As you are well aware I set up Hands Across the Water to raise funds to build an orphanage in Thailand following my work there after the Boxing Day Tsunami.

Gill & Rotjana with some of the children The building was originally designed to house 30 children who had been left orphaned and homeless and were at the time living in a large tent.

I have just returned from Thailand where I spent two days with the orphans discovering how they are progressing and what their plans are for the future.

I travelled up to Takua Pa which is just north of the Khao Lak area of Thailand. This area had been badly effected by the tsunami and certainly for a couple of years remained damaged and untouched. However, now, three years on, hotels have been rebuilt, gardens and coastline are re-landscaped and the tourist industry is very much back on track.

Taking delivery of the new truck There is little sign of how badly affected this area had been apart from a police boat still sitting a mile inland at the back of a field and two big passenger ferries in the middle of a village approximately three quarters of a mile inland.

What were basic refugee camps are now structured communities with decent housing and survivors who now have their communities back.

There are still 360 graves in a memorial cemetery each with its own DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) number engraved on each small headstone.

I arrived with my husband Ian and three friends at the orphanage where we were immediately greeted by about 20 young and cheerful faces who all came running out to greet us. They had finished school early to meet us. The older children finished shortly after.

Cultivating orchids to sell
to local businesses

The orphanage now is home to 54 children and as you can imagine accommodation is very tight on space considering it was only designed for 30 children. There are still 10 other children waiting to be housed here who are living in temporary accommodation. Fortunately the Australian side of Hands Across the Water has funded the building of a second orphanage adjacent to the first which will be completed in December 2008. Once complete, 38 girls will move into the new building and 26 boys will remain in our building. There will be a total number of 64 children that will then be housed there until they are 18 years old.

Growing their own vegetablesIt has been a year since my last visit and I was absolutely amazed at what had been achieved by the staff and children. Earlier in the year the orphanage obtained permission to take over a hydroponics farm on nearby land plus all the polytunnels and netting. Since then they have learnt how to grow and cultivate orchids which they now sell to nearby hotels and restaurants earning an income for the orphanage. They also now grow all of their own fruit and vegetables resulting in a huge saving in their food bills and to top it all they have created a small fish farm which provides an income from the fish they sell.

The orphanage is situated on the edge of a small village and the locals are heavily involved with helping at the orphanage. Most of the children at the orphanage came from the village originally. The adults assist with feeding, cleaning and laundry work and a small house in the village is now a sewing workshop where all pyjamas and bedding is made for each child made by local women.

Local villagers sewing pyjamas
for the children

Whilst we were there, they took delivery of a truck bought by HATW and we also purchased a motorcycle and side box (like an ice cream cart) which will be used to take the orchids around the hotels by one of the older children.

I was absolutely amazed and impressed by how much had been achieved at the orphanage. They still need help from the outside world but were desperately trying (and succeeding) to prove that they could also help themselves and become more self sufficient with basics such as food and clothing. The thing that struck me was the enormous sense of pride that you could see in the faces of the children and staff whilst they were showing you around. Even the youngest children played a part.

A few days later I met up with all 64 orphans and 36 children from the village at a cinema complex in Phuket (two and a half hours drive away). HATW paid for a coach to collect them and to take them to watch a film, popcorn and lunch afterwards.

A visit to the cinemaThey had never done anything like this before and it was quite humbling to watch. The younger children had never seen an escalator before let alone ride on one and a few of them were quite frightened and needed to be shown. It is something that we in the UK never give a second thought to. However it was brilliant just to see the excitement in their faces at the prospect of watching a film for the first time.

What about the future? 64 children now have a comfortable and caring home. More than anything else it is a very happy one which is obvious when you see how they have progressed. However some of the children still suffer from emotional problems which is fully understandable when you realise all that they have lost and have gone through.

My next objective is to continue with the support and fund raising and I am now looking at raising £50,000 over the next year to build a volunteers bungalow.

The truck purchased by HATW
for the orphanageAll volunteers at the moment have to stay in rented accommodation which obviously costs the orphanage money. The intention is to provide this accommodation which will allow more volunteers to work free of charge.

If anyone would like to donate money or do something stupid with your work colleagues to raise money and know that it is going to a very worthwhile cause for 64 very beautiful children - PLEASE – JUST DO IT. If anyone would like to work as a volunteer at the orphanage please contact me 07970 145108. I have just helped two young girls in their gap year to achieve this and they have both said it has been a life changing and amazing experience.