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The River Ping viewed from Baan Fah Sighy
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Rocks to pile a kerb, reveals their personalities
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On my first visit over a weekend, the children greeted and hugged me with such deep warmth and spontaneity that only children who have been responsibly loved are capable of. That Saturday morning, the older ones swept up leaves and piled rounded stones to make a kerb at the entrance gate. It was amusing to see them so eagerly scrambling about, carefully selecting their prized pebble or the biggest rock they could carry to build a part of their beloved home... and this is really home to them, not a regimented orphanage with disciplinarian care takers. Phil and Wanida cares for them as their own children.
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At the River Ping
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Later in the afternoon they trooped to the river and ran riot in the shallows and sandy banks, under the watchful eyes of Kun Suthip, the Chief Nanny. In the evening we bought freshly netted fish, from fishermen camped by the riverbank, eaten crisply fried that night.
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Choir at the Yurt, the all purpose thatched roof communal hall
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Sunday dawned cool and
bright. Everyone headed for the "Yurt" a large circular communal hall
with a high conical thatched roof. Some of the children scrambled onto the
raised platform to form a choir. With cues from Phil, they sang and danced,
their earnest performance sprinkled with comical antics. For the rest of the
day the children folded Origami turtles, celebrated a first year birthday and
generally occupied themselves with having a great deal of fun.
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Rough and tumble, what a fumble
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It was all to soon that I had to return to Chiang Mai, with a longing to visit the children of the Home of Blue Skies again, to the embrace of their little arms.
Postscript: In the year I lived in Chiang Mai, I often visited Blue Skies Home. It was a lot of fun getting the kids to speak English and rambling about the countryside or splashing in the river. If you would like to volunteer or donate, please email Phil at philhohnen@hotmail.com
