Sports Day at the School for the Blind

Well, my finger is much better. I still have my 4th and 5th fingers taped together and am trying to do some exercises to help with it's movement. I think typing the blog actually gives my finger some exercise. I hope to be back to tennis is another couple of weeks. I had a few pictures I wanted to send along. A couple of weeks ago the boys had a Arts Festival week at school that culminated with performances and exhibits of all the activities. Dustin and Nathan were a part of the jazz band, they loved their guitar classes and sang with a choir. Their choir instructor was a guest teacher from the US who was flown in for a week of classes for the Jr. and Sr. High students. Many guests artisans played a role in the week. Ethan participated in photography and paper mache' classes. One of the little girls in Ethan's class told me that Ethan's paper mache'project was an ice-cream cone, Ethan quickly informed me that it was a space ship and was emphatically not an ice-cream cone!



On Wednesday I attended the Blind School of Pattaya's Sports Day, what an amazing event. It was an olympic show on a very small scale but even more inspiring. I cried many times watching these children giving it their all without the ability to see, one of the most touching moments was when several small children sang, I See the Moon and The Moon Sees Me. This is one of the most exciting days at the school and they prepare for weeks for their particular events. There are approximately 50 children that attend this blind, boarding school, the youngest students are 3 years old. The games began with a small parade down the street entering into the school for the opening ceremony. There was a sports torch and continuous flame for the entire day, the Pattaya mayor awarded the medals, and there were cheerleader teams for both the green team and the blue team. It was amazing watching these children compete in relay races, goal-ball that is a form of soccer, swimming events, and some traditional Thai games-like coconut racing and the centipede race. For the running events, many of the children had people running in front of them clapping so they knew which direction to run. For the Goal-ball event, the ball has a bell inside it and they defend by listening for that sound. If the children had partial sight, they were blindfolded. It was so amazing to watch. I left in awe of these children and again reminded how thankful I am for the gift of sight.