Thailand 2010

Well, the time has come to take another trip to Thailand. This time the trip will be a bit different than the last ones, including the fact I’ll only be going for 2 weeks this time.

The shortened trip means I won’t be volunteering again with disabled children through a Thai organization known as CCD (Christian Care Foundation for Children with Disabilities). Due to the swine flu scare that has come about this year the government in Thailand is restricting foreign volunteers from working in the government area with the children. I am glad the government is taking precautions with the children (especially since the children share everything with one another) but this means that I won’t be able to volunteer with the guys I have built a relationship with over the last few years. CCD does have a foster home that is not on the government grounds and 3 different community based rehabilitation (CBR) projects where they can still use volunteers. However, there are plenty of volunteers coming in to work in only half of the places there were before.

I have really enjoyed my time with CCD and I believe they are doing a great service to not only the disabled children who have been orphaned by their families in Thailand, but also for the families living with disabled children. Other than a brief visit to CCD I will be spending my time elsewhere during this short trip. I’m going over toward Buriram, a city that is northeast of Bangkok. I’ll be spending time with my friends, Charlie Pimpat and his family, along with the rest of the church they are working with in the rural villages near Buriram.

One of the difficulties for children living in the villages around Buriram is the lack of funds to finish a high school diploma. The government stops funding high school for children when they become a junior and the family has to come up with the money for tuition, books, and uniforms themselves. Since many of the families there do not have money for school, a lot of the kids don’t have the chance to finish their high school education. Looking for work, many end up traveling to Bangkok and working low end jobs for high pay, or even ending up in the sex trade industry.

My goal is to help families in this area financially be able to support their child to finish high school. I plan to do this through the church that is already there, establishing a fund through the church that the kids can come to for help with tuition, books, and/or uniforms. I’m not a fan of handout programs and I do understand that a high school education doesn’t guarantee anything for a student, but I do see how having a high school education can play an important role in someone’s life. My desire is not only to fill a child with confidence in life through education, but also to give us the chance to help others through the sharing of our resources.

My travel expenses have already been covered and currently I’m trying to raise some money to either help the children near Buriram, or to help CCD with the funding they need for their ministry. Would you prayerfully consider whether you would like to partner with either of these ministries in Thailand? You can see the online journal entries from my last couple trips to CCD on this site below.

Blessings,

Jeff Berdine
Berd_mann@yahoo.com