thailand in turn acts as a sending base to help other countries in the surrounding region.

Two organisations that we can commend to you are Partners World and Haven Foundation.

If anyone would like to be informed of more specific local details then either contact us here or email direct.

On Friday 19th April the Olivers and Niti visited Hoay Maw. After buying fresh meat, fruit and vegetables from the market, we headed on to Hoay Maw.

'Fresh Meat?'

'Red Hot Chilli Peppers!'

We also took some hygiene supplies and quite a lot of used clothes. One of the main aims of this visit was to reinforce to Paul that he must advise the “families“ that their children could not stay unless they covered the expenses for their children. We felt that this was a very bold step that would require support to carry out.

'Loading up'

'Unloading'

When we arrived we delivered the supplies and then enjoyed lunch with Joseph and Paul. Joseph is still suffering from after effects of dengue fever and has lost a lot of weight and is still quite tired. After lunch we spent some time talking with Paul and Rattanaporn.

Children:

We were very pleased and impressed to find that Paul had already informed the families at the end of term that their children could not return unless they paid. The expectation is that those children will not return after the break. There are now 55 children in the main orphanage home. There are a further 7 children who live in Joseph's house. These 7 children have limited communication only speaking Wa and not speaking either Chinese or Thai.

When we first started helping at Hoay Maw there were 184 children. At that time we wanted to explore the feasibility of sending children back to their villages where possible. It was satisfying to see this being fulfilled, although also very sobering that most of these children will now receive little or no education due to the pitiful or non-existent provision of education in remote villages. The family backgrounds of these children also embrace a range of challenges including severe poverty, abusive step-parents, parents with HIV or AIDS, in prison, or with addictions to drugs or alchohol. - However - As much as we would love to see care and education provided for all of these children, Hoay Maw do not have anywhere near the adequate resources for this provision at this time.

The remaining children have nowhere to go and no one to care for them and the care of these children will now become the main focus of this home. It is positive that all of these children either have Thai ID or have the documentation required to become eligible for this at age 15. This means that all of these children are entitled to attend the local Thai school.

The Home:

The children were given a meal while we were there. Although the food was simple and economical, it was nicely cooked and nutritious (with vegetables and morsels of meat). The whole home was very tidy and well kept (on a previous visit, Malee from Ban San Faan commented that she was impressed by this). We later saw the children airing their mattresses and sweeping the rooms.

The mosquito screens need repair and Paul is going to arrange for the materials to be ordered. Paul and the staff will carry out the repairs themselves - N.B. No need for expensive tradesman!

'Lunch Line-up'

'Airing the beds'

School:

The new school year commences in the coming weeks. In order to attend school, each of the 62 children will require some new school uniform (~£5/$10 per child) and will also be required to pay an annual school fee of ~£5/$10 (elementary) - £10/$20 (high school) per child. We are grateful for contributions via Links International Christmas Gifts for "school uniforms" that will help towards this. We are also hoping to be able to use remaining money from the Christmas "Blessings in a Bag" project which was sponsored by Arun Community Church, Open Hands, Living Word Church as well as other individuals. Thank you all for your care and for partnering with us for the benefit of the children at Hoay Maw.

'Sweet Potatoes'

Vegetables:

It was disappointing that the mushrooms and the morning glory were not thriving well at this time because of the current very hot season. It was however encouraging that the vegetables behind the girls' dorm (it used to be the boys') are doing very well as waste water (not sewage!) flows down onto them. A new planting of sweet potatoes adjacent to the pig pen is also doing well.

Pig project:

The pig pen was in a very good condition. The plumbing had been repaired. The 3 piglets of the large mother are significantly larger than the other piglets even though they are a month younger and started off tiny. This confirms the decision to keep the large mother. The 12 piglets are all progressing well. We plan to get nutrient food in order to accelerate the growth of the piglets. Paul is arranging to have an iron frame made to prevent the large mother from squashing the newborn piglets. We plan to use money from the Links International Christmas Gifts for "piglets" towards this. Thank you again for all who contributed to this.

'Younger but Bigger'

'Grub's Up!'

Vision:

Paul and Ratanaporn agreed that at this point they have a simple and well defined vision:

• To provide a home and care to bring up the children who are “true orphans”.
• To develop the quality of care to address the physical, social, educational and spiritual needs of the children.
• To limit the number of children in order to control finances and to not compromise the quality of care.
• To manage and develop the staff team.
• To endeavour where possible to develop projects that can contribute towards the running of the home in a move towards increased self-sufficiency and decreased dependency.

Finances:

Niti audited and signed the accounts. Having cleared the debts at the market from Jan-Mar, they have now spent about a further 10,000 baht (£165/330) this month (Apr). We have been concerned to avoid debt however, the home has no regular support for food and therefore it is inevitable that debt will be a progressive problem unless they receive some supplementary income.

Our principal has always been to encourage them towards increased self-sufficiency. In the past we have been reluctant to consider encouraging outside support because of inadequate management and accountability and also to first build relationship and define a common vision as a pre-requisite for further support.

We actually believe that significant strides have been made including:

• Clear recording and accountability of finances.
• Willingness to take radical steps to control financial output and an understating that expenditure can not be initiated without prior agreement.
• A mind set that is not looking for hand-outs but where there is willingness to take responsibility for their own lives.
• A simple, well-defined vision.
• Management that is teachable and willing to work as a team and also competent to oversee staff, projects and child care at the home.
• A staff team that have the ability to provide care for the children and development of projects.

Future:

We have come to a point where we would like to be able to explore a way of establishing a level of regular support for the home in order to provide a stable basic income. We would value your prayers that we would have wisdom regarding the best way to achieve this.

'Sawatdii Khrap!'

'Jim meets Paul & Rattanaporn'

Jim Reynolds:

Jim Reynolds is a teacher at GIS who has expressed an interest in Hoay Maw. We were very pleased to be able to give Jim Reynolds an opportunity to asses the situation at Hoay Maw. We believe that he was positively impressed by Paul and Rattanaporn as well as by the progress that has been made in the management of the home.

The Oliver family will be moving to a new house in order to get extra bedroom for growing children and to accommodate guests for extended periods.

Our current rental house at 186/51 World Club Land will become available for rent from 20th June 2008.

The house is very near Grace International School. Our children cycle to school in less than 5 minutes. We are very near a cluster of Grace teachers who live in what is fondly known as "teachers row". We also have some very nice Thai neighbours, which we really enjoy as it prevents it from feeling too much like "missionary-ville".

Click here to see location on google maps. GIS is to the lower right on the map (pan page and you will see the school swimming pool).

This blog gives some details and photos of the house. Click on a photo "visit inside" then hover mouse over areas of the photo to see detailed annotation e.g. find out which furniture belongs with the house and which we are taking with us.

CMCC Newsletter Ad.

Housing: Available
·(New) World Club End-of-row Town House: 3 bedrooms with a/c, 3 bathrooms (1 en-suite), office with a/c, kitchen, further utility kitchen at back. Some furniture, TV, ADSL, pretty garden. 17,000 Baht per month, available from June 20th 2008. Click here to contact.

Hope you enjoy this virtual tour of the house and it may help you make an assessment if you are coming to Chiang Mai from overseas ...

Outside

Rather grand view of house through wide angle lens

The above shot is taken from the front left corner of the yard. The garden is quite pretty and has some nice tropical plants and flowers. There is a nice place to sit with a small table and "log" chairs and a pretty fish pond.

Behind the photographer in the very corner is a defunct spirit house or as we call it "the bird table". You don't see it much behind the plants.

Front of house

Seating area and fish pond

Main Living Area - Lounge

Front door & entrance area

To the right - TV/lounge area

Continuing to the right door through to office den

Opposite view of main area

Main Living Area - Kitchen & Dining

Kitchen dining area

Tea time!

Utility Kitchen

Utility kitchen at rear of house - Jenny and scary David - please excuse mess - we'd just moved in!

Office Room / Den

Office area

Den

Upstairs - Main Bedroom

Built-in cupboards

Main bedroom

Main bedroom

En-suite

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 2

Boys bunks

Bedroom 3

Bedroom 3

Big bed

Children'sBathroom

bathroom

Other Comments

The house is reasonably bright given that in Thai houses they are built for cool. It is also quite a cool house. There is quite a bit of wallpaper which is a little old fashioned but fairly neutral in design.

The rent includes a gardener who comes one a month.

The house does have:

• 2 ring gas cooker with gas bottle
• 1 clothes airer
• fridge with small freezer compartment and small water dispenser
• 1 large office desk & chair
• small table and 4 chairs for dining
• TV unit
• TV
• ADSL 1M download/.5M upload
• telephone
• coffee table
• 2 reclining chairs can be used in lounge - a bit unusual to sit on but
  OK for starters
• small "log" garden table and chairs
• 2 large double beds
• built in wardrobes in 2 bedrooms
• water heater for shower in each bathroom (3)
• built in storage cupboards in main living are with glass doors.
• built-in kitchen units
• 4 air-cons (one in each bedroom and office)

But does not have:

• Washing machine
• iron or ironing board
• oven
• sofa
• bed in bedroom 2
• household contents i.e. kitchen utensils or linen

Summary of expenses (at the moment £1=~62 baht, $1US=~31 baht):

• Telephone - 300-375 baht per month (£4.80/$9.60 - £6/$12)
• Internet - 1166 baht per month (£18/$36)
• Electric - 2000-3100 baht per month (£32/$64 - £50/$100)
• Water - 169 baht per month (£2.75/$5.50)
• Moobahn estate fees - 400 baht per month (£6.45/$12.90)
• Pest control (optional) - 5000 baht per year £80.65/$161.30 (417 baht per month £6.75/$13.50)

We hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour.

Please feel free to ask further questions: Click here to contact

We were really privileged to be able to spend a weeks holiday in Singapore with our friend Agnes and her two children Marissa and Ben. We had a wonderful time.

We stayed at Agnes' apartment and were treated like royalty. Saani (Agnes' maid) prepared wonderful breakfasts with pancakes, muesli and lovely fruits. We also enjoyed a diversity of meals from Indian in Little India to Dim Sum at the club.

We spent quite a bit of time chilling out at the appartment, in the swimming pool, playing games or watching movies.

We also managed to fit in a few interesting activities:

Science Centre

Get a head!	On a plate!
Audience!	Tessla effect demo

Marissa's Prosthetics Exhibition

Dim Sum After Bowling

Water Park

Youth Service

Went to a great gathering of about 400 youth. Was like Cutting Edge and the first song was 'History Maker'!

Ice Skating

Friends!	On the ice!
Weak!	Wet!	Wobbly!

Tree-Top Adventure Trail

Jessica	Go-Ape!
Adrian	Agnes
David	Tom

Thank you Agnes, Marissa & Ben,
You are great company and thanks for a fabulous time. We look forward to next time!