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| Milla at the age of 3, in Viengping Children's home. |
All of our blog posts are written roughly through memory and Milla's diaries, translated to english by Tuukka. This one is especially about Milla's emotions of being back to Viengping where she was adopted from, so this one will be written from Milla's perspective.
At the morning the panic hit me, I didn't know how to react. The children's home was a 30 minute drive away from the residence. We had the minivan already waiting for us after the breakfast.
Few misunderstandings and a bit of negotiating went on about the time when we had to be there. On the way we stopped at the Rimping supermarket to buy a gift for the lady in charge of the children's home. We bought her bird's nests for about 550TBH (13,5€), it's a delicacy in Asia. Nests are collected from the cliffs and made in to soup. It's a common gift and very valued one. We also bought flowers and had a bag of Turkin Pippuri's, a finnish candy to give them.
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| On route to Viengping. |
When we finally arrived at the gates (only 5 minutes late, oops!) a social worker was there to guide us in with a big smile on her face. She asked my name (Chanamon) and as soon as she opened my file she yelled "Bai Tong! I remember you, you was so little!"
I got even more confused when more and more of the nurses came to look my files and laughing how I've grown so much. I had totally no words for the situation, it was somehow so beautiful.
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| The social worker on the right , other one of Milla's caretakers on the left. |
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| Pictures of Milla at the Viengping and after adoption. |
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| Milla's files |
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| Close up of the file. |
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| How cute is that? |
The side of the children's home which we visited was for children from newborns up to 6 years old. There's also housing for over 6 years old girls and another house for the older girls (up to 22 years of age). Boys from the children's home go to house for boys when they hit 6 years. Boy's home is on the same property. They showed us the room which I lived when I was in Viengping. All of my roommates from the days had also been adopted. It was nice to hear that I wasn't the only lucky one.
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| Children sleep in different houses, depending on their age. |
We walked by a playground and all of the children came boldly to say hi to us. All of us had at least a few kids hanging from us. They looked at our cameras and especially at the boys's tattoos. You could see how they just wanted attention and to be held and played with.
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| Make surrounded by the children |
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| Milla found a new friend. |
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| All of the kids knew this gesture |
After a quick stop at the playground, we got to see the babies' house. It was a 2 story building and in the upstairs there was a room of approximately 60 square meters. The room was full of cribs in lines of two, on the each side of the room, total of maybe 20-30 cribs. We have no photos inside of these buildings, because of the Thailand's strict children protection laws, which prohibits taking photos or videos inside of these housings.
All the babies had clean sheets and blankets, own nursing bottles and toys. There was only five nurses for all of the (20-30) babies, which is pretty few. At the night time there would be only two nurse. It's quiet at the night, but when the mass crying begins, there will be a shortage of hands!
I felt affection to these little dark eyed darlings, but at the same time felt a grasp in my chest and water in my eyes. The feeling of standing inside of a room, where from a month old to a year old babies reach for you as a sign of a need to be held, it leaves you speechless. Especially when you yourself have been in that same exact room as a baby. There's no words when they look at you like you could be their next friend and play with them.
All of the babies in the room looked healthy, except for one boy who had oxygen tubes going in to his nose. He was suffering from a serious respiratory illness (which name we didn't catch). The boy was brought in when he was only couple of weeks old. Afterwards his mother had came to see the boy, but had to leave him there. She had no money to take care of the boy because of his illness.
After all the little boy had gone through, when I held his tiny tiny hand and gave him a smile, I still got a little shy smile back.
When we left the room with water in our eyes, we got to spectate 1-4 years old's lunch time. The dining room (or actually a building) was roomy. It had benches made from aluminium and the younger kids had their own iron plate and a spoon. Older kids had plastic plates and got to practice using a fork with the spoon. (in Thailand you eat with a fork in your left, and a spoon in your right hand. Not with a fork and a knife like in western countries)
I felt affection to these little dark eyed darlings, but at the same time felt a grasp in my chest and water in my eyes. The feeling of standing inside of a room, where from a month old to a year old babies reach for you as a sign of a need to be held, it leaves you speechless. Especially when you yourself have been in that same exact room as a baby. There's no words when they look at you like you could be their next friend and play with them.
All of the babies in the room looked healthy, except for one boy who had oxygen tubes going in to his nose. He was suffering from a serious respiratory illness (which name we didn't catch). The boy was brought in when he was only couple of weeks old. Afterwards his mother had came to see the boy, but had to leave him there. She had no money to take care of the boy because of his illness.
After all the little boy had gone through, when I held his tiny tiny hand and gave him a smile, I still got a little shy smile back.
When we left the room with water in our eyes, we got to spectate 1-4 years old's lunch time. The dining room (or actually a building) was roomy. It had benches made from aluminium and the younger kids had their own iron plate and a spoon. Older kids had plastic plates and got to practice using a fork with the spoon. (in Thailand you eat with a fork in your left, and a spoon in your right hand. Not with a fork and a knife like in western countries)
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| Lunch time with the 4 year olds. |
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| Milla 18 years ago at the diner. |
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| Milla in the same dining room, 18 years later. |
A lady comes out of the kitchen, she reaches out and introduces herself as the "chief of the kitchen". When I was still in Viengping, she was a social worker too and took care of me, but now runs the kitchen. "Bai Tong, you were pretty naughty when you was a kid", she says and shakes her finger in front of my face. But with a smile she crabs my arm and told me she always knew I'd be tall and beautiful.
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| The chief of the kitchen in the middle, in black and white shirt. |
At this point few other kitchen workers gathered around. One of them stars laughing and tells me how funny it is to see me 20cm taller than her and that she had changed my diapers many times when I lived there. It almost made me blush, but my skin tone saved me from that. I looked her in her eyes and squeezed her hand and managed only to say "thank you". It felt so good. She asked me what do I do now days and when I told her I was studying to become a nurse, she squeezed my hand even tighter and said "you're welcome".
It felt hard to leave the dining room. Due to the language barrier it was hard to ask a many questions. I was speechless anyway, so it felt like I almost couldn't speak any English. After the thanks and the goodbyes with smiles it was time to move on.
Next stop was the learning room where the kids from 1-6 years, learn basic skills and manners. The room was pretty big and had all these items in an neat order around the walls and the tables. There were beans, dishes, ropes and flags. In the middle of the room there was a big circle where the kids would wait when the lessons started and ended.
When you first enter the room, one would think it's a playroom, but when you look closer you can find all these puzzles and brain-teasers. The older you get, the harder the puzzles, starting from putting beans to a string and all the way to eating with sticks, tying shoelaces and using zippers. Everything basic and everyday stuff that a kids learn from their parents, except that these kids need to learn it here for obvious reasons.
In the other side of the room there was a world map and all the flags of different countries, basic calculation and English problems. I thought it was great that all of the rooms had a strict rule; everyone needs to be absolutely silent and obedient. There's a line between learning and play and I think it's great, it helps the kids to concentrate and give harmony to others too. In Finland you learn by play, it's good sometimes but it's not always enough.
We gave the gifts to the lady in charge and received gifts as well. Boys got hand made stone bracelets, made by the kids in Viengping Children's Home. I got a hand sewed small purse. We also promised to come do some charity work the next friday, day after tomorrow.
When we left I felt a great joy that even though there's so many kids in the children's home, they all have good places to sleep, play and eat and many people who work there and take care of them. There were also lots of western charity workers who play with the kids. Everyday chores feel easy when you have someone to help and guide you, but there's only so much employees, help is always needed.
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| Which came first, the egg or the chicken? |
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| Easiest of the tasks. |
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| Buttons, zippers shoelaces and snap fasteners. |
In the other side of the room there was a world map and all the flags of different countries, basic calculation and English problems. I thought it was great that all of the rooms had a strict rule; everyone needs to be absolutely silent and obedient. There's a line between learning and play and I think it's great, it helps the kids to concentrate and give harmony to others too. In Finland you learn by play, it's good sometimes but it's not always enough.
We left the learning room and met a clinical nurse outside. She takes care of all the kids and was a trainee in Viengping when I was still there. She also said she always knew I'd be tall, but not THIS tall (174cm).
She was also pleased to hear that I was in school to be a nurse like she is. I felt proud. It was also good to know that the kids had a person to turn to if they got ill.
After that we went to the office building to talk some more. There we met the leader of the whole Viengping community. We asked her about the donations and how could we sponsor some of the kids. In Thailand you have to pay to go to school, it costs about 500TBH (12,3€) for one kid to go to school for a month. There was an office dedicated to the donations only, but we didn't want to donate directly to the Viengping Children's Home, but rather to sponsor couple of the kids in person.
If you donate directly to Viengping, the money goes to their account. Then Viengping workers plea the money for different things, like new toys or blankets, school material or what so ever. After every month a panel of outside officials gather around to address these pleas and either allow or deny the use of the funds for these matters. This is to prevent corruption and the money from going to anyone others pockets than the Viengping's.
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| The social worker on the left, the chief of staff of Viengping in the middle. |
We gave the gifts to the lady in charge and received gifts as well. Boys got hand made stone bracelets, made by the kids in Viengping Children's Home. I got a hand sewed small purse. We also promised to come do some charity work the next friday, day after tomorrow.
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| Birds's nest, turkin pippuri's and some flowers to pay our respects. |
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| Hand made bracelets from the kids. |
When we left I felt a great joy that even though there's so many kids in the children's home, they all have good places to sleep, play and eat and many people who work there and take care of them. There were also lots of western charity workers who play with the kids. Everyday chores feel easy when you have someone to help and guide you, but there's only so much employees, help is always needed.
I have no words to describe the feeling when you think that you've been in the same situation than these little kids. They all have a shelter and food, but still most of them can't even dream of having a real family! It would've been great if my family had been there with me to go through this, but in the other hand all this is very personal and you can look it a bit different when your here "alone".
If you wish to participate in charity work, donate or just to know more about Viengping Children's Home, you can go to their website
@ http://www.baanviengping.go.th/en/index.html
or to their facebook page
@ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Viengping-Childrens-Home/124012657642576
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