13 Jul Kids Club Family

Every Saturday morning, we pull into the parking lot of the Bible College here in Mae Sai, and every Saturday morning we are greeted in that parking lot by smiling, laughing and jumping Loy children.  They travel from neighborhoods around the area – some as far as two to three miles away.  We quickly unload the truck: craft boxes, Bible storybook, soccer ball, guitar, and mats to lay on the ground.  Some of the boys, smiling, grab the pump from the back of the truck and take it over to their bikes where Nirut helps them fill their tires with air.  We all gather on the mats and sing (or hum until some of us still learn Thai) with Nirut and Aum as they lead worship songs with homemade lyric posters.  The storybook then comes out and the kids gather around, family style.  They listen, sometimes distract each other, answer questions, and ask questions.  Brandon then goes to pick up lunch while we start a craft – coloring printed pictures, group drawing their own scenes on oversized paper, or making animal masks and taking pictures in the jungle – they always “go all in” and have a blast. Sometimes the boys prefer soccer to crafts (or go play after) and Nirut and Stephen go with them to have a “Mae Sai World Cup.”  Aum brings fingernail clippers and helps the smaller ones, while the older ones giggle and run to the grass to cut their own.  Lunch then comes, so the boys form a single file line and the girls form one next to them.  We pray and before each one receives their food, they wai (“why” – looks like prayer hands) and say, “Kahp kuhn kah/krahp” (thank you).  After we finish lunch on the mats, the kids head home and we pack up to go leave as well – we always pass them on the road though.  Three girls are usually high up a tree beside the road, collecting fruit. One boy scrapes his leg right before we pass him and his friends, so Nirut jumps out of the truck with hydrogen peroxide and a bandage.  We all wave and smile as we say one last goodbye until next time.

Kid’s Club. It’s not the smoothest running “program” all the time, but always feels like family time.