Recent highlights
Ok, It's been a long time again. I find that sometimes I just need time off--too often I find myself writing a blog entry late at night. Here are some recent highlights:
Went back to Buriram for a day with Stephen and Sandi Freed of International Teams . Center 4 has a new loom, and the hardworking women there are cranking out silk and cotton fabric for handbags. The $200 investment should increase their production efficiency two or three times over their old homemade equipment.
Pear, our wayward 14 year-old, has called a few times. Her father died in a motorbike accident earlier this week, so she has come back for the funeral. We saw her briefly--she obviously felt awkward, but clearly had not learned her lesson, thinking she can just live a free life as an adult. Tonight she called, saying that she wants to come back and be in school. However it may be too late, and in Thailand you can't start school mid-year.
We're really quite full and can't afford any more students, but when they arrive battered and bruised, we just can't turn them away. Nong arrived a couple of weeks ago with a black eye, brought by one of our current students. Last Monday we went to pick up Si, a 17 year-old mother with facial bruises and wounds on her neck, along with her 6-month old boy. We've known her from her home village for a couple of years. She dropped out of school, come to work in Bangkok, where she got pregnant. After she was three months pregnant she found out the father already had a wife. When the baby was born, she went to live with his family, along with the first wife. However the father would drink and beat her. Si is an orphan, said she's been sad all her life, but always did well in school and would like to be a doctor.
A not so sad case is Wan, 30, who was homeless and jobless, trying to figure out what to do next. At the request of one of our students who used to do drugs with her boyfriend, we invited her to just spend a few days to sort things out. Wan spent 6 years in California from age 9 to 15 and speaks nearly perfect American English. There she had gone to a Catholic church some but did not understand much. When she began to learn about Jesus with us she lit up. Just today she told me how much she enjoys reading the Bible we gave her.
Mae, one of our 14 year-olds, is enrolled in school and will begin on May 15. She bought her school uniforms last week and brought them to show. We'd like to see Mae be the first in her family to finish high school.
A young couple in our program has been wanting to to head to northern Thailand to Bible school this month, but they have been struggling with their relationship. We've spent a lot of counseling time with them, but are still not sure what is going to happen.
Another student that has lived in our home for several months ran away. We knew she had a drug problem and was at high risk. She sent a text message to Khio, another of our workers, saying that she couldn't be a good person anymore. We are told now that she is dealing drugs. Jaimie's cell phone turned up missing soon after she left.
When you think you've heard everything, you haven't. One of our former students has been enrolled in a Bible school, but not working. She admitted last week that she has been “freelancing”--selling herself at night at times to make ends meet.
From time to time we hear from wayward students. One who has been with us a couple of occasions, leaving both times because of addictions, has been in contact again and is considering having another go. Another who left on unpleasant terms called last Sunday, and we met up with her last Monday. She beamed broadly, her eyes moist. She is doing well, working at her step-family's bakery.
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