The new hostel has taken in 19 children for this school year. From the pictures below, we can see that they are settling into their “home” in the city.

The construction of the new hostel at San Pa Tong, Chiang Mai is near completion as the photos below show. Dear Tamla and Chai are quite exhausted from the process. She says that they have both become quite dark as it has been really hot! And they still need to prepare the place for the intake of the children who should come very soon.

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will be like a noonday. Isaiah 58:10

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.

This missions trip to Chiang Mai from 13 to 16 January 2009 was relatively short. As planned we spent most of our time with our local missions partners, Tamla and Chaay, and the children at the Nong Tao hostel. But on top of that we managed to catch up with a couple of the Vineyard missionaries based in Chiang Mai, Stefan and Tina Mickels (Kham Siri – a church plant with outreach via a community center) and David Wade (Ban Suk Jai – mercy works/children’s home). At Stefan’s request, we led the small group meeting on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was not convenient to visit Ban Suk Jai, although we managed to touch base with David. (David will visit us in Singapore in April).

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.

NLV will be participating soon in KIVA’s program to lend to the working poor. After we create a loan portfolio, you should be able to view it through a link to KIVA that will appear here and on our home page side bar.

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.