Special Thai of the Week: Garrin

Name: Garrin (or Ultraman)

Occupation: Full-time kid (but with a promising career in wrestling or muay Thai boxing)

Family: none known except the workers at the orphanage

This little guy was the highlight of my trip to Chiang Rai. We met at the orphanage where a friend of mine is working. He was wearing an Ultraman shirt, so I started talking to him about the superhero. He proceeded to fly into me like his hero and then karate chop me like I was a villain in a bad dragon suit.

Later we went to church. I saw Garrin tackling a little girl, so I went over and told him not to do that and if he wanted to play rough, he could play with me. So he proceeded to jump on me, tackle me, karate chop me and use me as a punching bag. I would pick him up and flip him, play dead and go along with him. He seemed to love beating me to a pulp. The ladies at the orphanage said he was the roughest kid there and he certainly lived up to that billing. But it was fun and we had a good time while waiting for church to start.

Once church started, I told him he had to be quiet and sit still; I lifted him into my lap and he sat there. I kept my arm around him to keep him from running off and causing a ruckus. He was really good; he just sat there and didn't say a word. I tried to get him to sing with me when the worship started, but he just sat quietly, looking around.

We also prayed together... kinda. I turned him toward me and put his little hands in my hands and I prayed for him. At first, he didn't like it, but then he put his hands back in mine.

I gave him 10 baht (about 25 cents) to put in the offering and he chased down the girl with the offering bag to give her the money. I was proud of him for obeying.

Once the sermon started, all the kids left to go to another room to do their lesson, so we parted ways. It was very cool being an "uncle".

Please pray for Garrin; he has HIV. The northern part of Thailand has a pretty bad AIDS/HIV problem. Garrin is one of the victims. Please pray for the staff that looks after Garrin and a dozen or so orphans that either have one of the diseases or lost their parents to one of the diseases.