We have a report from a visit to our partners in February, that on average, monthly overall expenses for the Faith Garden Hostel in past year was about S$2000. After deducting receipts from the students and the sundry income earned by the couple, the shortfall per month was about S$1,100 per month in the initial months. For the last 4 months, however, the shortfall per month has dropped as the student’s parents were able to increase their contribution, and the foreseeable cash shortfall now stands at about S$600 per month.

Sponsorship
A sponsorship program has been requested by our partners that will support and enable them to continue the good work they are doing with the Karen students. Our partners hope that each sponsor will commit to give an amount equivalent to one month’s cash shortfall needed to run the Faith Garden Hostel, or S$600.

The sponsorship program allows concerned parties to give according to their preference. A sponsor can elect and indicate in the sponsorship form to give S$600 in a lump sum or in installments over a one-year period or less. (For instance, you may decide to give S$50/month for a year, S$300 upfront and S$300 six months later, or the full S$600 upfront.)

A sponsor may also elect to give toward the direct sponsorship of a student. Alternatively, a sponsor may choose to give toward the overall running of the hostel. In both cases, sponsorship monies will all go to our local partners to pay for the maintenance of the hostel/school fees and expenses for the students. In the event you choose to give toward the direct sponsorship of a student, our partners will “match” a specific student to the sponsor, and provide the name and photo of the student to the sponsor. To the extent possible, subject to practical limitations, our partners will facilitate the provision of information regarding the student to the sponsor for the latter to know the student’s general progress and development. In either case, you will receive an acknowledgement of your sponsorship from our partners.

Nong Tao, and the new hostel and high school sponsorship
Nong Tao was first introduced to a member of NLV by Phii Chaay and Phii Tamla and the Karen couple have since become the church’s missionary partners. The Nong Tao hostel takes in children of about age 5 to 12 from the Karen tribe and is located in the highlands in the Mae Wang province, which is about 2 hours drive away from Chiangmai city. Phii Chaay and Phii Tamla now have plans to build and run a new hostel that can house the Nong Tao children who are coming to attend high school in the city. As many of the children are too poor to pay for school fees they wish to secure sponsorships for the payment of their school fees and other related expenses.

Resulting from NLV’s most recent missions to Nong Tao, the church has decided to:
(1) Share with concerned parties about Phii Tamla and Phii Chaay need for funds to defray the construction cost of the new hostel; and
(2) Offer sponsorships for the batch of students “graduating” from Nong Tao and coming to the city to attend high school

The purpose of building a hostel in the city is to continue offering a conducive and spiritual lodging place for the high school students from Nong Tao. The hostel would be manned by Phii Tamla and Phii Chaay, and they will also be responsible to administer and monitor the NLV sponsorships for the high school students and oversee their development in high school. A simple plan which Phii Chaay and Phii Tamla have for the hostel to become sustainable in the long run is to inculcate a desire in the students that on successfully finishing high school and university, they will in turn sponsor kids from the Nong Tao to go through high school. Furthermore, when the new hostel becomes more established we envisage they shall take in full fees paying students from more well to do families. The hostel could also accommodate a church plant since Phii Chaay is currently receiving theological training to be a pastor.

Our missionary partners have raised the funds for the purchase of the hostel land on 19 January 2009. (The site is in San Pa Tong, which is at the peripherals of Chiangmai city.) They will borrow from a relative the amounts needed for the construction of the hostel, or sell family land in Nong Tao as a last resort to raise funds. As noted above, they are seeking for concerned parties who are willing to donate and give toward defraying the cost of construction. The high school term in the city will commence in the beginning of April 2009. Construction will take a month and will have to commence by the end of February. It would provide relief to Phii Chaay and Tamla if support for the construction costs can reach the couple by March.

For 2009, there are 12 kids from Nong Tao going on to high school, 9 of whom require need sponsorships. NLV is committed to finding sponsors for these students for an amount of SGD 500/year/student.

Tamla and Chaay are from the Karen Tribe and Nong Tao is in the Mae Wang province, which is in the hills about 2 hour away from Chiangmai City. In our last visit, we had a lot more activities, like teaching English to the kids, doing items at their nightly worship before bedtime, preaching on Sunday and some ministry to local church members.This time, we were quite focused on exploring Chaay and Tamla’s plans to start a new hostel in Chiang Mai, only 40 minutes from the City. They plan to build a hostel with a capacity to take in some 20 children. The children will come from Nong Tao who have to leave the village to come to the city to attend high school and also from the Myanamar border refugee camp.

In the night we stayed Nong Tao, we experienced the cold spell that was sweeping Northern Thailand. Up in those hills we felt temperatures reaching freezing level. It was quite challenging as the hut we slept in was bamboo with gaps that let the cold air through at the sides. We were somewhat shamed when in the morning we learnt that the kids are able to keep warm with only one blanket.

Some images from our trip this time around.

Tamla on the left. We had spare time on our first day to visit a “Botanic Garden” which is the feature of a resort while waiting for the other team members to arrive from Bangkok.

Warm and sunny still. Little did we anticipate the horror that were to come that night…

Tamla and Chaay showed us the plot of land that they intend to build the new hostel for the kids when they go to high school

Walking the land, and claiming it for God’s use

On the pick up truck, making our way up to Nong Tao

Our sleeping quarters, as in the last trip we made up there. Still as beautiful and simple as ever.

Evening worship in the village church

Bundling up for the night ahead, with as many as 3-4 blankets, and 2-3 clothing layers!

Steaming hot food, one of the most beautiful sights we’ve ever seen – after a night of bonechilling cold.

Horsing around with the kids (as usual)

3 of the children leaving Nong Tao to attend high school in the city later this year

It was chick season in Chiangmai and we saw lots of little chicks wandering around. This hen was particularly protective of its little chicks. We saw her chasing away a dog about three times her size. Talk about plucky!

Exploring the village again with our little tour guide Miyoko, who is the pastor’s son (who pontanged school whilst his dad was out at work)

Sakura in Chiang Mai, as it is the season where the cherry trees burst into full bloom

The air is pristine, the weather is lovely and all around is a great sense of calm and serenity.

Back in Chiangmai City, we met up with Stefan and Tina, and Anucha whom Stefan is teaching English to. (left) Another big bbq/steamboat tuck in.

KIVA is said to be the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, “empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world” Their mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Each loan is for an amount of US$25. The loans from each lender are aggregated and according to information on their website we will be helping someone “make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community.” Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), we can receive email journal updates and track repayments.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions, and by doing so, gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide.

I’m not sure if pictures can do the experience justice, but it definitely engages more. So I’m gonna attempt to relay the trip, more or less chronologically, through photos.

(L) Exploring Chiangmai upon arrival and searching for the supplies we planned to bring up to Nong Tao. (R) Me and Pastor at dinner

(L) Team photo at the hotel lobby with Stefan & Tina, the husband and wife team who runs Khamsiri, a centre for youths in Chiangmai. (M) Visiting the family of one of the youths, Anusha. Although the family lived in Chiangmai city, the condition of the house was rather poor.

(L) Visiting another old lady. We were told that some of her children had died early because of HIV and sickness. I could see that although she seems rather independent, she misses her children alot. We prayed for her and asked especially for God to heal her of joint pains.
(R) On the back of Stefan’s pickup truck and on our way to Khamsiri.

(L) I was still sick on my second day in Chiangmai, so it didn’t help when the sky suddenly turned dark and those of us at the back of the vehicle were caught in the downpour. Our umbrellas and ponchos came out too late. (R) Soaked through. The day spent at Khamsiri was rather tough for me when my nose started to drip profusely and my body temperature rose to an uncomfortable level.

(R) I still felt sick when we went for a scrumptious steamboat dinner at MK the same night… But Pastor & the team really prayed for me to get better, and praise God, because the next day, I felt way better! (L) Pi Chai & Pi Tamra, caregivers of Nong Tao, picked us up early the next morning. Our two hour drive to the Maewang province begins.

Stop over at a local market where we grabbed some chicken, vegetables etc.

(L) Second pit stop for a delicious bowl of beef ball noodles. I looove Thai food!

(R) Finally we arrive at Nong Tao! This is the little wooden house we stayed in

(L) The weather was still rather wet, so here’s us in our ponchos!
(R) The “outhouse” aka toilet.

(L) Inside the toilet. We realised soon enough that there was nowhere to place the necessities – toilet paper etc. Thank God Vic came prepared with some string, so tada! We managed to hang our roll of toilet paper. This was to be where we bathed and relieved ourselves for the next few days up at Nong Tao.
(M) What really bothered me on the first night were the countless “insects” that flew around at night. We didn’t bathe that night because the water was tooooo cold, and I just found it impossible to step into the outhouse which was literally swarmed with a mob of insects. Even our little house was under insect & beetle attack.
(R) Those are the wings of the “insects” I spoke about earlier.

(L) A dead “insect”. Did I mention that they were quite huge? Yup, the size of a stone.
I’m amazed how the villagers don’t seem too bothered by them, and I suppose so if you grew up exposed to them. After our second night, even I grew less bothered by these winged creatures.
(R) The facade of Nong Tao hostel.

Inside Nong Tao

(L) The boys & girls’ quarters (R) The area where dishes were washed

(L) Our first photo with some of the girls at Nong Tao. They were all so stiff cos they barely knew us, and vice versa. I’m glad this all changed as we interacted.
(R) S and cute Popet after Charis’ art lesson on making Sock Puppets. Man, did the kids have fun!! Good job, C!

(L) One of my favourite boys, Miyoko!!!! Yes, besides the fact that he has a japanese (girl’s) name, he’s really a Karen kid in all other aspects. Haha! Fearless with boundless energy man. The other boy we all really liked is Diduk, Pi Tamra’s 9 year old. Born leader. So the kids would just pull our hands and run off with us, ask for piggy bag rides, etc. Playing with the kids really saps out loads of energy, though we all had tremendous fun in the process! Think of jumping into deep ditches, getting all muddy, climbing through barbed wired fences… yup, we had to do all that! Run run run!! So hard to catch up man… I feel tired just by typing all this.

(L) Playing “Lao Ying Zhuo Xiao Ji” with the kids
R) This little girl is wonderwoman I tell you. She is sooo strong, she could actually piggy back Nigel! (If you know Nigel, he’s skinny but more than 1.8m tall). The kids at Nong Tao simply amaze me…

(L) Sunday morning service (R) The same night – we were invited to visit and minister to an elderly villager who was sick. I’m so thrilled that we can do the stuff in Chiangmai!!!

(L) A beautful rainbow!!!!!! What a rare sight… Truly a kodak moment
Trekking to a nearby waterfall

(L) They told us its a 15 minute walk to the waterfall. Honestly, I didn’t expect that it would be such a hike!!! I think it actually took us 30mins down and almost a full hour back-trekking up those countless hill steps. And it puts my gym work to shame. The climb back was so torturous my heart almost failed.
When we started, I was wondering why the girls kept holding my hands, as if I needed to be supported. Later on, I knew why… and yes, very malu indeed, but boy did we need the support! They were so sweet and took leaves to fan us, and even climbed trees and plucked fruits so that we could quench our thirst (we were so unprepared for the hike, and none of us brought a bottle of water… silly) We are most definitely, useless and helpless city dwellers! haha!

(L) Diduk and a yellow edible wild mushroom. The trek to the waterfall marked our last day with the folks at Nong Tao. We departed sadly but even as we said goodbye to our new friends… in our minds, we were already planning our next trip up. It was too great an experience, and I thank Nigel & Sinyong for paving the way.
(M) Back at the city, our aching bodies yearned for an indulgent spa treatment. We booked ourselves massage appointments at the posh Legends Spa just next to our hotel and aaah, it was good.
(R) Thai BBQ dinner on our last night!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, how about the video below? Priceless time we had, indeed, of relating and serving.

In our forthcoming missions to Chiang Mai, we shall be spending a day with the Mickels, the children at Kham Siri, and also with ministry partners of the Mickels like the Family Connection Foundation, Thailand. We have been meeting the Mickels at the Vineyard Asian gatherings, and we had learnt of their passion to reach out to both local people and the many foreign residents in Chiang Mai. Their heart is especially to reach out to those who are marginalised: the poor, alcoholics, children who have been orphaned or who come from poorer communities and groups such as the Shan people.

The Mickels’ ministry base in downtown Chiang Mai, Kham Siri, is close to a local slum. They run basic English lessons and a playgroup. Kham Siri means ‘word of glory’ in Thai, and their goal is show God’s glory by their words and actions.

I believe that Stefan has a desire to introduce community development and micro credit and enterprise as a means to bless the people who struggle to live on a day-to-day basis by working 12-14 hours per day. At the moment some may already be selling basic foodstuffs in a local market but they end up with very little time for home and family life and the children receive little emotional support and education.