Chapel time at the Bible School. Singing of course.
The children in the orphanage Painting.
The Children singing.
We were there on ration day, which means that UN trucks bring in their needed food and supplies. This truck load was coal for cooking.
The view from our hut looking out. A few steps down and then it goes up the hill.
Our hut at at the refugee camp.
The mountains one has to cross to get back to Burma.
Ariel felt sick last night, we prayed for God to heal her, and he did. By the time we needed to leave for the children's home she was feeling a lot better, good enough that we felt we could continue with the day. Praise God. We went to a market on the way. The amount of things to buy was overwhelming, and we were harassed to buy many things and some we bought - 2 fans and collection of note cards, 3 dresses and some shoes.( of course we had to get shoes) Then we went for lunch to an Indian restaurant, we had to spoon feed the girls so they'd actually eat. Ben and I loved the food. After "full" bellies we drove a long way to get to the children's home. As we drove the city turned into villages, and then to farm land between villages, with a little jungle here and there as well. Rice fields went by, lots of dogs(108 according to the girls count), goats and shacks selling everything from crackers to clay pots. Lots of jeeps stacked with people or bamboo or bags of rice passing by. We drove on and on. Joelle and Seraya chatted the whole way. Ariel slept. We drove and drove some more. My sense of time was way off and I thought we had been driving way too long I was sure we were lost. Though I was kept entertained by the people I saw and the new environment plus the girls did so great with the long hot drive.(very hot and humid) They(the girls) didn't complain at all. Maybe the fact that they didn't have to wear seat belts helped them enjoy the ride. Soon Ton, our driver, slowed down, he drove more unsure of where he was going. Eventually he stopped to ask for directions(something I thought he was never going to do, and should have done an hour ago). We had driven too far. So we went back quite a way and after a few more wrong turns we made it to the road we needed to take to get to the home. By now it was pouring rain(as it usually did in the afternoon there) and the children were all coming home from school. We could see some waving at us from their "school bus" I was sure it was the kids from the home. So here we were stopped at this road, honestly I thought "if we go down that road we'll get stuck for sure". The driver was unsure too it took him a long time to decide to drive down that road. He drove cautiously, it was full of water filled potholes and was very rocky, almost like a river bed. he stopped to ask for more directions and the rain was still pouring down...... (not going into detail but I really had to go to the the bathroom right about here :$, Ben and the kids had a good howl at my expense) ..... Our driver found the place. We walked down a muddy path to the home. It was so beautiful and the kids were very excited to see us. We met them all (8) and tried to remember their names. We sang songs for them and they sang for us. We played games and talked about what they like. Then we did puzzles and drawing in their sketchbooks that we brought for them. At the end we prayed and it was time for us to go. Our driver was waiting for us by the main road so we walked out to meet him. It was very crazy driving home as it got dark, we won't do that again. Praise God we made it home alive.
They also bring flowers to lay before their idols
As we were leaving the pagoda it was raining really heavy and this little boy was taking a shower. I tried to talk to and befriend his mother who was sitting near by nursing her baby, but she was very shy of me and so were her other children. She appeared to be very poor.
What I see sitting here in front of our hotel - 3 Seasons Hotel Yangon
- a green iron fence and gate beyond the potted plants that give protective feeling and greenery in this concrete jungle.
- apartment buildings
- an Internet cafe on the lower floor
- a little boy playing naked on his balcony across the street 4 stories up
- mothers walking their children to school, they are under their umbrellas
- people walking by, many people
- the hotel manager welcomes someone at the gate
- Joelle and Seraya playing under their umbrellas
- a woman on the seventh floor of the apartment building across from me lowers something on a line to the street below. Looks like all the balconies have a string/rope to lower items to the street
- laundry hanging out to dry on many balconies
- 2 dogs fighting in the street
- taxis and vans and lorries and trucks and all kinds of compact vehicles pass by
- it has been one hour and no one has collected the item that the woman lowered
- a man on a trishaw passes by
One hotel butler with great service. They were all good but Ed like to make our life fun.
The grandmother of the hotel was thrilled with the girls but could only speak Burmese. Staying at the 3 seasons is staying as close to the people as you can, it's a small hotel, a family feel.
The front patio area was a nice place to relax and watch Myanmar go by.
Buddist monks walked by every morning, collecting their food offering for the day.
Ed, our hotel butler took the girls on a trishaw ride on a few special evenings.
A 2 square km area with 40-80 thousand people living in it.
