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.