Outings

I have only been to the the orphanange thrice so far...and everytime it gives me different kind of experiences and feelings.

I visited the Ti-Ratana orphanage and old folks home today. Unlike the previous ones, I get to mingle along with the kids for the whole day as I am not the organizer this time.

Our activity of the day kicks off with distributing pieces of durian cakes to the old folks. * cough cough* I don't know what kind of smell it is in the air while I walked into their rooms. Basically, the smell stinks and I felt like vomiting. Due to the stagnant air perhaps, the smell of wet mattress and dirty clothes seems significant. These are totally different from what I assumed before this, I thought, every old folks will have their own room with proper wadrobe, and a cleaner place, just like our hostels in universities. * I will never send someone I know to a place like this, no matter under what kinda consequences.*

After that, we visited the children from age 2 to 6. There are about 15 children in a confined room. Once we opened the door, the children are dashing out.They yearned to go out of the the room. What stunned me most is, when the warden came in to give them some water to quench the thirst. The kids rushed to her and everyone is only allowed for a sip of water, not a cup.I remembered she said, " 喝了就走! 喝了就走!!! " What? Even water, is something that need to be fought for? We always take things for granted. And thinks that every luxurios in life is in the package ;such as, shopping, dining in restraunts , travelling....Hmm, of course I will continue doing that, but I will be more appreciative.



Around 10.30am, we brought around 9 kids for an outing to the swimming pool. Along the way, they are so excited and kept clinging around us. Like most children, they are active and will never stop the chit-chattings. They told me their lifestyles and daily activities, outing experiences...What they are quite lack of, is the PERSONAL attention that we get from our parents in the cozy and comfortable home.They have to share everything. Their ratio of adult to children is like, 1 to 15 perhaps. They always called me, " Jie jie...Jie jie..." so sweet...The girl I took care of, is Ai Ling. She is pretty and adorable. And she knows how to pose in front of the camera at the age of five. Don't know whether she is trained to do so or naturally, she is a poser. I hoped the latter is true. Some kids may just pose and smile in front of the camera so that people will adore them more, and therefore, will be selected for the next outing.

They happily splashed the water, and played around in the pool. Kids like water, aren't they? At the end of the day, she asked me one question, " Jie...tomorrow I want to come here again ar..." ; " Err, tomorrow is too fast, why not we come again next time?"; " when is the NEXT TIME?" ; " You study hard and be obedient first." ;I don't want to give them false hope, neither do I want to disappoint them.

Ti-Ratana is well known for its sources of income as it is taken care of by the Genting group. But I still think that the facilities are not that good. And they do really need manpower, as all of the orphanages need manpower too. Manpower doesn't mean that you have to be there for long hours, just go there if you are free, to talk or play with them. Love is the most important thing to donate, not money or stuffs. Money is a surfacial thingy. I will go to the place more next time, I hoped you guys will too :)