One of the neighbours had heard they urgently needed underwear. A whip round amongst the neighbours, and somebody bought an assorted bundle of children’s underwear in Bangkok for 7,000 Baht.
Anyway the 4th July came and we set out for this place in Pala-U in convoy. 3 pickups and a SUV carrying 21 of us. We were later joined by a Nissan March carrying another 2.
The underwear was carried in the SUV. In the back of one of the pickups were the 2 largest insulated tubs of ice-cream I’d ever seen, a couple of sacks of chicken pieces, a sack of noodles, a sack of crisps, a sack of sweetie bars etc – I think you get the idea.
- a couple of sacks of chicken pieces, and a bag of congealed blood
- the 2 largest insulated tubs of ice-cream I’d ever seen
Although dry on this journey, there were quite a few run off ditches that had formed in the road, making for a very bumpy ride. The back end of my truck actually slid sideways 3 time, and I started thinking how grateful I was that I was driving a truck as opposed to a mere car. Imagine my surprise when the little Nissan March turned up later. On the way home, the little car left the rest of us for dead. I don’t know if this was good or stupid driving.
We turned left, drove through a rubber plantation and we were there – nor a refugee camp but a school. I’m still not sure where we were, but we must have been very close to Burma. The teachers wore the uniform of Border Police. So we were at quite a nice looking school in beautiful surroundings – the grounds of the school would leave many Thai schools wanting. However, it seems we were in a very poor area of Thailand.
We parked outside the dining hall, and the vehicles were unloaded. The 3 regular dinner ladies stood back, and our entourage started preparing food for the kids – I went for a quick wander around the grounds.
- the dining hall
- a quick wander around the grounds
- a quick wander around the grounds
- a quick wander around the grounds
- a quick wander around the grounds
- a quick wander around the grounds
- a quick wander around the grounds
- its own hospital block
- a vibrant market garden
- a vibrant market garden
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- a vibrant market garden
- a hen house with many laid eggs
- a goose house
- a fish farm with loads of edible sized fish
- 3 huge saucepans on large improvised gas cookers
- Our team of volunteers preparing the dishes conveyor belt style
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- the first wave of kids coming down the hill
- they all lined up to wash their hands in this saucepan – no soap, just hands in the water
- small dishes were place in front of each of them, but they just sat there, still and quiet
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- queued up for an ice-cream
- it was quite funny watching them to carry their booty, and eat an ice-cream at the same time
- some older girls came, and about 12 take-away meals were carried away by them on trays
- some older girls came, and about 12 take-away meals were carried away by them on trays
- Then came the bigger kids.
- They all sat down, and food was placed in front of each child.
- Like well drilled troops, they started moving their arms in some sort of ritualistic way, whilst chanting at the same time. This went on for a couple of minutes.
- Like well drilled troops, they started moving their arms in some sort of ritualistic way, whilst chanting at the same time. This went on for a couple of minutes.
- they started queuing for ice cream
The kids all lined up, and one of the elder girls stepped forward. I guessed that she was going to thank us, so I asked her if she could talk in English. She obviously understood me but after an embarrassed silence she started her speech in Thai. When she’d finished, they all sang the Koppun song to us saying thank you. They’d all eaten very well, and were truly grateful.
As they broke up, they were going around thanking everybody, and wais were quite prominent. They moved outside, and put their shoes back on and dispersed. This was remarkable in itself. 200 pairs of 2 kinds of shoe. I couldn’t believe that there was no squabbling over who had who’s shoes.
We packed up our things, and we were off. Many of the kids ran out of their classrooms to bid us farewell – absolutely fantastic, and I think we all left with a warm feeling inside feeling that we’d just done something good.
Your’re probably wondering what happened to the underwear. We left that with the teachers to sort out at school closing time. We didn’t feel it appropriate to try fitting various its items of under garments to 260 assorted kids.
On the way home, we popped in to see one our neighbour’s durian farm, but if you’ve seen one durian, you’ve seen them all I’m afraid.
- neighbour’s durian farm
Obviously a place where you just don't turn up with a few bags of goodies. I imagine someone in your group called ahead to assure how much was needed to feed the whole tribe. A good birthday memory for your wife. 
Pete 
and we were ready for next day.
what to do,what to do,ok I put my self together and sang a danish song about remembering what you learn in the school today,and who got the biggest laugh and aplaud of the day ? me 
