Thailand – The Beginning of My Hero Holiday

After touring Hong Kong and Chiang Mai I made it to my final destination – Chiang Saen to work with children in a shelter.  These are children of many different ages starting from the age of 2 onward.  We were told there would be 90 children as a number of them were on summer holiday.

When our van arrived at the camp the children were waiting for us waving flags.  We were first greeted with a bracelet and a necklace made of jasmine flowers and rosettes.  The garlands are given as a greeting and are a sign of respect.

As we continued walking through the line some children were carrying buckets of white paste made from water and talcum powder.  As we walked through the line a child would apply the paste to our face – for protection and to ward off evil.

We were also splashed with water signifying cleansing and renewal.  It also signified blessings and respect.

We later learned the white paste and water was in celebration of Songkran – the Thai New Year.  Thai New Year was celebrated from April 12th to 15th and the children wanted to celebrate it with us.

As I was walking through the line having paste applied to my face and water poured on me I became extremely overwhelmed as two children grabbed my hand and looked up at me and guided me to their play area.  Here I am amongst a group of children who had been exploited yet have an incredible amount of love to give.  Their smiles were genuine.

As a Naturopathic Doctor my role is to teach and educate patients through their health journey.  Now it is my turn to be taught and educated!  Our excursion is called a Hero Holiday but it does not refer to us as the heroes.  It refers to the children who braved through extremely difficult times in their young lives.

And this was just my first day…

Sawatdee,

Shelley