Final Day

Good Morning for the last time here in Chiangmai, it was so good not to be woken up by Dogs or Roosters. We have come to the end of our amazing 14 day mission, H20 Huey Sai Village northern Thailand 2012. We arrived back in Chiangmai with Robert not to well the smoke had irritated his asthma and by the time we got to Chiangmai he had to be taken to Hospital, he was released later and is doing ok now. The group was treated to a night out at a top Thai cultural show and dinner where we enjoyed some yummy Thai Quisine and watched some traditional dance. This morning we are off to an Elephant park, snake farm then a Tiger show before jumping on that big metal bird to head home. The team thank you for your prayers and following us on this Mission.

All finished

Photos of finished tank with villagers and water taps being loved by all :)

Time to leave the village.....

Today we pack our bags and say good bye to the village, we have had a great time working to help bring water to the village as well as making lots of new friends and sharing Jesus with the children. On Tuesday the village put on a typical Lahu dance in costume, so in response on Wednesday night it was our turn to perform so we started with a couple of games & a song then for the finale the Boys ripped of there tops and performed the meanest Haka, there was a lot of laughter as the tops came
off, they had no idea what the Haka was but they enjoyed it. We are back in Chiangmai now and at ITDP for Lunch. We get to sleep in a real bed tonight and then head home tomorrow.

Day 13 - Water

Patience is one thing you learn here. Our ITDP friends display this every day when temporary was pulled apart again so the villages can get some water. Their answer to this is "no problem" even after a day when the water supply has had some problems and they have climbed the 3.5km to the water source to check the line.
The delight on faces especially the children when water first comes into the village is something I will not forget.
When everything here is done the hard way, like sifting sand through a mesh to get fine sand for plastering and course sand for the filter tank one bucket of sand at a time. Digging trenches in the hard ground with a hoe in the heat. We appreciate the machine and they appreciate clean water nearly to the door.

Day 12 - Project Update

So far we have completed both water tanks with just the main tank to be plastered today, the trench digging is mostly complete with only a few short runs left to go. To date we have 3 bathrooms under way, one is finished with the other two to be completed today.

The children are getting very friendly and hanging around most of the time.  All starting to get tired due to hard work, the heat and those noisy dogs & roosters that go all night. 

We have a real feeling of peace in the Village as we feel the Lords presence here with us.  Had a village Trade fair with all sorts of interesting crafts and clothing.

Sunday - a day of Rest......

Wow only three days to go. Sunday was a much needed rest day, although we were on the go all day, first we visited a family home & was given a cooking demo, I think from what the boys were saying some of the kitchens back home are in for a Thai revamp!!. Then we went along to worship our source with the local Christians, then after lunch it was off to the water source about 3 ks away, that was a hot but fun walk through the bamboo & teak trees. We introduced the Thai boys to Cricket that was a bit of a
laugh at first & then started to get the hang of it so look out Blackcaps., the local boys then took on the NZ team at soccer needless to say Mike & Campbell still thought they were 18 and still had the skills haha, we finished of the around the fire singing action songs, that was great to see the kids joining in.

GREETINGS THAILAND TEAM.....

Greetings Thailand team! A few of us got together today out at Rukuhia to share food and company - had a really lovely time with lots of good food (not a lot of rice in sight!). We hope you enjoy the pictures (one with sad faces to show how much you are missed!) and others with a more cheerful outlook. We miss you all but know you are doing great work and look forward to hearing all your stories when you get back. Lifting you up in our prayers - family & friends at CBC.

A bit of a looksy at Huey Sai.......

So finally you get to have a bit of a looksy at Huey Sai and what us crazy kiwis are up to.  

So far the pipe work from the source to the water filter tank is competed.  The pipe back to the main tank and part way into the village has been laid.  The water tank has only one more layer of concrete to pour and the filter tank is poured.  Two ablution blocks have been built - they include a 2.5m soak tank and a small concrete floored, bamboo walled shed with a squat toilet.

We have also run 3 kids club sessions that they call Vacation Bible School ... with way more laughing and fun than school!  About 30 kids each day are discovering that they a great loved by God and also precious to us.

Tomorrow is Sunday and our first rest day.  We are going to the little local church than laxing out with a chance to hang with the locals.  We plan to intro them to cricket and also will be meeting the local Shaman.
Then Monday to Wednesday is hard out finishing the tanks ... 3 more ablution blocks and the final pipe and tap work through the village.

Today it felt as though we were all of a sudden accepted as being more than just very strange looking visitors.  More and more contact with the villages each day and many more smiles and even laughs coming our way.

This place is so poor and yet there is a richness here in each of these beautiful people.  It's so amazing for us all to be a small part of bringing hope, health and friendship to these humble, shy, quiet, needy people.  Hope you enjoy the pics!

Even in Thailand the blokes can be blokes ... and the Thai blokes have been teaching us a thing or two ... too.



Geoff's in project prep mode at a daily monitoring meeting



Mike Mann is the man.  Before we came he was the only European person many of these villages had meet. He leads ITDP and this is the 226 water project over the last 20 years

Layer  3 of 5 concrete pours on the main storage tank

More bucket passing than you can poke a stick at.

Kiwi's, the ITDP team and our local host VooLee enjoy a kiwi version of
pig on a spit and baked potatoes

Julz hacking out a trench for water pipe while Chris supervises

Robert foccused on re-barring the main storage tank.

Thousands of metres of blue pipe are a sign that clean water is on it's
way.

The boys are back in town ... kid magnets!

The first of many ablution blocks to be constructed over the next month

...thats all folks - only a week to go!!!!





Mike and Campbell went off fishing to catch lunch but...

Another early morning woken by they roosters.  Mike & Campbell went off fishing to catch lunch but came back with bread instead, while the rest of us poured the 3rd out of 5 concert rings on the water tank!

All finding it a bit hard sleeping on the hard floor and all our muscles are aching but still manage to find the energy to dig trenches, make & pour concert, & build a bathroom.

Breakfast time over now back to work!

ITS ABOUT TIME - PART B

Campbell here with part B.........

Our hosts at Huey Sai are Wool-Lee and Dee-Cee. They shifted here from a village near the Burmese border 4 years ago. They came to bring the goodness of Jesus and now Pastor a little church of about 40.
Now they are helping bring not only the love of Jesus but also health through the ITDP water and sanitation project.

Up on the hill next door is a very run-down Buddhist school that we used yesterday for our first kids club. About 40 kids came full of energy to be entertained by "Simon says" by ... Simon! For the first time many of them heard the amazing story of God's creation and their preciousness in being wonderfully made. We had a
crack at "he's got the whole world in his hands" in Thai.

Each day we discover more about these quiet yet colourful people. We realise a little more our need to slowdown to their pace of life. We learn that our diversity is beautiful and similarities many... Longing to love and be loved.

And lastly some practical stuff:  team is healthy, Meryn is a machine, food is great and rice in plenty, the boys are kinda behaving, there's plenty of rice, first ablution block underway, rice for lunch, cool evenings and hot days, I think rice for dinner tonite ... That's all folks. Hope to get you some pics on Sunday.

Campbell.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME....."

IT'S ABOUT TIME, IT'S ABOUT TIME, iTs AbOuT TiMe, it's About time, I mean cock a doodle doo!

So after two nights of waking up at 2 in the morning, after 200,000 cock a doodle doos, we learnt to speak chicken! Is about time to wake up and they don't shut up till the sun comes up!

After bumper surfing at 100 up and over the hills, having the kiss of death with on coming vehicles we are at the village making great progress. We have mixed over 8cube of concrete by hand with gap 40, and now we have a floor and first ring of the tank poured.

The serenity is just tip top, and the kids have way to much energy! 1kz's are tip top for here and it seems like over 5/4s of the Hilux production line live over here.

Signing off from the "special"ists on the team, Chris and Simon

We are here!

Exciting but lil apprehensive. Village area great, ITDP team good set up. Our room in bamboo hut compact, but comfy. Toilet n shower a "treat" but all good. We straight into work, pipes from 3.5kms and we actually got water thru .. Yeah! Now just to dig into ground. Night surprisingly COLD.

Off to the hills we go!

Well today's the day we came here for. Time to grab our bags, jump on the utes n make a track to the mountains. Eager yet nervous, the team is ready to hang with the locals n pick up the spades. Not sure what awaits us at the Huey Sai village but we do know they need access to clean water, they need to be able to safely deal with waste and as a marginalised hilltribe they need to know that they matter and are loved. We can't wait to serve and love them. As Jesus put it to "love our neighbour as ourselves".

This water project is number 226 for ITDP. Amazing... We get to help with 226! Our small part in something much bigger. Wirisak is the ITDP project manager going with us and he's been working at this for 21 years ... What a legend. Witchit (Richard) is our translator, an ex-English teacher... A fun guy. And Nob, one of our other drivers is a passionate fisherman (Mike and Campbell are his new best mates).

Well we are on the way. Please keep praying for us and the village. update you if we can. Bye.

Number 13 of the team :)

Hi I'm Gwenna Taylor, from Waipukurau, currently unemployed and mother of 5.
Loving Thailand so far, specially the orchids, they have some amazing colours.
I think the rest of the group is amazing and really getting on with everyone!

Transport

I think we have almost tried all the different means of transport!
Yesterday we packed 13 of us seated in the back of a ute, then got in a few tuk Turks and went to the markets, and today we felt like cattle hanging out the back of a ute tray, Good Times

Meeting the ITDP group

Today we started off at the ITDP office where we had an Orientation on the day ahead in the hill village, once the hard work was done they took us to San Kam Paeng a silver factory, here we got to see how they make a small bowl and all the detailing they put into it, we then got taken the a carving factory, they really know how to make an amazing price of art out of a bit of wood!
Below are a few photos

Temple

Yesterday afternoon we went up a very windy hill road to a big temple called the guardian temple or the temple in the sky.
This is a budist temple where the Thai come and prey.

Arrived :)

Have now arrived safe and sound in Chang Mai! Off to see a temple this afternoon after a Thai lunch!
The below photo is of an old brick wall that once surrounded the old city

Lift off!!

At the air port all checked in ready to take off :)

Not long now....

Here's our noble team leader - Kev.  Kevin and Helen Honore are Field Directors for Bright Hope World (Christchurch). BHW bring help and hope to some of the poorest of the poor around the globe. Kev and Helen spend many months each year visiting BHW partners from Africa to India, Asia and South America.  Kev will bring strong leadership and a very tender heart to the team, along with his sensitivity to both the Thai and Red Lahu Culture.  Check out more about the work of Bright Hope World at www.brighthopeworld.com 




Introducing Chris Davidson.  Chris is very much the create it, fix it, drive it kinda guy. He also loves making life a blast for kids.  So chuck this guy on a plane to Northern Thailand and you know you have a team member who will not only enjoy constructing a new water system but will also be in boots and all as the team run a daily program for the village children.