November 15-16

Monday morning I woke to find that the kids had already made their way to school, and the campus was quiet. Too quiet, however the little ones who stay for the pre-school made their way into the volunteer quarters to play with the toys and harass us. I was told the days' events can easily repeat themselves everyday if one doesn't take much initiative so after lunch (which was frog, I was stoked!) we headed over to the crafts room. I was really impressed with the materials in the bead room. As a beader myself, I knew I would really enjoy spending time with the kids in here. The beads and materials were donated by a woman from New Zealand who runs a jewelry business, who upon visiting Wat Opot decided to contribute materials to the craft room. Seeing the bowls and bins of beads and how excited the kids are, this is an incredibly generous gift.
After the bead room, the other volunteers were working to give a bath to one of the children who is positive had developed a rash on the back of her neck. Her name is Kunthea, she is about six years old and is very attached to one volunteer, who is unfortunately leaving to the states this weekend. The volunteer gave her a bath to remove some of the scabs in the back of Kunthea's neck. It is a pretty bad rash, and we hear that some of the other children make fun of her for it since she scratches it often. Although she is of age to attend school, she has refused to put on her uniform and go because of her rash. Also, some teachers will not allow her in the school for fear that it is contagious, something everyone here seems to agree is not. Kunthea was very brave and never once cringed as we combed scabs out and scrubbed away the dead skin. It looked incredibly painful, but it seems she has been through it before and was very well behaved. After she was done and we applied some tea tree oil, we have her a balloon and she was all smiles.

Tuesday afternoon I again went over the bead room hoping to make a few pieces of jewelry. The jewelry here gets sold to visitors, volunteers or anyone that happens to have a dollar and see something they like. The proceeds go directly to Wat Opot, and some of the older girls who make jewelry receive a portion of revenues from their jewelry sold. Since I had a few hours to spare, I brought some of the kids over so they can make some jewelry. I was amazed at some of their work, I've studied from books so many beading and string techniques and these kids are so skilled without any formal training or studying! A lot of the work many of the children have done is incredibly professional looking, ready to be purchased in just about any boutique in New York.