Hoay Maw

Thank You!

Thank you Tore and Open Hands!

On Sun 26th October the Olivers visited Hoay Maw with Tore of the Norwegian charity Open Hands. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Tore and Open Hands. Without their ongoing support to help with food and half the staff wages, circumstances would be a lot bleaker at Hoay Maw. It is not so long ago that the children were eating just rice for weeks on end. The children now enjoy regular vegetables and occasional protein in their diet. Without this support for staff (along with another individual supporter from the UK) it would not have been possible to even begin to take the steps to develop self-sufficiency projects or to establish any degree of consistent quality of care. Our friends from Mae Sai kindly brought doughnuts for each of the children made in their bakery.

Fish Project

Some unused land has been acquired and it is proposed that this might be a better site for the fish pond project. An advantage would be that unlike the other site, it is not on a slope. It also is in watery land and so would probably not need to be concrete lined. It is a little less convenient for access but they felt that they would still be able to attend to the fish. It is alongside the tea and therefore it could be a good thing if they are actively caring for projects in this location. Money has been received from Links International to cover 30% of the project costs (thank you!). The final processing of the project by World Vision is currently in progress. World Vision will then provide the remaining 70% of funds required. We want to ensure that World Vision approve the new site prior to commencement.

New Land

Pigs or Chickens? - That is the Question

Some locals have expressed disapproval of the pig project being in the vicinity of their dwellings. For the time being the pigs have been moved back into the old concrete pen alongside Pastor Joseph's own pigs. On the surface of things this seemed a disappointing setback.

Ready for Christmas!

With regard to the pig project, it has been a long slow process to establish this, however, at this stage, some piglets are nearly ready to be eaten. The children have had the chance to gain vocational skills and lessons have been learned about taking care of the project. However, we have found that without nutrient food, the piglets grow quite slowly and the nutrient food is expensive. It is therefore questionable as to the profitability of developing the pig project further as compared to say chickens. This is why we wanted to test things on a small scale before expanding. At this point, we feel that we will let the pig project run on but without significant further investment or expansion.

We were already considering a trial of chickens (and/or ducks) which friends in the S.E.E.D. Project (something to Eat Every Day) have used to good effect for both eggs and meat. Chickens can be raised using the same organic method as the pigs using a natural floor and fermented liquid feed. It would therefore be a suitable use of the organic pen at this stage. We will do some further research into the feasibility and costs.

Medical

When we last visited, one of the younger boys had a badly infected scalp. His head had recovered following advice from our GP friend but his little friend had become infected. This reinforced the need for basic training and medical supplies.

Better

Finances

Tore kindly offered an additional 10,000 baht from Open Hands for the market bill for October. At present there is no provision for food for Nov-Dec but if further money is available next quarter then hopefully they will only be at the usual position of owing 20,000 baht at start of quarter. The current change in exchange rate has hit quite hard both in terms of Hoay Maw support and in terms of any money that comes over from the UK.

Christmas is Coming

Last Christmas, it was a privilege to be able to bless each of the children with a special bag of gifts. The joy was evident on the children's faces.

We were also able to give the children warm hats, gloves and socks to protect them in the mountain winter frosts.

Thanks to the generosity of Arun Community Church, Links International, Open Hands and kind individuals, there was also money remaining from the Christmas fund to help secure the children's school registration for the up-coming school year.

Joy to - "A child"

Christmas Delight!

We would love to be able to make Christmas special for the children at Hoay Maw. Please consider if you, as an individual, church, business or group can bring a blessing this Christmas.

Please see how to get involved.