This past month we had the privilege to work with Outpour Movement in Mae Sot, Thailand. They are an incredible organization that is effectively changing the lives of the people in the surrounding area. They own a bike shop and restaurant and use the profits to fund their outreach programs. One of them is with New Jerusalem (New J).
New J is a very unique place. It is a refuge to children and young adults that had to flee Myanmar/Burma. It is similar to an orphanage in that it gives these people a place to live and eat, but many of them know their parents. For those of you that don’t know, Burma is a country that recently opened up to the rest of the world. Over the past few years they opened up their boarders to outsiders and a lot of the issues within the country are starting to be exposed. For instance, there is no decent education system, they are one of the largest drug exporters in all of the world, they are very active in human and sex trafficking, and they are in active war within their country (the government military often attacks and destroys entire towns). Due to these many factors, parents try and get their kids to a safe place in Thailand. They do this to protect them from harm and to give them a chance at education.
Some of the kids also come from the garbage dumps just outside the city. Many of these kids fled from Burma with their families, but were too poor to rent out a hut, so they ended up living and scavenging in the dumps. New J has been able to take in a few of these kids, forever changing their lives. Roughly 30-40 refugees live in in three small houses that New J has.
Everyone within these houses are not part of a huge family. They all look out for each other and love one another as they would any other family member. The older kids do the cooking, laundry and take care of the toddlers while the younger kids are constantly keeping the space clean. It is one of the best run places I have ever seen. Every person knows what their role is and they get it done without complaining.
My main ministry this month was being with these amazing kids and young adults. Our group helped to improve their cooking/kitchen area. They are very limited on space, so their kitchen was outside under a small lean-to. It was comprised of a small wood stove and a gas stove. They didn’t have much storage space so all of their pots and bowls had to be stored inside and brought outside each time they wanted to use them. We tripled the size of their kitchen area and made it more sheltered from the weather. This allowed them to store all of their equipment inside of their improved outdoor kitchen and gave them more space for prep.
We also had the pleasure of teaching some of the kids and young adults English. This was by far my favorite part of the month. We taught very elementary level English to 13-25 year olds. We taught colors, clothing, greetings, and simple sentences. We even taught them how to read a clock (it was crazy to me that they couldn’t read it). Many of the kids knew a few words at the beginning of the month, but we were fortunate to be able to see the growth as the month went on. The most rewarding parts were seeing how happy they were that we would take a few days out each week to be able to teach them. Each one would give us a huge hug at the end of each class thanking us for coming to teach them. It was such a blessing to be able to build relationships with these kids and be able to experience their extreme gratitude in return.
This giant Burmese family holds a special place in my heart.
