BURIRAM

I was excited to get to Buriram and visit the church that is there. Going there and being able to see the church again for a visit and talk with P Charlee and his family was after all most of the reason we were in Thailand. It took most of a days travel to get there, leaving the guest house at 6:30 in the morning and getting to Buriram at around 5 at night. We did get a chance to visit the child Vallerie sponsors with world vision along the way, which did take up a bit of the time and definitely more than worth it.

That evening we were able to visit the family a bit and even walk down to the end of the road to visit the market that is there on Friday evenings. Vallerie opted out of buying the pigs head that was sitting on the table and instead bought some oranges to eat on during the weekend. P Charlee was out on the rice fields trying to finish up his work there so he didn’t come home till later. I was able to sit down and talk with P Bam about helping some of the kids in the area with their schooling. This was good because it’s very easy talking with her since she remembers to talk to me like I’m a kid. (I hope she does this because she realizes it’s easier for me to understand her and not because she thinks that my maturity level warrants that type of talk, though I’m sure some here might disagree.)

The church was excited about the opportunity to help the kids in the area. Right now P Bam told me there was about 10 or 12 kids she can think of that could really use the help. We were able to raise $1500 to help with the costs of school for the kids which should be a great start. They took us over to one of the families house that we are able to help with the program to be. An elderly lady named Yai Mo lives there and is raising her two grandchildren, 14 and 11 years old. This is a real common thing around this area for the children growing up to be raised by relatives while their parents have either left or have gone to work in the city looking for money. The strain it puts on the family members left to raise the kids can be pretty large.

Yai Mo weaves grass thatching together, used to make roofs on small houses or huts. She was weaving them when we got there, I would say it takes about 30 minutes to make one of them and she can hopefully sell them for around $0.40 a piece. P Bam told me how she used to sit around and drink all day before coming to the church. Yai Mo came to the church there and became a Christian. The house she lived in with her grandchildren was very small and made out of grass. It was still standing when we went to visit her. After coming to the church, she stopped drinking all together and the small church wanted to help them. They pooled some money together so they could build a proper house for her, complete with everything but a bathroom, they still shower outside next to the house (not uncommon) and go into the woods for the bathroom (probably also not uncommon). It was great to see how the church comes together to help its own out, even when this is by no means a church with money. Most of the people in the church are struggling to make it themselves, spending long hours at a time farming rice.

It was good to visit Yai Mo and meet some of the people we are able to help (I mean all of us when I say we). I was really encouraged by the church there and also seeing the dedication and sacrifices of P Charlee and his family to stay there spearheading the church. I’m excited to see this new program take shape and I look forward to next year when we plan to go back and see how things have been going. I’m also hoping to spend a lot more effort increasing my Thai here in the States to help with our phone conversations.

Thank you guys for also making sacrifices to help the broken families like Yai Mo’s. The people in the church wanted me to tell you that they are grateful for your guys’ support of them!

P Charlee holding Gaga and his family, Cherry, Peach, and P Bam.













P Bam teaching the kids at one of the cell groups. P Charlee and P Bam travel about 4 nights a week to teach cell groups in villiages nearby. It's difficult for the people there to make church on Sunday morning, most of them have no way to get there. P Charlee teaches the adults and P Bam takes the kids.








Inside P Charlee's house. This is the dining/storage/my bedroom/sancutary/lounge room.












Getting ready for church. Peach plays drums, Cherry sings and is on keys, P Bam sings. Me and Vallerie were in the next room with P Charlee who had bible study with us on what he was going to be preaching and praying together.










The congregation on Sunday morning.














Childrens church in the next room.


















P Charlee drove us to the bus station that afternoon, as well as his younger sister who was heading back to Bangkok to find work. His sister left her son with the family to take care of while she was gone. That is common around this area, not because of cultural reasons so much, but out of need to earn money to raise the child.








Right before getting on the bus for the 4 hour trip back to Bangkok.

Back in America

Hey guys, sorry about the lack of posts the last few days. Things went pretty quick over there. We made it back to the states this morning, Saturday around 9 am. Pretty exhausted now after that many hours of travel. I did get to spend time with the boys I had worked with previously through CCD which was amazingly cool. I'm going to get some sleep now, just wanted to let you know we're back safe. I'll definitely be posting more stories over the next few days here and probably some pictures too so keep checking. Thanks again for everything!

Made it back

We made it back from Buriram last night around ten o'clock. The bus ride back took 2 hours in a van and 4 hours on a bus. It felt really long. The trip overall was a good one. We got to meet with the church and pray with P Charlee and the family a bit. We also got to see some of the people we are going to be able to help there. We met one lady who is about 70 years old and has 2 grandchildren she is looking after who are 11 and 14. They used to live in a grass house but the church there was able to help them by building a house they can stay in, though they still don't have a bathroom in it. I'll be able to share more about it when I get more time, but it was good to see the church up there and know some of the things that P Charlee and the church are doing in the surrounding villiages. Everything else on our end is good, i think tomorrow i'll be able to see the boys i worked with last time. I'll let you know how that goes when i get back!

Thursday evening

Today we went to the zoo. Vallerie wanted to see an elephant and they had a place there where you could feed them for like 65 cents. She seemed to like that. My Thai is coming along which is nice because tomorrow first thing in the morning we are heading to Buriram to visit P Charlee and the church. I'm hoping everything goes good with the planning for helping to sponsor the children in the area with finishing high school. The setup with this part of the trip has been a bit more difficult since they do not speak english and talking Thai over the phone isn't the easiest thing. It will be good to see them and try to get an idea what P Charlee thinks will be the best plan for helping the children there.

The bus ride there could also be a bit of an adventure too. I have already gotten lost going there once and hopefully won't be making the same mistakes again. Should be about 6 hours on a bus to get there so we're going to have to get started early tomorrow morning.

Vallerie seems to be adjusting to Thailand more each day which is good because Bangkok can feel very large at first. I'm loving the ability to eat the food again and enjoying some of the nuances of the culture that I miss also. It's been pretty hot here the last week, but personally I'd take that over the cold back home anyday!

wednesday night

It's already wednesday night here. Time goes quick! We've spent the last 4 days travelling around the city here seeing a few of the different sites in Bangkok and visiting with friends. Monday and Tuesday we went to CCD to visit the kids and some of the staff. It was nice to see the staff again and talk to koon Wasan a bit about how CCD is doing. Everything there seems to be really blessed. They have been able to get a few more programs started up since I left last time. For the older guys that live there they have a couple different farms that they are starting where they can learn to raise livestock and work with fruit trees.

It has been really good connecting with past volunteers and Thai staff. Friday we are leaving for Northeastern Thailand to visit P Charlee and the church there. Should be about 6 hours on a bus for us. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again and spending a few days up there. Keep us in prayer for the language though as they do not know any english and my thai is a bit rusty still. We will be out of communication until monday when we return then we plan on staying around the city for another day after that. I think Koon Wasan will be able to get me in to see the boys at the place i worked before even though they are not letting in foreign volunteers. Pray for that opportunity also as i'm really looking forward to it.

Everything else is going great and we are loving the time here. It's really been a great trip so far being back for a visit. Thanks for the help and prayers! I'l write agains oon

Alive!

Well we made it here to thailand all in one piece. The best part is that our luggage made it also! Cheers for that since I haven't had that smooth of a trip since 2004. The total travel time from the time we left my apartment to the time we got to the guest house in Bangkok was 30 hrs! At least it was midnight and I was able to get some sleep when we got here. Got up today and did a little running around, checked out the weekend market since today was the only day on the trip we'll be around for it, and now hopefully we'll be getting in touch with some of my friends soon.

Thailand is just as hot as i remember it and the smell is still the same. It's definitely nice to be back even though it's only for a short time. I was able to get my phone to work here which is nice. If anyone needs to get in touch with me the number is +66 08 6987 0439. The time difference is 13 hours ahead if you're calling from America.

Thanks for all the prayers and support! I'll write more soon here. Feel free to ask any questions!

jeff

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