A Big Birthday Party!
The children at the Rescue Mission don’t know when their birthdays are, so for the third year in a row we threw a big birthday party to celebrate them all! The children were so thrilled and excited. Colourful decorations and party hats were cheerfully put together by the children and the volunteers, and special Korean food was prepared by our wonderful Korean volunteers.
There was lots of dancing, singing and party games – the favourites were ‘pin the tail on the elephant’ and the ‘pop the balloon game’. The children watched a puppet show about a fox and a koala bear and had lots of laughs. Each child received a birthday present which included some fun toys, a new outfit and a new toothbrush. We finished the day with ice-cream for desert, what a day to remember!
Immunisations
Thank you to all our sponsors and donors for your generous, life saving gift of immunisations against preventable diseases. Children living in poverty have little to no access to medical care and a lack of immunisations has lead to death and disability for many of the siblings of the precious children in our care. Asa has campaigned to have Hilltribe children protected with immunisations for many years now, so it was a special day when the children visited Mae Suai hospital for their first vaccinations ever. The children were treated to an ice cream afterward for being so brave!
Visiting an Akha Village
Our Australian volunteer team were privileged to be able to visit an Akha village while they were here. They got to experience the beautiful Akha hospitality and culture, and gained a better understanding of the challenges Akha people face everyday. We we arrived at the village we were greeted by a dozen of the village elders. The villagers served us Akha tea that had been picked fresh from the bush, with Akha melon and cucumbers that are nearly as big as watermelons. We sat down in an Akha grass hut and shared our time with the Akha people.
We also went into one of the traditional Akha homes and saw how a family actually functions in terms of cooking, sleeping, using farming tools, and preserving their crop seeds. It was an incredible experience!
Thank you for your ongoing support of the RM4C Inc. This special newsletter for October is to say a BIG Thank you to our wonderful Australian volunteers who visited us in September.
Asa Stevenson | General Manager
Meet the lovable Niamiah
Niamiah (Nia for short) is a 6 year old boy who is full of energy! He is cheeky, funny, affectionate and maybe even a little mischevious!
Nia is in preschool and he is extremely proud of his writing and numbers. He loves books and reading and it may be the only time he sits still!
Nia, his older brother Jeremiah, and his older sister Yermou were abandoned by their parents. The Rescue Mission provides them with a safe home, nutritious food, clean water, health care and an education. He is thriving in this environment and has a bright future ahead of him.
Our New Study Room
One of the projects the volunteer team helped put together for the children is the study room, so the children can complete their homework in a quiet and organized space. The whole room was scrubbed and given a new coat of paint and was then transformed into a vibrant room with flowers, animals and a nature theme painted on the walls. Thank you so much for creating a special room for the better future of the Stateless Akha children. Education is the key to a better future for these children.
Mama Mia Fundraiser!
On October 8th, Genesis Church hosted an awesome night of singing and dancing to the Mama Mia Movie. It was a great night of fun that raised $2 500 for the new roof on the kitchen through donations and a cent auction. People dressed up as ABBA fans and Greek Godesses, every one enjoyed great food and good company!
THAI TIMES | Greetings from Paul and Dee!
All the children loved having the volunteers come to visit the Mission, and were excited to see the study room created especially for them. The recreation room was also totally refurbished, with a feature wall of colourful animals painted to brighten up the place where the children like to play. The volunteers were touched by the love that the children showed them and enjoyed interacting with the children, making necklaces and bracelets out of beads, playing board and ball games, and generally having lots of fun!
October was a quiet time at the Mission, as all but 8 of the children went back to their villages for the school holidays. Outings included the Khun Korn waterfall where they enjoyed splashing around in the cool waters and the Tuesday night markets, a bustling place of sights, sounds and colours.
Around the Grounds
We are counting down to the arrival of the Rotary Team from NZ in November, made up of 14 volunteers. Among these talented Rotaractors (young Rotarians) will be a Dentist, a Medical Student in her 5th year and a qualified electrician. The Dentist will check, clean and perform dental works on the children’s teeth. The Medical Student (5th Year) will establish a health profile for each child, and the electrician will help us to get some maintenance and repairs done on site.
The RMFC Management Team, made up of Paul, Dee, Asa, Aga and Nanuan, have been helped by the children that remained onsite over the holidays to prepare the Guava Orchard (Stage 2) for the Rotaractors.
Rotaract brings together adults 18-30 to take action in their communities, develop their leadership and professional skills, and have fun. These volunteers are a part of the Starfish Project that is sponsored by Rotary’s NGR in Dunedin, New Zealand.
These volunteers will plant the second stage of the Guava Orchard Project, which ultimately will help RMFC create a sustainable agricultural program. The Guavas, Bananas and Longans will provide income and a training ground for the children to learn the horticultural principles and practices that support agribusiness projects. RMFC plans to teach the children paddock to the plate skills in production horticulture that includes nursery and plantation development, fruit and vegetable production, plant protection and post-harvest handling, as well as management and marketing. In an action learning program we will make this interesting and informative to the children and we hope that this development will ignite a passion for horticulture in some children, which will help them transfer knowledge to their communities.
Kitchen Re-Development
The Rotaract Team will also begin a long-term project to replace the roofing at RMFC. We will kick this off with a new roof on the building that will become our new kitchen in 2017. Presently, the roofing on site is cement sheeting and we will be transitioning to steel, as well as installing guttering and tanks to catch water for operations and the sustainable ag-program.
