Yesterday was one of the most precious days of my life. My friend Christian and his three brothers helped build a school in Khao Lak where they lost their parents in the 2004 tsunami. I didn’t really know what to expect other than what Chris had told me about these kids having next to nothing other than the clothes they wore. I was led to the school by some very special people that live here in Khoa Lak from D-Travel. They informed me that out of the 70 kids at the school they had only one ball to play with. So it was the next logical step to go load up with some soccer balls for the kids. I got them some ping pong racquets as well and and an abundance of fresh drinking water.
After a short meeting with the principal of the school I was led on a tour of the school with an English teacher and Khalil great friend and cameraman. We were both in a bundle of emotions after seeing numerous pictures of the wave that devastated much of Khao Lak. We tried hard to fight back the tears but that was impossible. We knew we were in for an emotional experience but this jarred us pretty hard. The name of the main school building is named after Mr. and Mrs. Knill and a beautiful plaque adorned the interior of the school. I said my peace and placed a flower under the plaque with all do respect.
Then it was time to have some fun! In the squelching heat Khalil and I played soccer with the kids for about two hours. These kids were having a blast and I literally was transformed into a human jungle gym. It was non stop laughter and fun. These kids were just great and some of the happiest kids I’ve ever been around. They don’t know any other way of living so to them the small gifts we brought were a huge deal. My reward was to see all the smiles and laughter. for that brief moment in time I was able to refelct on my own childhood and how good I had it growing up.
It was tough saying goodbye, and they kids ran after our tuk tuk not wanting us to leave. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live and the feeling of just being alive.
Ryan.