Pyboon

“Hello”….running around in circles, laughing, “Hello, Hello, How aw you?”….more running with a huge smile. “What’s his name”, we asked Teenoo- the man who picked us up at the bus station and brought us to the Baan Immanuel orphanage in Chiang Rai- “That’s Pyboon. He has so much energy! He has a physical and learning disability, but he always runs around and always has a smile on his face”. From this first greeting, I was already in love with Baan Immanuel (and Pyboon). We left Agape on April 2 and arrived in Chiang Mai that night. It was a long day with two bus rides to get us to Chiang Rai, but it was worth it. We waited in the station as Teenoo told us it would be about 15 minutes until he arrived. As we sat there, rain fell all around us where there was no shelter. We were luckily under shelter as we waited. He arrived and we rushed with all our backpacks from our shelter to the Baan Immanuel truck. Teenoo educated us on the history of Baan Immanuel. It was started by a man named Ron, from Arizona, and he simply had a heart for the children that are forgotten in Thailand. He started it 15 years ago and has been touching children’s lives ever since. They have 4 homes throughout Chiang Mai and they are able to feed, clothe, and send the children to school. Things they would otherwise not have. They work a lot with the Lawhoo tribe, but there were also Karen, Thai, and Mong children. We went to Baan Immanuel to be able to serve in any way we could. When we arrived, Teenoo took us back to the orphanage and let us get settled in, then he invited us to go to Big C (the large shopping center in Chiang Rai) along with him, his family, and the children. Pyboon was the most excited to go to Big C. He walked around with us the whole time and pushed our cart for us. He had so much energy, so while me and Cherise shopped my dad had to run around the store with Pyboon and our shopping cart. Teenoo bought one snack for each of the kids, and to them that was such a wonderful gift. They all savored their snacks on our drive home, while I had the opportunity to speak Karen (the little that I know) and Thai with the children and some of the staff.
The next day our morning started with a wonderful breakfast with all the children and staff. We loved how everyone ate like a family. Then Teenoo took us on a boat ride along the Rock River and our boat ride ended with a lovely Elephant ride through one of the Lawhoo villages. After we finished lunch, Teenoo took us to another one of Baan Immanuel’s orphanages. This one was beautiful. It was up in the mountains, and was very close to completely being self-sustained. They had their cows, fish pond, chickens, vegetable farms, and the children as well as the staff were responsible for taking care of it all. They were another big family. That night, after dinner, Teenoo took us to the night market. I can’t believe how much there is to sell in Thailand. So many different things and more different kinds of food than I’ve ever seen being sold!
The next morning, we started our day with another enjoyable breakfast, and this time me and Cherise moved to the children’s tables and ate with them. Cherise is learning more and more Thai (from a great teacher, of course) so she was enjoying saying what she could with the children. After breakfast Teenoo took us to Chiang Khong so we could buy our boat tickets to Laos, as we were heading there the next day, and then we were able to visit another one of the Baan Immanuel homes. The people seemed even kinder , if that’s possible, here. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with them and then headed to the Golden Triangle. When you stand at the Golden Triangle, you’re on Thai ground with Laos to your right and Burma to your left. Then we were able to go to Teenoo’s village and visit his home and his Lawhoo people. It was a beautiful village and as we drove down from it, he pointed out the King’s mother’s garden. It was incredibly large and beautiful. As we drove we enjoyed looking at pictures of when Teenoo had visited America. He was in Idaho and it was his first time seeing snow. It was wonderful! That night was family night at Baan Immanuel and we were able to have a BBQ outside for dinner together, play games with the children, do dramas for them, and teach them some songs. Then we all sat down and enjoyed our fresh fruit.
We all were exhausted, so we went back into our room and Pyboon stayed with us asking where we were going and when we were coming back until we were all ready to go to bed and then he happily ran to his room. The next morning we had to leave at 6:00 and Pyboon was right out there waving good-bye to us until he couldn’t see us anymore.