Ok now my 5th round as volunteer here at Barnhem is done, and as usual, these four weeks passed surprisingly quickly. Scary fast this time!
When you arrive and after greeting everyone it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes before you have settled down and are into the Barnhem’s pace. Coming here is like coming home !!
It's fantastic to see what an incredibly impact the renovation has done to the Barnhem! I have seen pictures of it but it's another thing to be here and see for yourself. No more cracks in walls and ceilings, proper toilets and showers, fans in ceilings and so on. Everything feels much fresher and nicer, this will be great for the children!
My everyday life here is pretty simple. It is filled with playing with the children here at the Barnhem, teaching English in schools, walks, tours on Phuket's coastline, sun, laughter, swimming and much more.
The days have more or less the same routine. So much that I sometimes find it difficult to discern whether it's Tuesday or Friday. That it is why it is so important to notice the small details of everyday life (I guess itprobably is the same in Sweden as well), it sounds a bit cliché but I think it could be pretty important when you are here. Small details like in how a child takes on the talk powder in a funny way after his/her shower, or how one of the kids on the way to school in the bus starts humming a song, which our driver picks up and starts to play, and you'll see how the face of the child shines of happiness. To see when our grandmother throws out her arms to try to get hold and hug the kids running past her at her bench. Watch the youngest kids as they collaborate and help each other to be able to carry the large water container to the kitchen.
Or to see someone finally understand why 11-6 cannot be 1 but has to be 5.
Small seemingly simple, sometimes basic details, which distinguish on day from another.
Harmony. That's the impression I take home with me. Barnhem feels more harmonious now than any other time I have been here. It might sound strange at first, as is so much going on right now, with the renovation and all. Buildings are demolished and new are getting built, parts of Barnhem is a construction site full of building materials, the fuss and noise arises from early morning to late afternoon .... But harmony is what I feel when I'm here. It feels like all kids as well as the staff, fulfills a specific role. And the role is to make everyone feel needed and loved. And that is what you feel when you get here. It is what I feel when I'm here and that's certainly what the newly arrived children feel when they come here - love.
It does not matter how things look on the surface when the core and the heart is intact.
Next year I graduated, and it's time to grow up and get a job. I hope this was not my last time .... It cannot be my last ....
No, It will be one more time. 5 times is a record too easy to beat;)
I want to finish this by thanking EVERYONE who work for Barnhem, whether it is on place or in Sweden. Without all of you, who put so much time and energy to help, this gorgeous place would not exist. So THANK YOU!
I hope all of you can come to An Evening for Happy Child, see you there!