It was such a switch getting of the plane and walking into Asia. Africa had been a long 3 months and most of us had forgotten what civilization even looked like. The majority of Thailand is second world, but to us, having just spent the last 3 months in the third world, everything looked like a 5 star hotel.
Last month was probably one of the busiest months on the entire race. We were working with an organization that rescues kids from the hill tribe villages who are at high risk of being sold into sex slavery. There were 3 houses, 2 houses had over 50 girls in each and there was 1 boy’s home where 20 boys lived. During the days we would work out in the hot humid sun on the new property that they are building a new home for the girls and eventually a new home for the boys.
Manual labor mostly consisted of hacking down a jungle that had overgrown a forest of palm trees, weeding, and digging ditches. After work we’d head home and shower and then go out to the old property and have dinner with the children. Because there were so many of us and there were 3 houses we all split up and went to different houses for dinner, the boys home is where I spent the majority of my time.
At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this month. Working and sweating all day wasn’t my ideal sort of ministry, but once I started getting to know all the boys at the children’s home, my heart started getting invested In the ministry.
The boys were fun to hang out with. They were always up for playing something, they were all ways joking around, and they loved to sing Chris Tomlin songs. I would often bring my guitar and we’d sing “Our God is Greater” and “I will follow you” for hours and then on Sunday we’d go up like a little choir in front of the church and perform the songs. They loved it, and I loved it.
There was one boy in particular who I grew to love oh so dearly. His name was Tanat. On the first day we arrived he was very quiet and sad looking, he had just broken his arm a few days before. For the next couple of days I would go out of my way to pay special attention to him, and within a week he went from shy and quiet to laughing and being one of the funniest boys in the whole home. The more he came out of his shell the more he reminded me so much of myself –or at least that’s what all my teammates said. I know we’re not supposed to have favorites, and I tried my best not to, but this little boy managed to steal my heart. Maybe it was when I caught him cheating at cards, and dominos, and uno –or maybe when I saw how he used his broken arm for sympathy to weasel his way to the front of the food line, or maybe when he dramatically swung his head, grabbed his food, and took it all the way across the yard to eat by himself and make a statement.
One day his mom came to visit, I noticed how his older brother ran right up to the truck to greet her, but little Tanat didn’t want to go over there. I asked him if that was his mom and he said yes, and then I told him to go say hello, he begrudgingly sauntered over there. I asked one of the directors about his mom, and she said, “Well there’s a reason why he is here at the home. Most kids come from really bad homes, with not so good parents.” I asked her if that is why there were boys here, I understood why there would be a majority of girls –they were at high risk of being trafficked, but I often wondered what the boys were at risk for. She said, “They are just as high at risk of being sold into sex trafficking as well. In the last couple of years boys have been in high demand.”
What this organization is doing is preventing sex trafficking at the root; it’s taking children at high risk of being trafficked and giving them a home, an education, and a life where they will never have to worry about being sold as a prostitute. These little boys and girls will grow up to be Christian men and women who will take the Gospel back to their hill tribe villages. Tanat may have already experienced a rough home life while he was living with his mom, but now he has a hope and future, and he’s safe.
Saying goodbye to the children was really hard. Really really hard. On our last night at the childrens home they prepared a special dinner and when it got dark we lit lanterns and released them into the night sky. That's how the Thai say goodbye.
