What's That There You're Playing With? Oh!

Trigger warning, for real.

Those who are squeamish about insects might want to skip this post altogether.

Fun fact about Thailand:  It has big bugs.

Fun fact about childhood everywhere:  Kids play.

Pictured above is a fine sample of the Rhinoceros Beetle (aka Hercules Beetle) that lives and thrives well in the jungle-forests of Northern Thailand.  Despite its rather intimidating appearance, these beetles are slow and sluggish with no stinging or biting mechanisms or instincts.  They are herbivores and have no interest in chomping on people.

As such, they make happy little play things for our children at Hot Springs.  

Apparently there's a whole gambling side hustle with these beetles, but we won't be mentioning this to our kids any time soon.  It was enough that one of our more entrepreneuring young boys took advantage of how many beetles he could gather from our property, and smuggled them in to school to sell to his friends.  Yes, they are that popular.

I don't know about you, but a large, clutchy beetle isn't the first thing I think of when I make a list of fun toys for children.  In fact, there's a part of my Western rescue instinct that wants to 'fix' this.

Are you kidding me?  Let's get these kids some 'real' toys!  

As if the absence of 'real' toys is a problem that needs fixing.

But what's more real?  I think of my own childhood, summers in particular.  I had the privilege of family property that took us out of the city where there were just a lot more critters.  And while my little Canadian psyche would have likely freaked out to see a bug this big, we still played with the frogs and caught fish in a pail, and fed the chipmunks.  We stopped to watch where the ants were going, marveled at the display of moths against the windows at night, and even gathered tent caterpillars and kept them in container for a while, and gave them names.  

These were our summer toys.  Toys of nature.  Toys of wonder and discovery.

And what if summer was always?   Wouldn't kids do this all the time?  Find the wonder and delight and playfulness in what's around them?

So, yes, at Hot Springs we have skipping ropes, and table tennis, and soccer balls, and now Jenga blocks (thanks to the happy project of our Team last November), to play with.  Sponsors send along Lego and games and such, all of which are received with delight provide much play value.

But the giant beetles remind me that not all that I see as poverty is poor.  

Now of course, if you don't have enough to eat, or if you are cold on those chilly nights up in the mountains, and if you don't have enough clothes in your house to send everyone to school on the same day, or if there's no school in your village at all, or if you're afraid that your Mom's new husband is going to hurt you, it's just harder to be a kid at all.   Play itself becomes a luxury.

That's why we need you.

“The mission of New Family Foundation is to provide a loving home for at-risk and orphaned children in in Northern Thailand to help them achieve their best potential in education, vocation and service to society.”