little update!

Steph's bit; It's just over a week now that we've been in the big T, and what a crazy week it's been!! We're both settling in to the Thai way of life and slowly picking up the language, just about enough to order a meal...but have now started basic lessons so hopefully they help! By friday last week we were exhausted after working just a few days, but it was a lot to take in in such a short amount of time.
Work has been tough at Rachawadee, nothing could have prepared me for what I'd see. Everyday we either do day-care, so collect girls from the wards(about 6), or go into the wards and do music/dance therapy or sensory activities and pampering sessions! The wards are shocking. Literally can't believe and really struggle at times to understand how it's possible to let children live like they do there. The wards are basically white wall rooms with metal bed after bed and matresses with 3 children to a bed. The government staff literally do the rounds of feeding,changing and showering. No stimulation so children only get worse, minor disablities turn into major ones. I'd say that animals get treated better in England than these girls do here. It seems hopeless, but praise God that he truly loves these children and i can trust in Him knowing one day all this brokeness will be made whole, all the pain and suffering will vanish! Stepping into the wards with that mindset and asking for Gods strength to face each day and show his love gives me so much joy when we get to work with them! Haven't seen smiles or heard giggles as big as theirs before!!! CCD are incredible, without them I dread to think of how much worse the childrens situation would be. There are different wards depending on disability and age so we have a variety each day. Some have physical disabilities and others mental disabilities so what we do differs. God is so faithful, everyday he has given me energy and has answered prayers! I know that being out here is going to change my life forever (and i know i'll be back!! :D) We've taken some girls out for icecream last week and next week we're going swimming with another two which will be great!! We've also gone on trips to a few international schools, one of which was on my first day with Julia(another volunteer at rachawadee,legend!) with 11 girls..on our own...and three of them couldn't walk,mental, but turned out fine :S thai's do things so different! Need to keep praying about that actually that i'd remember their culture is so different and i just have to accept that and do the very best i can with the girls and take hold of every opportunity and just go for it, and not get angry at the staff who are on the wards, but turn that fustration into passion for what i can do!! After work is grand, the house is lush and we can just chill and wander to the market to get dinner (for like 40p) and then spend the eve having a laugh with the girls and hang out. We're going to a church in an expat community (pretty strange but actaully a blessing having english speaking people and being able to understand stuff!) and have been invited to a housegroup on tuesdays AND THEY HAVE CAKE! Yes. I can see that the weekends are going to be well used, going to try and do tourist things and have a few lie ins! 7am start is a bit of a killer during the week!
So yea really loving it out here, missing people but i know that this is just where God wants me to be and amen for internet in the house!!! Learning lots, very humbling experience so far. Prayer life is being shaken up/woken up!! thanks guys for prayer and support, love you all, chat soon!! skype if you can :D Love you x x x
Nic's bit; Time has truely flewn! Can't believe we have been at work for a week now. Seems like we have only been here 2 minutes. Everything is so so different to the U.K, and culture shock has been pretty shocking at times. Slowly sinking in that this is our home for a fair amount of time, and we have very quickly got down to normal working life. I start work at the nursery at 8.30am everyday and finish at 3. I cycle home at record speed, as by this point in the day the only thing I want is a ice cold shower! We then busy ourselves in the evenings with either swimming/sunbathing, housegroup, thai lessons, eating out (I could quite happily sit and eat thai food all day, incredible!) and a fair few DVD's. It's pleasure to live with such wonderful girls (theres 6 volunteers in the house). When we are awake enough to talk it's very fun! So lovely to come home to some english speaking people, my limited thai gets quite repetitive! Steph might not say the same in her blog bit, but i'm gunna run the risk of being a loser sister and say i'm so so grateful for her company and presence here. God is incredibly kind to put us together. It makes the things we see easier to digest, and it also means when it all gets too much, we can have a laugh! (as you can imagine theres been alot!.
Things have definitely been difficult to digest here. The children we see are abandoned, un-loved and un-cared for. Stuck in a bizzare and difficult goverment system, which on the outside can look pretty rosy but on the inside is rotten and utterly herrendous. Children lie in lines on the floor, un stimulated and un touched. Every child is marked by a skin condition aswell as being disabled, but the wounds and disabilities are not cared for and left to spread and become incredibly nasty in some cases. I would not of believed that children lived in such conditions if i had not seen it. I actually have no idea how they do survive. As a nurse, to watch this and be quite helpless (the first aid kits have a couple of plasters and some sudocrem if your lucky) is utterly heartbreaking and frustrating. I have also visited the sick wards. I could go into the details and write you a essay of a blog,but needless to say the one nurse on that ward needs help, and i have emailed my leader to see if she can get me in. The government are pretty cagey at times, but I'm so so hoping that this plan works and i get stuck in to some nursing as soon as possible.  The work of CCD is absolutely needed and i thank God that he put such passion for children on the hearts of the thai workers here. It's a privilege and a joy to be here and be part of their work, and to have the opportunity to show love to these children, and to know that what breaks my heart, breaks God's a million times more. He is at work, even in the most desperate situautions, he is at work. Look forward to keeping you updated as we go. Can't thank you all enough for your incredible support, Big love! xxx

Address and digits

Nicola/Steph Mann (no-one write to the first mann)
PO box 47,
Pakkred
Nonthaburi
11120
THAILAND

You can also ring us on our home phone!!! It's... 029608117 (seems way short but apparently it's right!)
We are 6hrs ahead of you guys so the best time for you to ring (in GB time) is between 11am-6pm. Any other time we'll be sleeping or at work! Ooo and weekends may be cool!
Loves, Steph and Nic x

We've arrived and we're sweaty!

WOW so we're finally here in a very humid state, we don't quite know how to cool down! All the fans are on, we've had cold showers but hopefully we'll adjust to the heat pretty quick! We had an amazing flight, emirates treated us like royalty, ate way too much, drank way too much (diet coke!), watched plenty of movies and T.V, played a bit of multiplayer ping pong, perfec. In Dubai we got a free meal in the emirates lounge (wahey) then tried to sleep on the plane but it didn't really work so struggling to stay awake right now but will get a huge sleep tonight we hope. We got picked up by a lady called Tarn who works with CCD and she dropped us at Siren house, our home for 3 months!!! We traveled with Karen, a volunteer from Northern Ireland and were all sharing a room in this 4 story house! We've been on a wander, found a vintage second hand shop...had to control ourselves...then brought a few bits for breakkie tomorrow. There are 3 other volunteers staying with us as well but we'll meet them when they get back from work. Tomorrow we have an orientation day and we get to see all the projects so that'll be great to picture where we're all working. Then Wednesday we start!! Really can't wait to begin now. Thankyou for all your prayers, we were amazed the journey went so smoothly :D Loves, Steph and Nic xxx

We are off!

Hello friends and family. So we have decided to keep you updated on this nifty little blog. We will be sure to fill you in on as much of our time away as we can and the inevitable hilarities that will come with! We fly on sunday very early morning and get to Thailand monday morning. For those of you who don't know the full details, we are going out to work with a charity named CCD, check out http://www.ccdthailand.org/ Steph will be working with 'Rachawadee girls' who are aged 7+, Nic will be working in fung fah nursery with children aged 0-7 years. We will let you know more of our role when we find it out! But as of now we know that we will be there to provide alot of play and stimulation for these children, who sadly, because they are orphans, do not receive the care they need.
Thank you already for the massive support of you all, we so so appreciate it,and love that we are covered in prayer.Wonderful stuff.
Loves, Nic & Steph