By Genie Boynton | Project Leader
We are on our second full day in Thailand and the jet lag is strong! We arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday evening a little before midnight and we've been going full speed ever since.
So, why do it?
Why spend 30 hours traveling across continents and oceans, sleeping on planes, and running off of 3 hours of sleep while trying to overcome the beast that is jet lag?
So, why do it?
Because. Because as soon as I saw the first kid's face Wednesday morning at GRACE Pattaya all of the tired, the grumpy, and the sleep deprived mind vanished. They were all that mattered and they are why we do it.
Here are a few highlights from the last few days. In some ways 2019 doesn't seem that long ago. In other ways, it seems like a lifetime; the world has gone through a global pandemic since then. When Dr. Jon and Angie moved back to the states in 2019, they never imaged that it would be more than three years before they would be back. This moment was one that I have been looking forward to witnessing for months now.
Now, y'all remember Ken, right? We shared his story a bunch over the past 10 years. Here's a little recap incase you need a refresher. This is a post I shared after visited GRACE Thailand in 2022.
"Picture it, Thailand 2017. GRACE Thailand opens its first Family Resource Center. In walks a 6/7 year old boy. He’s reserved, quite…not saying a word. Quickly, the staff learn that he has extremely low self-esteem. He’s struggling in school - his teacher flat out told him that she wasn’t going to waste her time with him (Thailand school systems are a bit different than they are in the states). At this point he was unable to read or write (in Thai, or any language for that matter).
His mom was not in the picture at all and his dad worked so much that Ken spent most of this time alone and with no one to help him with his homework.
Once he started attending the GRACE FRC in Pattaya he quickly began learning and improving all around - academically, socially, and personally. Turns out, he’s incredibly intelligent and just needed someone to invest some time in him.
Fast forward to October 2022. I traveled to Thailand. During my time there I was able to teach several English classes each day (of various levels) and I had the opportunity to sit down with the kids (one on one) to get updated bios on them and get to know them a little better. During the interviews, Mai and Chan were with me to serve as translators. When Ken sat down and I began asking questions there was no need for translation. He understood me and responded wonderfully.
During the English classes, Ken was in the older group. In this class we were working on reading English. All of the kids did great - for most of them, I would read a story (a couple of paragraphs) sentence by sentence and they would repeat. Then there was our Ken. He (and a couple of others) read the story to me (without any help) just as if I were listening to a native English speaker read.
When I tell you that it was all I could not to scream and cry with joy, I absolutely mean it. I was in awe. Seven years ago this kid would barely open his mouth and now we have a kid well on his way to becoming a fluent English speaker!"
The attached picture is Ken assisting Angie with teaching an English lesson to a group of younger kids at GRACE Pattaya. The progress and development in this young man since he came to GRACE years ago has been incredible.
We are so privileged to watch him (and all the kids) grow into themselves.
Thank you for your ongoing generosity and support. You are impacting lives and giving kids and opportunity to eradicate the vulnerabilities; thus, you are preventing exploitation and human trafficking by giving these kids a chance.
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By Angie Sullivan | Cofounder, Project Leader
By Angie Sullivan | Cofounder, Project Leader
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