Hello hello! I spent a week teaching and getting to know the girls at the girls shelter near Chiang Khong - the gateway city to the Golden Triangle. These girls have been given up by their parents who can no longer afford to care for them, orphaned, or rescued from exploitative labor or brothel conditions. The shelter is a family atmosphere where the girls live, cook, eat, weave, farm, work, and play together. The girls are serious masters in the kitchen! The food they served was some of the best that I have had during my time in Thailand! They stay at the shelter until from the age of about 10 until they reach 18 and then they either find jobs or get sponsors to pay for them to attend college or school outside the shelter - but it depends on their Thai citizenship status. The girls with Thai ID cards are able to go to school if they have a sponsor to help with their expenses, and the girls without ID cards need to find jobs and make a life of their own.
They wash their own clothes in a series of buckets and hang to dry, take cold showers with a hose and a cup, and wash, cut, and peel vegetables for meals together and take turns cooking. They absolutely spoiled me by making me a Thai omelet everyday for breakfast and washing my plates and clothes for me.
I got to partake in their way of life by sleeping on the floor of a bamboo hut with chickens living under me and showering in cold water with a hose and a cup. It took me some time to get used to it - and it is still so hard to take cold showers :). We played games together during their downtime - they love uno! We made it into an English lesson too learning colors and numbers. Spending time with the girls was amazing and definitely makes me appreciate all the comforts of home :).
