Thailand is experiencing a really, really hot season this year, which is that bit harder to bear as for the last two years I’ve been in the UK at this time. Those who came on study tours with 1Step2Step previously keep mentioning that they are missing the cool UK weather. Conversation is all about the…
In a week of lots of extra requests and tasks, I want to tell you about today, which was possibly one of the busiest days this year. However, I was blessed to have had a volunteer arrive for the week. Liz, who was formerly a volunteer for the Huahin holiday last August and who looked…
At the beginning of this week, I travelled with girls from one of the homes on an overnight trip they are running for the girls with cerebral palsy. I got the chance to make sure Miss W got to go by being her carer. She was one of my original children back in the early…
Today the people from the Department that issue my visa paper work came by again to sign off that they saw me working. This should happen once a year, but as you’ll have seen in a previous blog ( Back on the plastic chairs of immigration) my passport needed to be renewed, so I was only…
After a month in a cast which covered both legs with two bars connecting them, Miss K was fed up. I was too, with all the bruises I got from knocking on the bars when carrying her. The most uncomfortable one was on the tip of my knee, so kneeling (which I do most of…
Today I was involved in a moment that left me wondering, “Is compassion innate and built into our being or learnt?” It’s a standard nature versus nurture question. I hear you all thinking, “Oooh, what could have made Nicola go all philosopher on us?” Well let me tell you. On the ward where I work…
This blog post is unlike many previous blog posts. This one really is not about what 1Step2Step has been doing in either Thailand or the UK. It is more of a macro view of the progress being made, the steps forward for people with disabilities within the systems that affect them and the hope for…
When bank holidays come around, I normally take the day off to rest. This time was different. Instead, a friend, one of the teachers from the school I did a talk for a few months back, asked how she could help. I mentioned that help for a cleaning day is amazing, so she signed…
Miss K has been out of the original cast for about three months now, but alas, although I stretch and position her when I’m at work, for the other 21 hours when I’m not working with her, she is taken out of the cushioning and left in any position. This has caused her brain to…
Sally and Jill (1Step2Step trustees) volunteered for a week at the orphanage and then went travelling in both Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, enjoying Thai food and experiences. I joined them for the time in Bangkok and we were able to be tourists in the markets and to celebrate Chinese New Year. We even saw the late…