This is Or (pronounced Aw). He is a 14 year old residential kid.
He is in the second grade because there is no documentation of his prior schooling. Maybe it was lost in the tsunami or he came from Burma or somewhere else without papers.
Or is the first kid I met. The first day I went to my classroom, he came along and began to help. He mopped the floor, repaired books, sharpened pencils and washed the black board.
This photo of Or was in the van returning from the "survivor" outing. He was a good and patient leader with the younger ones, as he is at the school.
Or is around the other teachers and me quite often. He likes to come into the office and get on the computer, playing games, music, and creating photo presentations. He has recently been carrying an English Thai dictionary with him and refers to it often.
The photo to the right is something that Or made and gave to me this week on Hannah's birthday. Of course I felt sad that day. Or put this little character on my key ring. It says "Or" on the front and "I love you" on the back.
These kids are very generous with giving hearts and saying I love you, by the way. Boys and girls.
When I realized that Or was giving this to me as a gift, I started to cry (assuring him that I was crying because i was happy).
Today Or came into the office and gave me a stack of his artworks. Again, a gift. He is very talented. I will photograph a couple of them. He is a gentle and kind kid, seemingly alone. I wonder about what his future holds.
This is James. He looks like a toughie, but he's not. I have discovered him to be a loving kid who wants to please. He is 11. He insisted that I sit near him ("Teacher! Teacher" and pointing) in the van to and from the "Survivor" outing.
He also comes to my classroom at the end of the day and carries my books and folders down to the office for me ( as does Or). When I arrived at the office with James carrying my things, I told that other teachers that I never in my life had boys carry my books for me!
One of my fifth grade classes has a group of boys who are really unruly. I have had to come down on them very hard, sending two to Lena's class and sending two out of classes for bad behavior. After the last two classes, this group of boys has come back in and cleans my classroom. I am still watching them closely with some suspicion ( I suspect some of them of taking things out of the room once when I left it unlocked), but they are sweeping the floor, straightening the book area and bean bags, and generally putting things back in place. I have no idea what this is about, but will ask a Thai teacher about it.