Pattaya Orphanage

Today I spent my first of many at the Pattaya Orphanage.  If you'd like more info about it, click here. It was my first experience as a volunteer, and I very much enjoyed it. One of my fellow teachers, Lia, was a Korean orphan adopted by an American family, so she had done some research and been wanting to go. It was her second time, and she was happy to have me along. I was really excited to go, and to go with someone who was familiar with volunteering. I was very glad to have her, as we were pretty much on our own. I definitely wouldn't have known what to do.

This orphanage was very different than my general idea of an orphanage. A lot of the children are sponsored and go to private schools, many here in Si Racha. A lot of them are able to go on to college, and none are forced to leave until they have jobs. That was something I had not really considered, but it was nice to see that they knew they had a place until they were capable of having a life of their own. As a result, the children there ranged in age from newborn to mid 20s even. 

It was very, very clean. The children for the most part seemed happy, and they were well fed. Of course, it's still an orphanage, so in no way was it an ideal way of life, but I was impressed with what they are trying to achieve and how they are constantly making progress. 

On the grounds there is also a school for the deaf. In Thailand, and possibly many other Asian countries, children with disabilities are incredibly disadvantaged and outcast. It's quite terrible. The woman who was telling us about it said that their intake was declining, but in many ways that was a good thing because it meant these children were able to have their needs met where they live. Either way, some very good things are happening here. 

We spent a lot of time with the babies and some time in the afternoon with a group of girls around 10 years old. They warmed up to us pretty quickly, and I am so glad I'm in a position to continue visiting and maintain those relationships.

A lot of money for the orphanage comes from sponsors and donations, and we saw many people coming in today in bigger groups to look around and take a few photos then be on their way. It was really strange to see, but ultimately, these little visits help the children to get money. They need money. It was nice that they treated us differently, though. We were able to stay outside of regular visiting hours and were pretty much free to do as we wanted. Lia had mentioned before that she didn't bring her camera out the first day, because she wanted them to know that's not why she was there. I thought that was an excellent idea, and therefore had no intention of taking pictures. However, when we were outside playing with the older girls, they dug through my purse and were very excited to take lots of photos and play with my phone. So, I have several that they took. Here are a few.

Me and my new friend, Mok. She took to me more quickly than the others. She was a cutie.

They definitely knew what to do when a willing volunteer came around. "Swing me! Push me! Carry me!" We certainly got our workout with them, but it was tons of fun.

They were really into the cameras. There was A LOT of this.

Mok had stolen my cell phone, managed to send a text and make a phone call before I realized how capable she was. Phone privileges over..

Trying to swing them on this thing was no easy task, but they were determined I could do it. Building up my arm strength in unexpected ways here.

Some of the kiddos watching TV in a performance room. Everywhere it was so sooo clean.