Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Evelyn's Report from her trip to Thailand

As I flew from Vancouver on November 23, 2007 to Hong Kong - I was on my 1st flight on Oasis Airlines
which is a new airline serving Vancouver to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to London - with new routes
in the near future. Upon checking in - I soon found out I was 45 lbs over my luggage allowance - so
looking at the cost of the excess luggage- and comparing the cost to upgrade to Business Class,
I chose the Business Class as I could have a greater luggage allowance with this upgrade.
It was a comfortable beginning to this trip and as I landed in Hong Kong - I was meeting up with my
friend, SUsan Denbok . Susan and Gerry have a work also with orphanages - called Three Strand
Ministries. Alot of my connections and information has come through these wonderful people.
Sunday, SUsan and I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Raymond Lee and his wife. My purpose was
to meet this couple and invite them to Kamloops for a fund-raiser dinner. Dr Lee was so friendly and
obliging. So we will continue to proceed with these plans for a future fund-raiser.
Sunday night - I flew to Thailand. Dave and Terry Wharf met me at the airport at 10:30 pm. After a
long wait for the luggage - we finally made it back to the orphanage at 1:30 am. The children were being
taken care of by another lady while Dave and Terry came to Bangkok to get me.
The city of Srirachu is about 60 miles south of the Bangkok airport. THe roads in Thailand are very
good - many are 3-4 lanes, and even in the city - I was very surprised at the good roads.
16 of the children at the orphanage go to school - and the 4 younger ones are home(ages 3-4)
So this keeps Dave and Terry busy everyday. Terry does 8-10 loads of laundry a day -
while Dave stirs up breakfast for the children and drives them to school. The children do not
all go to the same school so it takes time to drop the children at school, in different parts of the city.

Since I brought 2 large suitcases with gifts, I was able to give the children some small gifts, and the
rest would be saved for Christmas gifts. The children were so excited. Toys are a rarity around the
orphanage as money must be spent on food and clothing and toy-money would be way down on the list.
Dave and Terry are very frugal in shopping. I went on a couple shopping trips with them to
the large wholesale grocery stores. Rice is served for each meal, along with some vegetables
and small amounts of meat. For Breakfast the children have rice, with some egg stirred in. They only
get milk one day a week. Milk is very costly in Thailand. No one complains, and right down to the
youngest little boy, Matthew - each child takes 2nd servings and finishes everything on their plate.
There is a great unity and peace in this orphanage. THe older children help with the younger children,
and the boys have a large bedroom with particoned off to give some privacy to the children.
The youngest boy is well taken care of by the older boys. The girls have the same sleeping
accommodations. They two small girls (ages 3-4) are cared for by the older girls. It truly is a
great example how a large family can work together so well.
I was so stirred by the needs that I could so visibly see. THe truck that is used by the orphanage
has over 400,000 miles and has a cracked motor. Dave has worked on this vehicle so many hours,
to keep it on the road as it is so vital to the needs of the children. Dave and Terry also are looking
for a scooter to run-errands, without having to use the truck for each small errand. I also inquired
about vitamin supplements and since this would be so costly, I am going to make some inquirys
with a large USA company and see if we could have vitamins shipped over there. I have taken
thousands of dollars of vitamins to the orphanages in China and this would be grately accepted
here at El Shaddai.

As I was leaving Bangkok, I sat at the boarding gate, thinking about all the the needs of El Shaddai
and the future of these children without the proper nuitrition. As I sat there, this business man came
and started talking to me. He asked me what I was doing there in Thailand, so I shared my work with
Orphanages, and about my time at El Shaddai. He was most amazed! He said "That is what I am doing"
He along with his fellow business men and women in Bangkok who are professionals, as Doctors,
Dentists etc - have formed a support group for Orphanages. He listened intently as I shared the needs
for El Shaddai and he said "I can do something about that" ....honestly, for a moment, I felt like
an angel had come to hear my heart and concerns. This man took my e-mail and phone number and
said when he returned from Hong Kong - he would e-mail me and make the connection with the
El Shaddai home and he would personally go there and take care of the needs of these children.
You can only imagine as I flew out of Bangkok, my heart was somewhat lightened by the thought
that someone else cares. As I always say," We cannot do everything but we can do something to
change this world"..and when we cannot do something, then we can network with those who can
do the things that we are unable to do. I believe that this group of business people in Bangkok
will be a vital part of helping this orphanage.

I will keep you posted as this develops. Thank you again for helping us, help others around this
world. Every penny goes to these orphans and as we bought the deep freeze for El Shaddai - I believe
that someone will come along and fill this deep-freeze for the children.
At our fund-raiser on Nov 19th, we raised funds to purchase a deep-freeze and wooden clothes
dryers for the orphanage in Thailand.
Please keep this orphanage in your mind and heart. Any donations that come in - will go directly to
the needs of this home.
Thank you
Evelyn Picklyk

Did you know?

Russia - there are over 20,000 children in the jails in Russia
there are over 1,000,000 streeet children - with no residence - living in abanded buildings and stealing to
survive - eventually they end up in jail - Most of these children come from the orphanages - and at 14
they cannot stay in the orphanage any longer - so they begin their life on the street - most of them do
not have parents or have any relatives who wish to take care of them.

China-Vietnam border - city opf Manshan, Guanangxi province
A number of years ago we provided the money required to register this orphanage with the government
which was $ 500cad - the House of Hope was established under a dear friend - Dora Tweksbury.
Today - I have just learned that she has opened another home in the same area - and her vision is to
open 1 girls home and 1 boys home - and expand her dream to eventually open more homes.
This little Chinese lady has a great dream and as she continues to touch orphans in western China,
we are looking forward to what we can do to assist her.

China/Tibet Border - the city of Qinhai- had a young couple (Doctor and his wife)- just married in July 2007 -
go and begin to work with children - in just a few months - it became evident that this couple -
Chinese man and Tibetan woman,would quickly make inroads into the hearts of teenagers - and now they have
established a home for teens who have no parents and basically have been orphans most of their lives.
The city officals, is happy to have a doctor in their city and they have trusted the children
into their care of this couple. My friends from Hong Kong are planning a trip up to this city to assist
this couple and find out what their needs are.