Asian Nomads HTF

I imagined many people celebrating the July 4th weekend back home in the U.S.A. as I boarded the bus early on Friday for the twice-monthly trip to visit the HTF Shelter. It doesn't have much meaning for me any more -- I have expressed my feelings here. Ita had telephoned me earlier in the week with the news that another orphan had joined our group. He is the youngest addition yet -- only a year and several months old. Because he arrived on Monday, Ita named him 'Monday'. He has no parents that we know of and was 'delivered' to us by a Buddhist monk. When I met him for the first time on Saturday morning he reminded me of a little Buddha and when he sat on my lap he bowed down before me. It was obvious he had spent time in a Buddhist temple.

Now that cyclone Nargis has made its impact felt upon Burma, more and more refugees have started moving into the area around Mae Sot. In an act of true compassion, the King of Thailand has apparently opened the gates of his kingdom to his Burmese neighbors. It is now possible for newly arriving refugees to obtain Thai i.d. cards -- or at least, this is what Ita and Goin have told me. I still can't find news of this on the internet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If what Ita and Goin say is true, they can now legally purchase land and register the title to an automobile if they want one. We are in the process of helping them to get their i.d. cards -- valid for 10 years -- at a total cost of 10,000 baht for both of them. This has spurred me on towards making long-range plans for the shelter and continued growth of HTF Home School. I will research this further.

In this vein of thought, Dave, Mary, Jennifer, Ita, Goin and I will soon meet (July 17-20) with the local director of the Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee to discuss an appropriate curriculum for our home school. I and Mary will probably be brainstorming plans for a kindergarten that I would like to manage at the shelter. Ita and Goin have arranged a lease on another piece of land adjoining our present plot. We have access to it through our back gate and its size is sufficient for us to soon grow most of our own food -- or at least as much rice as we can. The yearly rent on this second piece of land is 5000 baht per month.

Dave was on-site with me at the shelter on Saturday. With the house's pillars now firmly embedded in the ground on their cement footpads, Goin and his friends have already dug out the holes for our bathroom and kitchen waste-water sump. We spent the day buying the concrete rings, sand, gravel, and cement needed to complete the sump's installation. Dave had purchased a drill with one-half inch bit that we'll soon need when we set up the pillars and floor joints -- hopefully from July 17-20. We are presently costing the needed wood and on Saturday we finalized our plans for a zinc roof -- albeit, covered with rice straw to maintain a livable, cool interior to the house. Goin and his friends will begin work on the foundation slab and walls for the bathroom this coming week. With any luck, the bathroom will be half-completed when we meet again at the shelter.

With building plans well underway, we are now targeting the 2-week holiday in October for planting crops on the land we've just leased. Here is a view of it through our back fence (at right). If work continues at its present pace, we'll be moved into the new shelter by then and working on 'making over' the present shelter into a kindergarten building. It looks like I'll have to closely supervise both the agricultural work and kindergarten so I'm looking forward to moving back into the shelter no later than mid-March next year or sooner if I can arrange it. The trips I have to make twice-monthly are a little inconvenient as far as bus connections go. I'm considering also buying a used motorbike to make the trips shorter and to be able to spend more time with the children at the shelter.

On the return trip to Nongbhualamphu Province on Sunday I met these two young Buddhist monks. I have not yet become a father in this life so I was very touched when I met 'Monday'. I hope to become like a father to him. But, these young monks may become like my teachers in the future. I was inspired on Sunday morning and bought them their tickets to Tak. I want to teach English to the monks at the temple in Tamahaw Village. For now, when I return home to the village where I now stay alone in a Thai farm house in Sriboonruang, I am never far from a vision of the future goals for HTF Home School. About a hundred yards from my present home is a Buddhist temple and kindergarten. I am visiting this kindergarten and talking with the teachers there. I hope to follow their example and adopt as many of their ideas as we can find applicable at HTF. I already dream of wandering among our gardens, fruit trees, and fish ponds with the little ones from the kindergarten each morning. With your continued support, we can all make this Buddhist dream of community come true.

Dhane Blue
July 7, 2008



	2008
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	July - The Buddha's Gift
	I imagined many people celebrating the July 4th weekend back home in the U.S.A. as I boarded the bus early on Friday for the twice-monthly trip to visit the HTF Shelter. It doesn't have much meaning for me any more -- I have expressed my feelings here. Ita had telephoned me earlier in the week with the news that another orphan had joined our group. He is the youngest addition yet -- only a year and several months old. Because he arrived on Monday, Ita named him 'Monday'. He has no parents that we know of and was 'delivered' to us by a Buddhist monk. When I met him for the first time on Saturday morning he reminded me of a little Buddha and when he sat on my lap he bowed down before me. It was obvious he had spent time in a Buddhist temple. Now that cyclone Nargis has made its impact felt upon Burma, more and more refugees have started moving into the area around Mae Sot. In an act of true compassion, the King of Thailand has apparently opened the gates of his kingdom to his Burmese neighbors. It is now possible for newly arriving refugees to obtain Thai i.d. cards -- or at least, this is what Ita and Goin have told me. I still can't find news of this on the internet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If what Ita and Goin say is true, they can now legally purchase land and register the title to an automobile if they want one. We are in the process of helping them to get their i.d. cards -- valid for 10 years -- at a total cost of 10,000 baht for both of them. This has spurred me on towards making long-range plans for the shelter and continued growth of HTF Home School. I will research this further. In this vein of thought, Dave, Mary, Jennifer, Ita, Goin and I will soon meet (July 17-20) with the local director of the Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee to discuss an appropriate curriculum for our home school. I and Mary will probably be brainstorming plans for a kindergarten that I would like to manage at the shelter. Ita and Goin have arranged a lease on another piece of land adjoining our present plot. We have access to it through our back gate and its size is sufficient for us to soon grow most of our own food -- or at least as much rice as we can. The yearly rent on this second piece of land is 5000 baht per month. Dave was on-site with me at the shelter on Saturday. With the house's pillars now firmly embedded in the ground on their cement footpads, Goin and his friends have already dug out the holes for our bathroom and kitchen waste-water sump. We spent the day buying the concrete rings, sand, gravel, and cement needed to complete the sump's installation. Dave had purchased a drill with one-half inch bit that we'll soon need when we set up the pillars and floor joints -- hopefully from July 17-20. We are presently costing the needed wood and on Saturday we finalized our plans for a zinc roof -- albeit, covered with rice straw to maintain a livable, cool interior to the house. Goin and his friends will begin work on the foundation slab and walls for the bathroom this coming week. With any luck, the bathroom will be half-completed when we meet again at the shelter. With building plans well underway, we are now targeting the 2-week holiday in October for planting crops on the land we've just leased. Here is a view of it through our back fence (at right). If work continues at its present pace, we'll be moved into the new shelter by then and working on 'making over' the present shelter into a kindergarten building. It looks like I'll have to closely supervise both the agricultural work and kindergarten so I'm looking forward to moving back into the shelter no later than mid-March next year or sooner if I can arrange it. The trips I have to make twice-monthly are a little inconvenient as far as bus connections go. I'm considering also buying a used motorbike to make the trips shorter and to be able to spend more time with the children at the shelter. On the return trip to Nongbhualamphu Province on Sunday I met these two young Buddhist monks. I have not yet become a father in this life so I was very touched when I met 'Monday'. I hope to become like a father to him. But, these young monks may become like my teachers in the future. I was inspired on Sunday morning and bought them their tickets to Tak. I want to teach English to the monks at the temple in Tamahaw Village. For now, when I return home to the village where I now stay alone in a Thai farm house in Sriboonruang, I am never far from a vision of the future goals for HTF Home School. About a hundred yards from my present home is a Buddhist temple and kindergarten. I am visiting this kindergarten and talking with the teachers there. I hope to follow their example and adopt as many of their ideas as we can find applicable at HTF. I already dream of wandering among our gardens, fruit trees, and fish ponds with the little ones from the kindergarten each morning. With your continued support, we can all make this Buddhist dream of community come true. Dhane Blue July 7, 2008