36 legs

On Thursday, Day Five, Justin, Matt and Elijah, along with Sherine, got an early start to the day doing the rounds on the school bus. They drove to the Three Pagodas border, where historically there has been hostility between the Burmese and Thai, and collected a bus load of Burmese children who strolled across the border with a smile on their faces, just as they do every morning and afternoon. Back at the school, the rest of us enjoyed some toast, churros-looking-things, and potato and onion samosas.

After breakfast, due to the overnight rain, we put a hold on the carpark work and instead began to form a “human centipede” as Billy’s analogy describes, as we transported two truck loads of gravel down a steep flight of stairs to a tiered surface that was prone to flooding. With Ethan  and James, the captains for the day at the head of the centipede, and Billy claiming the glory at the tail-end, the “legs”, who worked away tirelessly all morning. Just as we thought we were getting close to finishing, another truck arrived and dumped another load at our displeasure.

Lunch was celebrated with all the students, and as per usual we prayed and said our thanks to God prior to eating. We then proceeded to munch down some rice, pad thai, and some sausages that happened to be made of glue. After lunch, we joined the students in the yard for their break, and this consisted of hand clapping games, piggy back rides, laughter and infectious smiles on the faces of both the kids and us.

After lunch, we recommenced work to see Br. Mario (Maz) hacking away at the pile of gravel, preparing it for our return. As the human centipede regrouped we seemed to be missing a pair of legs in Bubba Winberg, who so happened to return just as the last bucket load was passed down the line. The stand out performer of the day was surprisingly Billy Bunn himself, as his landscaping skills were put on show. As the work concluded, we all jumped straight into the back of the ute (100% with all the required safety measures in seats, seatbelts and safety bars 😉) and headed down to the river to wash off all the mud, sweat and tears. The likes of Jonathan and Rohan were almost swept away by the fast flowing water, but luckily or unluckily we were in the presence of Liam, the lifesaver, who was more focused on the fish nibbling at his feet than the boys being washed away.

We returned back to home base, where we relaxed after a hard day of work, before Luis and Liam were attacked, beaten and scarred by three very enthusiastic children, who refused to walk anywhere. After escaping their wrath, Rohan was sacrificed and ambushed by the same kids as Luis and Liam literally ran away crying. Mr Winberg sat in the corner watching Essendon’s thrilling finish.

Before dinner, we played jenga and did puzzles with some of the younger Blue Sky Home girls, before sharing a meal prepared by the older girls. With the dogs fighting under the table, we all got another massive fright, including Tamalapow who bolted into the girls bedroom.

After dinner, we recognised the immense amount of work the girls were required to do for us, so we assisted in the clean up process to attempt to lift the burden off them. We continued to play with the girls after dinner, with Sam and Justin being very popular amongst them, and you could literally see the joy that they brought to the girls and likewise for them.

In preparation for the movie night on Friday night, we travelled to the market and 7/11 to buy some snacks and drinks to share with the girls. We returned home, all slightly disappointed that we had missed the girls bed time, yet shared some thoughts about our adventures, relationships and connections that we had experienced so far. It was evident that all of us had begun to become attached, emotional and very aware of the culture we were immersed in, and began to brainstorm a new approach to MAD Day that would change the way the rest of the Beda Boys at home think and feel about getting involved in fundraising. No longer for us is it fundraising for the La Salle Sangkhla Buri School. Now, it is fundraising for the faces of the girls here, which we each know by name, and care for very much.

Luis & Liam

Sport Day

Still buzzing from the welcome party the night before, everyone was eager to get to work. The downpour from the previous day continued throughout the night and into our working hours. Our task was to finish joining the trench to the road and to level the land that would be covered in concrete. Not only was the sloppy clay treacherous to move around the site, looser areas created puddles that would swallow a boot whole. Despite the growing obstacles, the team pushed on with Elijah, Justin and Charlie using their hands to fill pockets of ground behind the group. With everyone’s perseverance we managed to get the job done an hour early. The work was not without some hard-earned chaos; fueled by Ethan and Shae’s shenanigans, Billy became more mud than man.

After a quick mud fight the work day had come to an end so we all packed up or shovels and hoes before heading for a shower, the part of the group that is in green house found out when they got to their rooms that their showers weren’t working so their wait was uneventful. The others quickly had a shower and prepared for a tough sports day with the school. After around 10 minutes of waiting the green house had their showers repaired and had a shower removing all the mud that had attached itself to everyone. Billy, despite the shower still had mud spots where you could tell the mud had been. While waiting for the sports to start many of the boys were playing in their playground with the younger kids from the school. Many of the boys were carrying the children on their back and in their arms. When the sports day eventually started the whole school piled into the small basketball court which really put the pressure on for us to at least put up a fight on the sports they practiced the most. The first sport that was played was volleyball with the team having rotating players every time we won back the serve. After only 3 out of 5 sets played we lost the match after putting up a tough fight and only ever losing by a couple points. When the next sport came around it turned out to be soccer which was a tough game to play. We were initially out of our depth against solid opposition, but we adjusted, and after an enthusiastic rev up from coach Billy Bunn, we were inspired. The deciding goal was one for the books, a spectacular shot getting kicked from the keeper ‘Dunney’ still in goals getting foreheaded by Mr Winberg into the goal (video replay to come). Everyone rushed the field to celebrate the goal not even realising that we had won by one goal until we calmed down and actually looked at the score. The final game that would decide who would come out on top Australia or Thailand was a netball type game, this game was brutal for the Thai teachers as we beat them by more than 10 points ending with one of them getting injured with a suspected rolled ankle.

For the rest of the day we hung out the kids until dinner with the blue sky home girls which had many laughs throughout the meal with a gecko falling into Jonathan’s food causing a lot of confusion, surprise and fun whilst watching the reactions of everyone around him. After the meal we talked for a bit before going into a classroom to help the girls with their homework. After a while the room turned to chaos with girls singing while Ethan W and Elijah were dancing to their song and others just going crazy with the younger girls. The chaos continued until they had to stop to go to sleep with a lot of see you tomorrow comments, we parted for the night and all went to bed.

Off to work

DAY 3

After an eventful night of riddles and mind games causing what could be said more stress than expected, everyone was still able to get to bed reasonably early for what was our first day of working.

With an early wake up at 6:30am the boys were all up and about at breakfast and were keen to start working. Making our way to the work site we were all pleasantly surprised to see no trees (they had already been cut down for us), and a frame in which was already in place. We were asked to dig a 30m ditch by 50cm wide and 50cm deep ‘gutter’ stretching the length of the proposed shelter, and everyone could agree that it was much harder than expected. With the entire team working as a unit we managed to make good progress before our lunch break.

With food in our bellies and a small rest, the boys still had time to play with the children at the school. The highlight was Liam sharing his chicken crimpy shapes which the kids eagerly lined up as if it was Holy Communion. With intense soccer games and “dust dust goost” our interacting with the lovely students from the Sangkhlaburi school our relationships grew stronger. We then were back out into the heat with our second session of working for the day. The sun didn’t last long, when a strong cool breeze came through, much to the liking of all. With rain pouring, working at the site was seemingly impossible, as our boots were collecting and clearing most of the land. Billy and Shae, including many others were slowing deteriorating coming to 3:00pm which would mark the end of the days work, they created their own mothers club gossiping who knows what.

With what was a successful day at the work site, we were all ready for our welcome dinner party which the Blue Sky Home were presenting. We were all able to mix with the girls and try to extend our Thai abilities. A few of the boys used their initiative and just left google translate to do the work, and even then their message was getting through.

The night was truly amazing for everyone, with a dancing/musical chairs game that everyone REALLY got into, including many other games that the girls had shared with us. Being just 3 days in, the relationships between the girls from the Blue Sky Home and our team grew immensely, with an true excitement for the rest of the trip!

Day One

Apologies for the delay* We’ve had limited wifi as the router is broken and will be replaced today.

DAY 0
Sawadee krub! You would think from the hullabaloo caused by Sherine, the plane was going down however it was delayed an hour with the airline compensating with Bega cheese and Jatz Crackers. Thai Airways, even without any safety instructions, was bearable. The only source of entertainment however throughout the 9 hours was a flying beef casserole, cauliflower gratin, dinner roll and lukewarm orange juice that was worn by a nearby passenger waking everyone up with their screaming.

DAY 1
Arriving in Bangkok the brothers drove a convoy of minibuses to the La Salle School in Sangkhlaburi, stopping at every Cafe Amazon in western Thailand. This trip gave birth to the pen game (Winberg’s favourite). Brother Matthew greeted us and we played with the Blue Sky Home girls with Sherine’s smuggled bubble blowers. That night the girls cooked us a welcome meal and we all were introduced to each other (Elijah didn’t receive a handmade card-trag). Banana and chocolate pancakes were the hero of the night market in town, where the cook absolutely abused the batter to make the masterpiece.

DAY 2
The plywood beds were surprisingly comfortable or it may have just been that no one had slept in 48 hours (except Flynn and Sherine who were out cold on the plane and, Billy’s novelty child pig neck pillow didn’t aide him in getting any sleep either). The morning assembly introduced the boys to the entire La Salle school. The open bus took us to the cultural hotspots of the area including temples and the Mon bridge (the second largest wooden bridge in the world) with our excellent tour guide, Br Mario. The dogs were a temptation to pat however we had to restrain our urges to avoid disease. Back on the bus Charlie almost died playing corners before we reached the Bamboo School, and the crazy kids. The children, being mostly Burmese were extremely excited to see us as we played duck, duck goose and things got hectic with these little balls of endless energy. Justin was a fan favourite with him creating a posse of kids around him. All the boys planted two papaya trees as a sign of new beginnings. Although the kids wouldn’t let us leave,we had to say goodbye to them (and Mount Sherine). Next, we visited a local village where some of the students lived. The bus skrrrt skrrrted full sicko mode to the Thai-Myanmar border were we lost Ethan(abcdE) and Sherine at a market, forcing us to return A$AP Rocky. Back at the school all the boys played Australia vs Thailand in a soccer game which we lost. Recovering from a thrashing in soccer, we all attended a mass that night – completely in Thai, yet still reminding us of similar Lasallian traditions back home, and went to bed exhausted – ready for our first working day tomorrow.
*More pictures to come. With the lack of WIFI it’s taking forever to upload!!

Introducing 2019 Thailand Outreach Group One

On Tuesday night the 2019 Thailand Outreach Volunteers and their families gathered for an information evening and an opportunity to meet one another. As part of the evening, our Year 11 Volunteers received their plane tickets and travel itineraries.
With only ten days until our June 22 departure, all students and staff are excited and proud to be representing the college on this journey.
Our volunteers are:
Staff: Mark Winberg, Sherine Burl, Shae Hower, Sally Spencer
Students: Elijah Barrett, Rohan Bartosy, William Bunn, Justin Carino, Liam Collins, James Di-Giovambattista, Matthew Dunn, Ethan Englebright, Jonathan Lantouris, Charlie Miller, Flynn Morley, Sam Murray, Luis Perpina, Ethan Wellman, Lachlan Young.