Every Christmas, Manat and Stephen throw a Christmas party for Forgotten. This year, the women cooked kanom jeen, fish and rice noodles with a sour sauce, while the rest of the people played games in the street.
Bowls of noodles for celebration
One and three legged races, wheelbarrow races, and a variety of other games were part of the celebration.
James and Jon introduced the limbo to the people.
Once the food was prepared, the children lined up with bowls in hand eager to chow down on some kanom jeen.
Manat ended the evening by handing out donated clothes as Christmas gifts to each family.
Yesterday, we visited the school on Forgotten Land. It was apparent that the school was lacking in a few areas, including the layout and structure of the schoolhouse. The bamboo floors are uneven and wobbly with large cracks throughout. In addition, the schoolhouse is one big room. We believe the children would benefit from a wall separating age groups to allow for higher education for the older children as well as a means to prevent distraction. We’re in the process of estimating cost for these upgrades right now.
One of the ways we’ve looked into expansion of the school is renting an old resort to use as a boarding school for Karen children. Yesterday, we visited the property to assess the possiblity of using the resort for this purpose. There’s alot involved including finding a way to generate electricity as well as the expenses to clean up and restore the place. Today we plan to visit Namphone’s school, the other school Forgotten funds.
I have been involved with Forgotten Foundation since I married James, but this is my first time to visit. It has been quite the experience! The five orphan girls, ages 5 – 10, who live here at the Forgotten house where we’re staying are fun loving and care free, as children should be. It saddens me to think that these girls could be in a completely different situation without Pastor Manat and Steve taking them in. I thank God for these men and their big hearts.
Please pray for wisdom for us as we continue to assess the needs here. It can be especially difficult with the language barrier.
Thanks for reading and happy holidays to all!
Emily
