Back at home..

Well my flight back home was almost a month ago and I remember my trip like it was yesterday. Even though I'm physically off Thailand soil my heart and soul is still at Ban Kingkaew. What the children and staff have taught me in just 4 short weeks can't be put into words. I have grown as a person and I look forward to learning from them again. My love for them grew immensely over the short period of time and I feel it every time I look at their pictures. We are going to be doing a lot of remodeling and purchasing for Ban Kingkaew in the near future and need as much help as we can get. We just created this video to help people become aware of some of the things that we are starting to work toward. Please take the time to check out the video and please pass it along.



Love is Life

Steve

Is Love enough? YES!!

My last day in Thailand was a very emotional one. First thing Wednesday I said goodbye to all the children at Ban Kingkaew. They grabbed a hold of my heart in such a short period of time and it was really difficult to say goodbye. I can truly say I love them all and look forward to seeing them very soon.
Maemay and I were lucky enough to be able to join The Chiang Mai ToyRide crew on a heartful donation day at the local Maharaj Governmental Hospital. My friend Scott Jones from Give and Live is a big part of what is called The Chiang Mai ToyRide. What the ToyRide does, is gather motorcycle riders from all over Thailand to ride and raise money for underprivileged children in the Chiang Mai and surrounding areas.
We had 140 stuffed animals to give out to children who are sick from blood diseases, brain tumors and other serious illnesses. It was remarkable to see the smiling faces of these children even though they're going through so much.

The pictures do no justice to my experience at the hospital.











A big thank you to Scott and Joom for making this event possible for me.













Love is Life

Steve

Saying goodbye is never easy..

Wednesday was my day to say goodbye. The morning was by far the most difficult to do. I felt like I have grown so close to the children and now it was time to say goodbye for now. The next time I visit Ban Kingkaew some of the children may be gone and new ones may show up. I will make this entry short with some pics of my last day with some amazing children and staff.

Praneet










Tom (Volunteer Coordinator)










Mae Ma










The adorable Unii










Ahtalie, Jo Jo and Du Du










Love is Life

Steve

Kete's last day..

I'm not sure how Kete felt about leaving but I do know I was sad for her. The time that was spent with the children was some of the best moments of my life. Seeing her end her trip could never prepare me for whats to come in two days for me. We were able to get group shots with group 2 and 3. Group 1 is way to hard to get them all together at once but we were able to get a ton of shots with them individually.

Group 2










Group 3










Kete and Tom (Volunteer Coordinator)










Kete with Tee Pa Whan and Che Che










Kete and Tee Pa Whan










Love is Life

Steve

LiL Foundation, Give and Live, Lucky Foo's Benefit a hit.

The LiL Foundation Benefit with Cosponsors Give and Live and Lucky Foo's was a huge success. We packed the house on Saturday April 26th for our Benefit for Ban Kingkaew orphanage. There was fantastic food, magnificent music and crazy comedy. It was all planned in less then two weeks and the efforts of all definitely paid off. Thanks to everyone who came and those who donated through friends or the internet. We raised a total of 59,000 baht ($1,800) US dollars. The LiL Foundation gave 15,000 baht, Give and Live gave 20,000 and the rest came from all other donators. There was also great raffle prizes donated such as fine wine from Sadamnern Limited; manicure/pedicure from Nice Nails; massage from Bor Nguen; oil, tea and natural supplements from Nutra Thai; t-shirts from the cosponsors, Scott Jones’ Life in the Laugh Lane book and 10 body piercings from Naga Tattoo.
The musicians did their thing as Warren Simpson and The Garden Restaurant owner Tim Davies eased the crowd into the groove with acoustic blues; Scott Jones' comedy slides and music got them laughing the tour of the USA and Thailand through his eyes; Aey from The Hug Bar performed splendidly with guitar, vocals and kitchen spoons. Naia Kete brought the magic as usual with original songs, and a new one that was written for the kids of Ban Kingkaew. Touching photos of Ban Kingkaew were taken by The LiL's Steve Rosenfield, and drew a few tears from the guests. You will be able to see the slide soon on the website www.thelilfoundation.org.
The LiL Foundation is looking to redo the bathrooms, repair broken bikes and get mosquito nets and still need your help. If you would like to donate to Ban Kingkaew please visit the donation page and put Ban Kingkaew into the comment field. You can see exactly where your money goes to if you check out either our site or our blog at www.thelilfoundation.blogspot.com.

Next picture taken by Steve Yarnold of The Chiang Mai Mail

Thank you so much for your support

Love is Life

Steve

Just in time..

So yesterday we finally were able to finish painting the wall. There was threat of rain which would have put us out of luck but we were able to pull it off. We couldn't have done it without my dear friend Maemay, who I titled the best dressed painter in the world. She came in all dressed up and asked what she could do. So I gave her a paint brush and she saved us a ton of time. Thank you so much to her. I also want to thank my friends from Australia who gave a generous donation this week which in turn paid for all the paint and supplies for the wall. Thank you so much and here are the before and after pictures so you can see what your donation paid for.

And last but not least the ever wonderful Maemay.













Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Our recent donators.. Thank you!!

I wanted to post these pics as a thank you to our 3 most recent donors. I figured it would be great to show them exactly where their money has gone. Our goal was to get new benches for one of the play areas at the orphanage because as you can see they weren't very safe. We were able to go out and pick up 4 benches and a table to replace the old broken ones. Pictures of the old and new benches are below.















Thank you again for your generous donations.

Love is Life

Steve

Beauty on a day off..

We took a day off the other day and checked out the temple at the top of Doi Suthep hill. The temple was built in the late 14th century and overlooks Chiang Mai from its lofty perch, some 3,500 feet (1,053 meters) above sea level. On a clear day you can see the whole city and beyond. Unfortunately we are here during the most polluted time of the year and we could barley see a thing. It was still a beautiful site. The drive up to the top was amazing. The 20 minute drive to the top via all the winding roads made the ride most relaxing. All the different smells of the trees and flowers was a change from driving through the city as we're usually smelling exhaust from all the cars and scooters. The temple is said to have a relic of Buddha himself which makes this one of the most popular temples in the area. The statues and architecture were exquisite and pictures do them no justice. I will try to bring my experience of this breathtaking place by my vision of the shots below.



Love is Life

Steve

Is this really allowed here in Thailand?

I'm talking about DISCRIMINATION. Of all the beauty here in Thailand, this way is not so beautiful. I'm talking about the markets, the zoo, the temples, and pretty much every other little thing that a visitor to this paradise would see or want to use while here. We're called Falangs. This word can be heard in a conversation with you just a few steps away. Kete and I have gotten used to this and we're getting better at playing the game. It's very frustrating to say the least. I want everyone to picture themselves buying a car. Now we all know how crazy that can be going back and forth about prices etc etc etc. You are going to be doing just that. but only buying a poster, a lamp, artwork, a shirt, dress, shoes or whatever else you want. There is no prices on them and Thais pay this price and the foreigners get told another. This is the art of shopping here. So be prepared!!

We went to an amazing temple today. I will put pictures up and a blog entry about it tomorrow but here is a sign that would never be allowed in the States. The Thai people get in for free.


Love is Life

Steve

Work to be done...

So today we started to get down to the manual labor. I had a talk with one of the woman in charge of the orphanage the other day. Dr Praneet is a very nice women with a great smile. I'll try to get a picture before we leave. She said it would be ok for Kete and I to do some remodeling around the orphanage so to speak. I will take some pics of before and after to give everyone an idea of the work we are trying to help with. The following pictures are of 1 of the walls in 1 of the outside play areas. We are going to be scrubbing the pealing paint of and repainting the whole wall. We want to add some color to the backdrop of the play area. We had 2 other volunteers (Jon and Magerite) help out as well. They were scrubbing the mold of the bottom of the wall. Here are a couple of us working on the wall and Kete working on her bowl of ice cream.


Love is Life

Steve & Kete

Songkran kids style part 2...

Here are some shots that I took.






































Love is Life

Steve & Kete