The Garden of Hope Child Drop In Center has a no-photograph policy. As volunteers, we can take photos, but we need to get permission from Mark to publish them. Mark said that this is to protect the identities of the children and not to give unwanted access to pedophiles.
I can definitely appreciate his concerns. The first minute I landed on the Center's front porch, there were 5 curious foreign men asking me if this was an orphanage of some sort. I could be wrong, but I didn't trust the looks on those men.
Our first night at the Center was rather chaotic. We (the Chongs) went to join a 'Beginner' English class. The kids were very wild. The American teacher was the most patient teacher I have met. (I don't know many tough.) The kids adored him. Naomi said it was a raucous. The teacher said that the kids were wild because of us visitors. It was true. The second night, the kids were much much calmer.
We had Thai culture and language training. Mark held the best introduction to Thai culture for Christian perspective I have heard. Very sensible.
The language class was fun for me to watch and help. The tonality was tough for our crew, but they did well. Yumi even used Thai to ask for a child's name at the Center. I'm proud of her.
Kids hunger for love there. And there's plenty of love and kindness to go around.
Going to eat breakfast now. Holly, the American girl who's in charge of the 'Garden' is a super woman. She makes amazing breakfast for us everyday from scratch. For example, yesterday she made biscuit and sausage gravy from scratch. She reminds me of my friend Faith Durand (Hopler) in Columbus. I wish they could meet.
Joe...
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