So this past Tuesday I had an amazing opportunity to go to a Hill Tribe village about 2 hours outside of Chiang Mai. We went to the village with our ministry host from the orphanage. This village is where most of the children from the orphanage used to come from.
When arriving we parked a little ways away then walked into the village. All the homes were on stilts and there are about 75 homes in the village. This community thrives on agriculture. They farm most of their crops and standing in the center of the village you can overlook beautiful mountains filled with corn. Everywhere you look there are chickens running around and occasionally you see a couple of pigs. All of the houses are made of bamboo and are about one bedroom, if more wealthy they have a kitchen in seperate room. In the village there are 2 houses made of old tiki wood and the leaders of the village will live in those houses. Most families in the community have between 4 to 8 children. Which means about 10 people will live very closely together in a small one bedroom.
The village does have a different mindset about family than most in America. Parents support their children until they are stable enough to build their own house and/or married. Parents also carry the expectation that the children, when done with schooling will return to the village to work and provide. Right now school is free up until college but when the parents were in school they had to pay to attend. If a child does have the opportunity to attend a university, after they graduate they are expected to return home.
When a child is at risk of being sold, they start by not showing up to school for periods of time. Friends at school will start talking and the teachers become more aware. Teachers will usually start by making at home visits to grasp a feel for the situation. When a teacher or family friend feels there is a risk they will make a phone call to the orphanage and give them a rundown of the situation. The orphanage then takes care of the situation.
Though his community is very poor they still walk around with a smile on their face. The orphanage has created multiple relationships with this community. The community has been able to see how well mannered, educated and respectful the children are after going to the orphanage. So most parents in this village are wanting to work with the orphanage to make sure their kids are taken of. It is still a work in progress with the other villages in the Thailand area.
This experience has shown me how blessed and fortunate our community is back at home. I am able to say that I have seen God work in crazy ways and this opportunity has been so amazing. I’m so excited to see what is to come in the next couple months. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me on this journey. Your encouragement has meant the most to me.
