Greetings from rainy, soggy Thailand!
I am sorry that it has taken so long to write an update on our website. I had written one on our Barn Mass and Ceboride while at home, but the message disappeared into cyberspace!
When I went home near the end of June, the work on the new girls’ home was still in progress. Now, the new house is painted and the girls have moved in. The yard is a muddy mess though. We will have to wait until the monsoons subside before landscaping the yard. We will tear down old roofs, etc, at the old house and build an area the girls can hang out their clothes to dry. The house looks really nice, albeit in a sea of mud.
The rice fields look really good too, what with all the rain. Our fertilizer factory really helps the rice crop. I made a day’s trip to all our rice fields, and to see how the ducks, pigs and cattle are doing. We don’t raise many chickens during the rainy season, because they can catch diseases and die. The ducks are hardy, though, and the kids eat duck eggs. They swore off goose eggs fast, when some of the eggs were rotten and blew up while they were boiling them. The smell was horrible.
One of our girls, who ran off with some shifty-eyed loser months ago, escaped him and managed to get back to Sarnelli. The guy made her do slave labor on his farm, and beat and raped her. We are glad to have her back with us, and our nurse Kate took her for a thorough check up and thankfully, she is fine. Two of our girls, Mae and Praew will work at our guest house (Charlene House) as cooks and laundry.
I am sorry I don’t have more news, since I just returned to Sarnelli House 8 days ago. It sure was good to get out of an airplane after that miserable long trip. I figured from start to finish it took 40 hours. My cousin, Mike O’Connor, accompanied me and we stayed at a resort run by Muslims during our overnight in Bangkok. They knew that I was a priest and were very kind, except that they fed us billy goat and rice mixed with something yellow in the morning! Not my favourite ever breakfast!
One highlight on my return was that I threw a pizza party for the kids and staff, and they in return had a surprise birthday party, for me and Mick. Mick had just turned 63, and I hit the 80 mark while I was home. Other than that, getting back was like I never left. Problems I left behind me when I went to the USA were waiting for me when I returned. I guess some things never change.
Again, we pray for you all; our way of giving thanks to God and showing gratitude to you all. Come and visit us sometime!
Father Mike
