the Bamboo School

I am sorry guys, I was locked out of my webpage!
Its been a month of drama, and undeserved love. I raced to the door for a patient callout. Wrenching on the door, I dragged it open, taken my big toenail off with it. We dealt with the patient and then my toe.

We decided to celebrate all the kids safely returning back after the holidays, by having a banquet. When teaching them , from Songs of Solomon, “He brought me to his banqueting table, His banner over me is love.” I had to explain banqueting…. so the kids gave me a list of what food they thought would be in heaven. Durian made it onto the list. I guess the tree of life had the power of good and evil!

In preparation of the feast food, I dropped the durian. OOOWWEEEE! A spike punctured the same big toe. By Sabbath afternoon I was fevered, shaking and pained. A trip to the local hospital did nothing. Fortunately my friend Dr Nick Walters gave me the correct medication… I had it in the clinic shelves. Now two weeks later, I am beginning to be able to walk a little. Praise God for friends, for volunteeers and for medicine donated in advance of the need.

Today was a terribly sad day not only for the heartbroken immediate and extended family members of little Banana but also for the children and adults of the Bamboo School.
Bananas service was held in a rickety bamboo house of a relative. On arrival the kids looked at Adam, one of the American male volunteers, and collectively shook their heads saying “ohhh noo too big”. Not an entirely reassuring sentiment when to the untrained eye of a “falung” any bamboo house does not look entirely stable. Nevertheless, the harmless statement was a testament to the amount of people who showed up to squeeze into the house and celebrate the passing of such a young life.
Family and friends sat quietly, praying and singing softly in Karen. With no translation I spent the time in private reflection, unable to even slightly comprehend the grief the family was experiencing. The service ended and we were asked to make our way to the burial site. The casket was then gently carried down from the house and put into the ambulance and slowly driven to its final resting place.
On a cool hill side, heavily shaded by bamboo we stood and listened to the final words and prayers of the pastor. At this stage I felt almost guilty about being there. Who was I, to be present at such a deeply personal moment, a moment no mother should ever have to experience – that of burying her own child. Although having only known Banana for a few fleeting weeks it was impossible to not feel as though my heart was being torn to pieces with the knowledge that he would never hug his mum again, go to school or have his first kiss. How can life be so unfair to someone so young?
The tragic reality of the loss was driven home by the haunting and conclusive sound of the nails being hammered into the lid of the casket. It was at this point the soft cries of Banana’s mother became clear, hitting home the fact she was never going to see her son again.
I found the entire experience not only upsetting but also a very eye opening one. The fact that Banana was at home in Burma for months prior,, evidently unwell, misdiagnosed and subsequently given the wrong medicine is a tragedy in itself. I find peace in knowing I saw him showered in love and affection in his final two weeks surrounded by his family and friends with access to anything he needed. He was able to eat ice cream and watch movies and get as many cuddles from his mum as possible. It is thinking about those past few weeks that makes me happy, knowing he didn’t die alone, and undiagnosed leaving behind a confused family but that he was with the people most important to him and felt truly loved.

Its been a long day of travel from Udon Thani to church at asia-Pacific University and then onto the Airport at Bangkok. Muwai helped with the driving, and we planned the future of Bamboo school as we went. Its a great feeling to have grown up kids to plan with…. Kum entertained and was entertained by the girls at Muek Lek.He fed us well.

Adam and his friends arrived safely…. the children (all 7) played games with them for hours in the car as we were caught in peak rainy traffic!! Tui and Vanessa came to meet us and take the kids home, while I visited Zac at hospital.

And just 5 minutes ago, Adam and Carl were visiting my house… as they left, Adam called back,” Cat, what is this giant centipede doing? Are they a problem?” I checked,, yes it was the toxic type, about 6 inches long, engrossed in eating a snake alive…. The boys took instruction well… a large rock from my garden smashed the centipedes’ head releasing the snake…. alas the snake had died already! Then the boys scored 8/10 for suggesting they pull the two girls out to take pix!!

Sonythor has parents alive, but divorced.  His mother works as a nanny in Kanchanaburi.  He is brother to Kwan Jai and he has a few behavioral issues to sort out. He needs a sponsor who can show him love and be a role model for him, as well as needing 7500 baht per year sponsorship

Addejoe— has been at Bamboo School, on and off for 6 years.  His father works on a farm on the Burma side.  When his father is away,  Addejoe  stays with his mother and younger sister. He is already a young adult and attends Adult school one day a week. His sponsorship required is 6500 baht per year.

Dek Chai Jam—Jam is 12 years old and is educated up to grade six.. His parents fled the Thai police, after being caught harvesting wood illegally. The boys stayed with their grandmother, but there was no school in the village. He has come to The Bamboo School for further education and for his safety

 Shanymoo—He is eleven and has a younger brother here, Haynaymoo, who is nine years old. Their father was killed by a Burmese soldier when younger sibling was still in his mother’s womb. They have a grandfather, but he is more than 80 years old. He is in grade four and understands, speaks and writes Karen. His English is getting better every day. He had TB, but now he has undergone treatment for this.

Eh too—He just arrived from Burma with his sibling Abwar, who also attends The Bamboo School. His father is not dead, as originally told, but works and lives at Sai Yok..

Naymoo—He is a 10 year old boy with a large family in Burma.  He has had repeated malaria and was brought toBambooSchool in 2012 by Dong.  He has no education previously

Haynaymoo—His father was killed by a Burmese soldier while he was still in his mother’s uterus. He has a grandfather, but he is more than 80 years old. His brother is Shanymoo. He has a heart murmer, but has had treatment at Kanchanaburi. He is gaining weight and looking good.

Megatoo—He is nine years old and is the brother of  Mortha. His mother is currently very ill and his father passed away. He only knows Karen. He is a very driven student and loves learning English. He has a very gentle heart. He had drug resistant malaria when he first arrived, so he spent 2 weeks in Bangkok

Boonah – His parent are split up, neither wants the responsibility of a child.  His grandmother brought him to Bamboo School.  He had not been to school and he is about 11 years old.

Oray is a returning student.  He was at Bamboo school for the early years, when his parents were in Burma.  When they established a house, and found work he returned to help them.  He greatly missed the companionship of Bamboo school.  Now he wants to resume his education.  He will restart at Grade 9 level. He is 15 years old

Where does time go??? It’s been ages since I sent out a letter to sponsors, yet I have so many things to tell…..

We currently have 66 children sleeping at Bamboo School…. It is 4am,so they better be sleeping! A further 11 kids are at tertiary schools around Thailand. Bilay married his sweetheart and they are about to produce their first child. Lukai graduated from college with his engineering degree. He is working near Bangkok. Quarlar, Dang, Lewahtoo and Neeti are all working men in Bangkok. Rotasin (Oom) started working in Sai Yok hospital Srisook has started teaching at a school in Sangkhlia. Lisa married and has her first baby girl. Dong and Tuletoo have 2 little girls, and work to pastor to a church in the refugee camp. Malee also came home to marry her sweetheart. Thus they grow up.

A Christmas time, Goy tragically died after receiving massive head injuries in a motorcycle accident. Many of the students came home at that time, so it was a bitter-sweet reunion. We have had 3 young students with reoccurring PF malaria. They came back from visiting Burma family during the holidays, sick. They were initially treated at Sai Yok, but it returned. On their third time with it, they were transferred to Bangkok Mahidol University hospital for further investigation . It is a resistant to drug malaria, so these children are missing school still, 2 months later. We have two kids with active TB… they arrived here with it and their treatments are being sponsored by ARC (American Refugee Committee). We have had 38 kids with measles in the school, and now they have recovered and shared the infection with many village people!

As usual, many hopeful children arrived in May, wanting to stay at Bamboo School. Many were turned away, as education is available in their village, and they have parents. We accepted 24 new ones. After a month, it was revealed that untruths had been told, children’s parents turned up to visit on fancy motorbikes, etc….so numbers were reduced. We currently have 66 real needy children, with 12 requiring sponsors.

This year we have been greatly blessed with groups of volunteers coming in for projects. The roadway was paved up as far as the hospital. The sala was built for Sabbath School at the lake. The teachers’ dorm was built on to the end of the girls’ dorm. A new water system was established. An ambulance shed was built, a new air-wave radio aerial and the entry to the hospital was improved. Now we are preparing to purchase another ambulance.

Nine older children undertook their basic first aid training, with Dang being the highest scorer in the final exam. The work in medical response has greatly increased. Our skills need upgrading all the time. We have delivered 8 babies in the back of the car, assisted by student EMS kids. One was extremely difficult being a butt presentation. Mother and baby well.

This year we have tried to contain expenses as much as we can. Rice prices are up, now 1710 baht per 50kg bag …. Up from 1640baht last year. Rice is a basic commodity, so it affects all prices. However the early wet season, and gardens established at the lake have helped to food bill. The sponsorship is 8500 baht per year per child.. This includes school fees, lunch fees, transportation to/from school, food bills, medical fees and incidental expenses.. Some people faithfully pay into my NZ account every month. Some pay as they remember. Some think we have forgotten them, so they have forgotten us. Can you confirm your commitment to sponsor a child, so we can budget for any changes.

This year friends have returned.. John and Marecia Burt (NZ), Steve and Shirley Rees (USA), Jessie and Ryan Thomas (Korea), Cindy and Robert Stevenson(Hong Kong), Lyndsay and Jill (NZ), Keaton Song and her family (USA), Liz Torres (USA), Krystal and the ReLive Church (USA), Alan Newbold (USA), Leslie de Fluiter (USA), Tina Mitchell (Australia), and many more.

New project towards sustainability have been developed, including a chicken laying house with 41 chickens; EM cleansers; a tapioca crop; vegetable gardens and fruit trees. Its been a buzy year.

We hope you can visit soon, as your presence makes a difference in us….the first time you come, you are a visitor. The second time, you are a true friend…. The third time you are a part of the family!

Witnessing as a team is such a blessing this past month. A team from Singapore gave some kids a holiday; a larger team frm Loma Linda Academy build the base for our Sabbah School sala as well as concreting the drive to our hospital; Some of the students aswell as the facualty members sponsored some kids; the individual team members gave me encouragement; then a small team came in from Taiwan to help for a few days helping with concrete, baby care and much love.As we sat by the lakeside and shared stories, I realize how blessed I am, and I need to give encouragement back to others… so everyone who attends potluck, may you too take the opportunity to boil the water foranother to drink.

As we batted our way home with many patients on board late in the night, we saw and witness God’s great love toward us… trees came down before us; boulders fell onto the road; my young nurse was frightened by the storm so she wound down the window and called out “I love you God”. The muslim man in the back copied, with an accent all of his own “I lush oo God.” Just then I slammed on the brakes to avoid a fallen tree…. the muslim landed on the pregnant lady beside him and said, “I lush oo God.” It took us over an hour to move the 23 kms between Sai Yok hospital and Bong Ti, but God was with us all the way.

A tough day… A local man was badly injured in Burma, unconscious and bleeding when we rescued him. (Moremorechore’s stepdad) Its been a week of horror on the Burma side.. A death of a pastor from a landmine accident, many malaria cases coming in, then this one so close to home.

Then a callout for help: “baby coming” at 3am.

The kids needed transportation to their field trip at 4.30am.

I was back to Sai Yok to transfer a patient at 8am… so finally I took the rest of the kids, their lunch and Amber Wunderlich up to the lake to have a garden clean up… a great job, kids, until the scorpion got inside my trousers and bit me on the butt!!

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!

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

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.