"Ladies that Lunch"

We were asked by a UK sponsor to arrange a birthday shopping trip for one of our students and to arrange for Pauline a visiting friend of another UK sponsor to meet the student that she is sponsoring. As both girls attend the same school it seemed sensible to combine both requests into one lunch and shopping trip along with Liz and Suky of MERCY.

The girls were each given 1,000 B (with explanations) and we set off to watch them spend it - always great fun.

They were very good housekeepers, choosing only a T-shirt and shorts each, and then they wanted to buy school supplies - books, pens,coloured pencils, pencil case, sketch pad, etc etc. At the checkout Channapa had less left than Chompunuch, as she had also bought a T-shirt for her little brother, but Chompunuch was able to buy Dunkin' Donuts to take home with her for her family. However, when they got to the shop, there was a special offer on and since they both had money left, they were able to take advantage of the special offer - a darling black teddy bear in a D.D. T-shirt. How can any little (or big) girl resist a cuddly teddy?
    

Although we had arranged to take Chompunuch home with her goodies, she said grandma was coming to get her from school. Oops - particularly as we had thought that this would enable Pauline to see her house and be able to give the sponsor a first hand picture of her living conditions.
However, after the initial disappointment, we were blessed in the fact that grandma wasn't there waiting for her, and after a few minutes and (being unable to reach grandma by phone) the decision was made to revert to our original plan. So - off we went,

First we took Channapa, (who beamed as she said "Goodbye', and ran off through some newly erected property, swinging her goody bags and then Chompunuch, who lives down one of the many little side roads - very much unmade surfaces with deep ruts which seems to go on forever. However, just as the light was fading we got to her house, where (it seemed) great grandma, grandma and grandpa were home to meet us. All we're sure of at the moment is that there are now 7 persons living in the tiny house where there were originally only three. We'll try and fathom out the relationships at a later date.

Registered Charity No. 1104335

100 Years From Today

It will not matter how big your bank account was, the sort of house you lived in, or the kind of car you drove. But the world may be a little better because your help touched the life of one child.