Odds and ends
I went A.W.O.L. from blogging again. I sort of meant to this time--lots of changes both in the U.S. and Thailand. Plus the Glaziers, our wonderful co-workers, were gone for 6 or 7 weeks. I find that to keep up I'm often writing late at night (as I am now), so I thought I should let it go for a while.
I have to say it again. Prang rocks. She plugs away, always up to something new. Now she has set up a Saturday work/activity program for some kids in her neighborhood.
What human hearts can do. Tik is incredibly pretty and just as sweet, with an adorable baby daughter. Her husband got into drugs and stopped caring for her, then finally got arrested. Despite her hurt, Tik has faithfully visited him in jail. Yet her husband's mother has kicked her out of the house, saying she doesn't help out, something we know from neighbors is not true. She moved into Center 1 today.
Monday we went to visit Da, Mae's 17 year-old sister. We found her asleep in her tiny, windowless room that she rents for $20 a month. She said she had been sleeping since 2am. Mae and Da are opposites-white and black sheep if you will. While 14 year-old Mae left bar work and hasn't looked back, now in school full time sponsored by The Well, Da has been stuck in strung-out mode since we've known her. She works at a small bar for drink commissions only, averaging maybe $6/day. She would earn more as a student at The Well, but doesn't want to give up her "freedom", as she calls her various addictions. Tattooed and drug-like spacey, she is a pitiful sight. But cases like this are in a way my favorite. I want her as a daughter.
Gai called me on Saturday, his voice shaking. "Uh oh," I thought. "He and Miaw are having a big fight." Not at all. He was very upset about a couple at the Bible school where Gai and Miaw attend that have been asked to leave because of major marital problems, and he's trying his hardest to help them. I'm so proud of Gai and Miaw I could bust. They're organizing a team from their school to do outreach in Buriram a month from now.
Wan came back again after a 9-month absence with minimal phone contact. It's her 4th stint at The Well. She is unhappy, in the same codependent relationship she has been in since we met her 3 1/2 years ago. The fact that she keeps coming back however says that she's going to make it. When your own mom pimps you as a teenager, it takes a while to get over it.
June came back after a few months away as well. She came out of her drug relapse in June, spent a few weeks with us and then a few more with a friend in a southern province. While she was with us she was not in a good place at all--very negative and self-centered. While away in the south however she began talking differently with me on the phone, and started accepting her need to repent and really deal with issues that have held her back. She came back humble, with a commitment to really give her whole life to Jesus, without reservation, and so far she seems to be doing that, despite remaining weak areas of course.
Pear is still lost out there, not ready to come back. She called a while back and said she would, but it turned out she was only after a little money. She looked pretty bad. We'll just have to keep waiting.
Si has lied, stolen and snuck off several times to visit her baby's father, only to get beat up and cursed again by him and his mom. The last time her broke her eardrum. She's also adorable, and is changing. She's getting good mentoring from the older women at Center 1, knows that we love her to pieces, and we're watching her start to blossom. And I get to be her dad.
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