a little bit about what I do

ok so my main responsibility is to play with toy ton and Eileen while they are home. but all the kids are in school right now so during the day I am publishing videos and photos to the Internet, as well as setting up myspace, facebook, geocities, etc pages for the orphanage( i never thought those computer programing classes at school would be good for anything!) I have also spent some time picking up trash in the side yard(the playground/ bike riding area). Today I picked up and cleaned the front yard/ carport.. looks much much better... the car can fit all the way in ow which mean they can close the front gate to the property at night now. Every night after dinner I clean up the dinning room which is a chore! last night there was dog poo and a baby diaper under the table after dinner plus lots of food and dirt... here shoes aren't worn in the house and kids don't wear them much at all so all sorts of stuff is dragged around. I'm beginning to work on cleaning up one area a day (started today with the front yard) and ill continue that daily until I leave.. Ill be able to do some of the areas twice which will be good for those that get dirty faster. lets see what else have I done... I go with roger to take the kids and pick up the kids from their various schools. they go to 4 or 5 different schools right now but next year will only be at 1 or 2. Attendance at public schools in Buri Ram is free to those who can afford it and all students must wear uniforms and kids must keep their hair cut short. This is important to cut down on lice epidemics. Eileen is the only child n the house that goes to private school so she is the one running around with beautiful long hair( if you can afford private school you are expected to be able to afford lice shampoo) She will have to cut her hair next year when she moves schools. I may get to learn to cook a little but 2 of the girls at the orphanage are normally expected to do so. Twice a week I also go with Roger to the Rajabhat Buri Ram University and assist him in teaching a conversational English class to Grad Students, Professors, and University Staff. On the 22nd I will be attended a conference at a hotel in Buri Ram conducted by the Buri Ram Tourist Police where we will be able to discuss ways of opening the city up better to tourism and helping to prevent sex-tourism. Completion of the conference will make me a volunteer tourism police officer and I believe even provide me with a Thai ID card. At some point before I leave I will also add to the mural that is constantly growing ass volunteers come to TOLO... I think my contribution my be a butterfly in the dinning room.

Roger has been constantly talking to me about the needs of the orphanage just simply to operate and it is incredible how they are able to operate. The monthly budget is 2000 dollars and that provides for 13 full time kids 9 weekend kids 1 handicapped boy that lives in town plus the operation costs of the orphanage. And that's with gas at 6.50 a gallon or more. Roger has talked about how difficult it is to receive enough donations to run on such a minimal budget and it frustrates me. I now that I don't spend my money near as wisely as I should and I will definitely be praying about how to better spend it... I am growing very used to rice for breakfast lunch and dinner and so maybe some of the money I spend on food now can head towards feeding these children. Just something to think about... especially with 3 new children on the way and possibly 2 more on top of that.