Diary : 19 May 2011 (Good Start To School !)

People may say that after 4 years of dealing with street kids, I would be more resilient and it should not affect me that much.

But these kids are like family to me, our ministry runs like a family unit rather than an organisation. When one kid run away, it affects the rest.

Though I'm a long way from Chiang Mai running from meetings to meetings. My heart was with my staff who were looking high and low for these 2 kids, I knew my staff were trying their best, because the staff loved these kids as much as I do.

The good news came in around 11pm last night, just when I got home from meetings. Puu (My deputy head) tells me that the 2 boys were found 450km away from Chiang Mai in Phitsanulok province. Our staff was at the train station to pick them up before calling their guardians and parents.

Deep inside I'm terribly disappointed with the 2 kids and its the first day of school. Skipping school will mean that they have forfeited their chances of an education and will have to wait for one more year. But i was also relieved that Kig and Kua were safe back in Khek Noi.

We have left both of the kids to discuss with their parents if they wish to continue their rehab or they which to opt out. As much as I want to force a child to change, he has to desire to change, keeping him but not his heart will be meaningless and furthermore deprive someone of a chance to be on the programme.

Anyway, thats the end of the bad part. Here is some good news from Thailand.
The night before the children started school in Chiang Mai, they were very concerned that they will be looked down upon by the Thai students. So they prayed that they will not be looked down upon and if possible, find good friends.

The 8 kids came back from school laughing and in high spirits. When the staff asked what happened. They told us that "GOD HEARS OUR PRAYERS!" everyone spoke of how great the school was, with teachers who cared and they were not looked down upon. In fact most of them even found new friends !

Tim was the cutest. He told us that his classmate asked him "How many pens do you have ?" He replied "Just one" so the little girl told him "If you loose your pen, i will lend you mine, and if you need to erase anything, you can borrow my liquid paper too"

Most of them feared school so much, but I'm glad the first day went well for them :)