Bilay and Damrong Zach

The Bamboo School exists to fulfill God's direction given in Isaiah 58.

We're located in the mountains up against the Burmese border in the small village of Bongti, home to 541 families with an annual average income of just US$180/year.
There are currently 63 residents (many of them orphaned, abused, medically challenged, retarded, or refugees of economic poverty) that God has molded into a family.

Established in 2001, we are staffed by Christian volunteers.

Where to start

MomoCat February 1st, 2012

The past year has seen drama and proof that we serve a living God. I will try to cover just two illustrations of His extravagant love.

On Oct 15, as preparation for Sabbath I gave my scalp a good scrub… and felt a dimple in the center of my head. The girls checked for me, but no sign of injury. I forgot about it. The next week, it was there again, but bigger this time. On the following Tuesday I checked out at Sai Yok Hospital, now there were three lines,so I was referred to the regional hospital, Phalhon. I was shocked to hear the words,”You have a tumor. You need to have a CT Scan at the private hospital.” After a few whispered words betweenthe nurse and doctor they announced my treatment would be free… I took this as a direct message of love from God, “I am in control.”
Now months later,it has been decided to refer this rare disease to a large military hospital in Bangkok. No name for the disease as yet, so I wait for 9th February for the test results to be analysed.

On Christmas day we had celebrated with our friends from Loma Linda and my sister from NZ… as I was falling into sleep, Kum ran towake me, “Baby coming, momo”. We rushed to the car and drove to the house. Kum ran ahead so I did not have to ford the old stream bed…. too late. The first baby had come already, stillborn. I made my way to the house praying for wisdom.

In the filth of the hut,by the light of an oil lamp, I saw a small body, still, lifeless, cold. The old Baptist pastor urged me to try something, as the mother still had a second baby inside. I prayed, and asked Kum to call for the Loma Linda team… I started CPR on the small one. For one hour I tried. Nothing! Then I remembered the breath of God from Genesis 2…. With the prayer on my breath, I blew softly into the nose/mouth…. he breathed back….I puffed, he breathed out…. no cry but alive…..God did it, just as Jose arrived at the scene. We tied and severed the cord and Jose kept him stimulated as we transported the mother to the car. We took them both to Sai Yok hospital. The second baby was born with a hare lip and cleft palette. All are now home and well.Maybe the coldness of the night preserved the brain cells; but surely a God moment when he finally breathed!

Minute by minute

MomoCat August 9th, 2011

Well, facebook is alive and well at Bamboo School. Check us out at catherine Riley-Bryan. a number of kids also their own pages.

For those who do have facebook, we are still alive and well. We have developed the solar power at the lake. A young man, Colter came with funding support and labored to complete the project in two weeks.

We only have 3 preschoolers at home now. Everyone else goes to school each day. Srisook graduated as a teacher. She is doing her practum treaching at Bong Ti Bonn two days a week, The rest of the time she is helping us at home, or attending her school for further studies.

Somsri is also at home most of the week. All her classes are held on Mondays, so she can help here a lot.

Old PeeSarby left her after being told she could not smoke in the school. She recently took up smoking, using the church donation for her supply! She died suddenly from hypertension and heart failure.

God still supplies our every need. We have had a long growing season, and the garden continues to provide fruit and vegetables. May you see His abundance in your world too

God’s blessing continue

MomoCat January 9th, 2011

We have been so blessed by our visiting friends and volunteers. Today Steve and Shriley Rees will return to USA. I will surely miss them. Hannah has decided to stay a futher month or so, praise God. The girls from Australia came back with three friends, so the hospital is fully staffed. God adds His blessings evryday.

Last evening I took an ambulance call, returned my lovely friend Laura to catch her flight to Vietnam, and returned to chaos…
the toilets had blocked, from tissue paper down the narrow Thailand pipes…. A job for Momo. I am pleased to be needed.

The volunteers were all turned into instant vegetarians by Moremorechore gagging out a 6inch tapeworm. Dr.Kozue had identified anemia in the boys, suspecting worms.. we dosed them and Chore proved her correct.

The our local crazy man (we have 3 of them) came up at worship time, brandishing a plastic machine gun… Shirley thought it was one of my kids joking around… so she started to video him… he turned on her. Some of the little ones were frightened.

I arrived home as Steve was marching him down the road with a whistle and a dance. Margaret was unload our plant shopping, as he came up behind her to dance!! We laughed and laughed.

Bamboo School is still alive and well!! God blesses us with abundant laughter.

A great year from God

MomoCat December 30th, 2010

We have had such an exciting year… new babies, progress from Johann with his stepping out, Students graduating from High School and starting college, and many visitors turning into family. Wow.
The death of Yok still pulls at my heart strings. The birth of Orion balances it.
This Christmas Day topped it all. Firstly a beautiful worship, then the kids giving away their Christmas dinner to the poor and hungry of our village.
That evening was Thai kick boxing. All the kids and teachers attended. I stayed home on ambulance duty. Then I learnt of Quarlar putting in his name to fight. Woe!! he would be injured. We turned to prayer. God stepped in. A torrential downpour stopped the fight before it started. The rain only fell on the site of the boxing… within 100 yards, everything was dry. Praise God for the rain, saving Quarlar’s butt!!

Bekah grows up

MomoCat November 30th, 2010

Our babies are now active, healthy and beautiful. The little ones grow up. Dokmai loves to help, it just means that you overlook the bits at the bottom of the cups. Ting can roll over by himself! Moremorechore will get his very dirty plaster cast off this week and go back to school. Keeping him out of water has been an issue. Everyone else is at school!!

The big boys and I have continued to develop the lake foreshore. the church is tiled and seating on the low walls is in progress. Landscaping is started, and Addajoe shows a flair for this work.

God has given us the materials right there… the rocky ground has given us enough material to build the walls! We just need to crush and shape it.

Little girls

God’s blessings

MomoCat November 8th, 2010

Firstly a team came from New Zealand… it was like Christmas. All the children recieved gifts, and clothing.

Then came the Chulalakorn University group. They tiled the dining room, decorated the classrooms with curtains, bookshelves and posters. A reverse osmosis water filter system is in place and the little kids have a playground set. Most important was the friendship and time spent together. The company Durbell, sponsored much of our improvements.

Now Jojo has come for two weeks. She has bought the cement and rock to complete the floor of the church. God blesses us too much.

Autumn comes

MomoCat September 27th, 2010

After 8 months of rain, we have had a day of fine weather, with a cooler night.  Maybe the beginning of the next season.  The kids are in exam mode at Thai schools, and holidays start on 10 October.  Wow.  Many of the kids will return to their family locations.  However we will still have about 20 kids here, the true orphans who have no one left.

We plan on developing their art and craft skills during the holidays.  Painting, drawing, clay modeling and needle craft… Time to jazz up the walls of my house a bit.  Also we want to complete the church at the lake, ready for tiling when Jojo gets here!

John contiues to progress his activities, but we are having to rescue him from his self-made problems.  He cannot see that the door is open beside him… he walks on by into the wall!!  Puppy, Sofie, the old girl, barks to warn us when he is surrounds by chickens at the front. She is old but still alert, watching out for him.

Puppy Sofie is an old dog now, but all little dogs are puppies, yes?

Every puppy needs a boy.

2010 Pix

MomoCat September 23rd, 2010

Dokmai is a talkative, happy liitle girl. She is the most feminine of all at Bamboo School. She has a great humor and likes others to be happy around her. She offers a running commentary on happenings at the clinic, translating into any of the three local languages, and holds the hands of those in pain. Today she stood outside Sai Yok emergency room, singing “More love, more power” Way to go girl.

Birthdays at Bamboo

MomoCat September 22nd, 2010

Ting and Bekah have both turned 1 year old this week. Ting still just lays there, not attempting to roll, sit or aanything exciting….. I took him back for a development check yesterday, and it appears to be “no communication between the brain and the limbs.” He had a CAT Scan last week, but the skull and brain showed normal activity.

By comparision, Johann has progressed. He now stands up, feeds himself and walks. More information: He feels around for the food dunks in his fingers and then sucks off his fingers, (This is called feeding himself). Next comes the puppy, to lick the excess food from his legs, feet and floor surrounding him. This tickles Johann, so he stands up on the nearest chair, wall, or leg of a person. If the puppy continues to tickle, then Johann will step forward.

By comparision Bekah is everywhere. She crawls and pulls up on furniture. So is not as talkative as Dokmai.

D is missing Daddy Jim. So are we all. Jim returns to USA and we pray for him to find God’s plan in his life.

Shocked

MomoCat September 13th, 2010

It’s so hard to believe and accept.

Last Wednesday, Yok came home from School, tired but happy… his teacher had given home some new clothes and junk food. He had no cough, no running nose. He was tired. He went to evening class before sleeping with Darku for the night.
On Thursday morning, he seemed to have a problem to understand English. Normally he discussed everything twice, but this day he dirtied his trousers, without attempting to go to the bathroom, and he said he was not hungry. That got my attention. Yok was always looking for food! I decided to keep him home from school, and got him to drink milo for breakfast. There were two motorbike accidents within minutes of each other, so we were up and down to Sai Yok.

When we got home from the last trip, Yok was sleeping, but using his auxiliary muscles to breath. I prepared to travel him the hospital He woke up as we shifted him, saying he did not want to go to hospital, he wanted to go to the market shopping with Momo… he was now hungry!. On the way to the hospital, our oxygen tank was empty, so we stopped at Sai Yok to transfer him to the ambulance. There, he still argued that he was strong, he wanted to go to the market and go back to Bamboo. They established respiratory tubes, and had to tie his hands to stop him from removing them. He was stressed all the way to Kanchanaburi. At the bigger hospital, the Xray showed a severe infection, so he was sent to ICU.

At 3am, he had a major asthma attack. The medical team could not get him to breathe properly. Officially he was declared dead at 8.30am. We brought his body home to Bamboo School, and started the mourning for him. Dokmai (aged 2) sat beside him, holding his hands, telling everyone that “shh, Yok sleeping”. The kids all slept around him that night, telling stories and copying his speech. They were happy that he had helped take worship on the Tuesday; happy to know that he looked so peaceful.

On Saturday, we prepared his coffin, and the girls made flower wreaths and food for guests. The boys painted his box, dug the grave and made his cross. The simple words were, “Yok, a child of God”. Then we had a service for him. We sang his favorite songs, “My God is so big” and ”Down in my heart”.. We ate his favorite food, Karnoom and soya milk. We read his favorite book, the children’s Bible. We were joined by the teachers from his school. We waited for nurses from Sai Yok, but they did not come. At 5pm, he was buried up on the hill overlooking his school. The children and teachers then planted a garden over his graveside.

Karen tradition is that now we celebrate life. For me, a hard act. The children watched a video and ate at the hospital. Both teacher Jim and I retired early. We all look forward to heaven with Yok.

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