Cycle complete!
The road you see here is in Burma's bizarre new capital of Naypyidaw. Its only a decade old and is made up of different districts such as an area for government buildings, and another for housing. Yet these districts are several miles from each other. In between them and making up the "city centre" are rice fields oddly enough. To link the districts together the governemt built huge roads like the one you see which was 16 lanes wide. All some of the best tarred, smooth, painted, lit up at night roads you will ever come across in the world, not to mind just Burma! It was pretty ridiculous how we weaved freely from lane to lane not having to think about the non-existant traffic there. A car might pass every minute or so but at times it felt like the sea of tarmac was all ours. Cycling bliss it must be said.
You would think that I would have plenty time to think about "why I do what I do" on the saddle but actually it never occurs to me too often. Usually I'm so engaged in what's happening around me that I don't have to think seriously about it. Its good that I'm not forced to remind myself daily why I'm doing it, as that would suggest that I force myself to do miles that maybe I don't want to do some days. My mind instead is occupied with the culture, the nature and the people, and that is a good thing I feel. But behind the adventure there is an even more important aspect of the trip and that I feel is the awareness and funds that I'm raising for my charity, Compassion.
Compassion is a Christian organisation who's main aim is to help children escape poverty. I started sponsoring a child with Compassion all of 3 years ago, and I must say it has been one of the best things I've ever done. My sponsored child, Jhonny who's 16 and living in one of the poorer regions of Bolivia now receives a decent education and medical support, his families needs are met, and he's being shown how to live and love in the Christian faith. When I read the letters he sends me every so often, I can see that it has changed his life. During this trip I unfortunately had to skip south America and therefore wasn't going to be able to see Jhonny or to see firsthand the project area where the money raised would be going to. Instead what I was able to do was to visit a similar project en route while in Thailand, and see an example of Compassion in action and boy was it good! The project I was to visit was situated in one of the slums in eastern Bangkok. Many families there had no jobs or had at best only temporary work. I started off by visiting the project centre where the kids were looked after. It was half house half church just on the outskirts of the slum. What struck me first was that it wasn't a compassion worker to greet me but instead it was the Reverend of the church, a Thai lady who was also a doctor. I quickly learnt that instead of Compassion sending in their own people to look after and meet the needs of the kids, they instead equip the local church to go out and meet the kids needs. This made a lot of sense as the church are already part of the community and know where the needs are and the resources necessary to fulfill them. So in this project she and 2 others looked after 70 kids ranging from ages 4-18. On a Saturday the kids would attend the project to get extra teaching, basic life skills and to develop good social skills while having fun. During the week then 2 of the ladies would go out to the children's homes to meet the parents, discuss their needs and then go about fulfilling them. Some of these were as simple as the ladies helping the children with homework and English studies, so that they would have the opportunity of further education and better job prospects. Others were more complicated. I was told stories of several children attending the project with serious health issues. For example "Boom" as he was called, was very prone to convulsions, something which if left unchecked when a child is youmg can prove fatal later in life. Booms family didn't have the resources to get seen by a doctor. When he started attending the compassion project however they were able to get him seen by a doctor and then we're able to purchase the medication for him. Fortunately I was able to visit Boom at his home in the slums and 2 years on and he's much better and getting far fewer convulsions and was really enjoying every Saturday at the project. I could see it in his face as the 3 ladies and myself approached the hut put together with plastic and plywood that he called home. He was beaming from ear to ear. Sadly Boom has no mother and it was his father and older sister who were looking after him. I learnt that like for many men in the area work was difficult to find and that Booms father was in and out of construction jobs. He was a nice man and warmly shook my hand and me offering me a drink of Pepsi which I knew was a luxury for a family as poor as they were. I had brought some chocolate for Boom and blew up some balloons for him to play with and he absolutely loved it. I think the whole 45 minutes I was there I didn't see him frown once. Put a child in Ireland in that scenario and I very much doubt they would have the same attitude as he had. Through translation I asked them of their life here and learnt so much about what it's like to live in a Thai slum. This one wasnt so bad as others I was told, they may have had alcohol and poverty issues but at least they were free of drug gangs and prostitution brothels which were prevalent in other Bangkok slums. They were interested to know about Ireland and so I showed them many photos of Ireland, family and sports. I think they enjoyed seeing some Irish animals, especially the painted kerry sheep which they thought were hilarious! After a good time together we left the slum and I bade farewell to 3 of the most dedicated, Godly women I've ever met. Its not easy to visit slum families all the time. For them it can be dangerous at times, but with everything they trusted God to take care of them. This I guess impressed me the most, the fact that they had given up a normal life to serve and be a blessing to so many children and indeed their families. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to see firsthand the work that compassion do, and I'm convinced now more than ever of the fruitful work that they do to help children escape poverty. I really would encourage you all to take a look further at the work of Compassion and to think about whether you are able to sponsor a child somewhere in the world. We as humans can be so self centred and materiastic in this world and have so many things that we don't even need. Would it not be great to instead of spending money on me me me all the time, to be able to help someone who needs medical attention or good education far more than you need that Brown Thomas jacket! Ok maybe not BT, but do really need 5 outfits this summer or could you make do with 3? There's so many children in need who could use your help. It's not just children in south America and Asia but also so many in Africa, many of which have AIDS. Compassion make it easy for you to sponsor, as ive found out and if you visit their website at www.compassion.ie im sure you'll find the same. There I hope that you too can find a child to love and support. |
The AuthorName: Daniel Ross Top Tips:
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October 2016
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