A Breath of Fresh Air

I got back last night from a four-day visit to the countryside. Jub, Cori, a lovely couple traveling around from the states and I travelled about 8 hours mostly by bus to a northern province called Buriram. P’Prong was born and raised in Buriram. She left for Bangkok when she was a teenager hoping to make good money to support herself and her poor country family. She didn’t start in the bars, but after a failed marriage and two kids to support she ended up working at a bar girl. She was one of the first students of The Well 5 or 6 years ago. She eventually decided she was ready to try to move back out to Buriram and start a children’s ministry. So we were in Buriram visiting with P’Prong and helping with a traveling medical clinic that came through her village. Here’s an excerpt from my journal on Friday:

Today was the second day of a traveling, free, Thai clinic down from Chang Mai. They brought only one foreigner – the physician – and we have four foreigners including myself. I say this because of the importance of Thai involvement in their own healing. It is a very good thing to be in the cultural minority.

So, last night we walked around P’Prong’s village to remind her neighbors that the clinic would be set up at her house today. After the walk we rode out a few miles to an orphanage – 14 kids – run by a sweet Thai couple. They had the whole team there. They fed us dinner and had an info/worship session. This morning, we woke up to the team outside our house. Some of the others were up early to make breakfast for everyone. Pork and rice mush with some veggies – a lot of yummy cilantro! Yumm! “Coffee” too- from a packet – just add water. I will be glad to have that precious Virginia gold back in my morning mug... A little pre-clinic socializing, prayer, prep, set-up, then: day 2! It was much slower than yesterday’s 334 patients.

We took turns going over to the kitchen for lunch, chicken-foot soup, a delicacy. I had a part of one of the feet – it was surprisingly supple; a bit like fat around a bone. Then Jub came out with a bowl of ants and larvae cooked with egg. We saw a man harvesting them yesterday. A long piece of bamboo with a bucket on the end. He found a nest in the top of a tree – maybe 50 feet up. He put the bucket under it and hit up on the nest – “shaking” the ants and larvae right out of the nest. It was tasty, mainly flavorless just absorbing the flavors of the egg and sauces. The larvae did have quite the texture though – pop in your mouth like a series of mini-balloons. The ants were kind of crunchy, like shrimp legs. One of the guys said the ants too were somewhat of a special treat. They can only be harvested about one week of the year. They are a “sign” that the rainy season is coming!

Why did I come to Bangkok?

I know this blog is public domain, which automatically makes it off limits for religious talk... but I don't want to make a liar of myself... God asked me to come. So, I came. He gave me direction and purpose too, which makes the whole process a good bit easier! I believe I am being built up to work with people like these women - specificity scares me, but I will try throwing out the specifics like people who have experienced sexual abuse or been a part of the sex trade.

So, what will I do? The short story is, I would like to have a rehab/retreat center that will take in these people and work through a long process of healing to hopefully and eventually help them to become functional, employable people. This visit to The Well is one of many steps toward making this idea a reality. This step is hopefully getting me closer to understanding the complexities of working in this capacity. For example, what are the initial and long term needs? How do you reach this group of people and find the ones that want/need to be freed from the bondage of their reality? How do you start and run an organization? Etc.

So, I didn't really come to help these girls or even The Well, though I do hope that I am able to do as much of that as I can while I'm here! I am so grateful that the people at The Well have allowed me to get so involved even though I am only here for a short amount of time! In order to preserve these experiences for future use, I have started taking notes on what I would want to emulate or change about The Well's model and way of doing things if I were to start a similar organization. In addition to visiting other organizations and picking the brains of everyone around me, this week I was able to join in on The Well's staff development meeting. What a wonderful surprise that this sort of thing is happening while I'm here with them!

There are four main people who run The Well. Jim and Judy are the original founders and Richard and Bee came along a few years ago. The four of them plus Cori who facilitated the meeting and I, sitting as quietly as I could at the edge of the table, met all day yesterday and talked about The Well: its vision and mission, its strengths and weaknesses, the absolute necessities for success. We will all meet again on wednesday. I am so glad to be able to join them for these amazingly pertinent discussions and am really excited to be learning SO MUCH about exactly what I came here to learn!

Dream World: the world of happiness

Friday was a holiday, so everyone was off work. Three of my housemates and I joined P'Pada and her two boys for a trip to DreamWorld... which is a lot like a small six flags. I'm not very into the crowds and the lines and all the other things associated with theme parks, but I ended up having a blast withthe fun people I went with! The boys were so excited, which was contagious.

Flood!

Praise be that we had such a beautiful morning of storm on

Tuesday. Chelsey and I just barely beat the rain walking to The Well for the morning group counseling session. Once we settled in the rain came down in force. Here in Thailand there is a rainy season and... another season. We're in the other season. So, there hasn't been a drop of rain in two months. I loved hearing the rain on the tin roofs and soaked in the knowledge of the city being cleansed, the pollution washing away with the waters.

The rains let up just minutes before we broke for lunch. We saw

the flooding immediately as we stepped out of the safe haven of the building. The street was ankle deep in water. The drains were backed up from two months of unfettered debris drifting and plugging them. I was wearing sandals, so trudged through. Chelsey wore closed toed

shoes so got a ride on my back to the nearest dry spot a block away. I broke from the group. Wading ankle deep most of the way home. I could feel the film of street mess clinging to my skin and seeping slowly into the pores of my

feet. The layers of dog f

eces and piles of food offerings giving weight to the "cleansing waters."

I reached my home unassuming. As I lifted my head from the door handle I realized my afternoon would see no rest as the stairs gave way to a sweet trickle of a

waterfall coming from one of the higher floors. After a full house sweep, I realized the only two rooms that were affected were my own and the bottom floor... the communal living area. I was so excited to learn my room had a small porch overlooking the alleyway that led to our home. Tuesday, the porch was the source of my afternoon efforts. It has one small drain designed like that of a shower and a foot tall toe board that raises from the porch floor - a fine feature if one is using the porch for a game of jacks or marbles. However, the height of the foot board was not considerably compared to the height of the step up from the porch into my room which incidentally is about half the size. So, after two months of collecting debris the drain clogged as quickly as the rains came. Then the porch became a pool. When the level of the water reached

the level of my room, the pool began finding refuge from the outside storm on my well tended bed. The waterfilled the lowest spots of my room and then started on the journey down the steps to the living room.

Because the rains had stopped, I was able to chase away the two centimeters of water from my room within the afternoon. My mattress however is still drying two days later. My roommate has invited me to rest on her full bed in the evenings which has offered and excellent alternative to my quiet floor-haven.

Chaktuchak

I headed out early today. I grabbed a songthau (a truck with two benches in the back for passengers) to the BTS (the skytrain... like the marta but nicer). It took about 40 minutes on the BTS to go from the farthest south station - On Nut - to the farthest north station - Mo Chit - where I disembarked for a day at the tourists dream... Chaktuchak outdoor market. Thousands of stalls of useless Asian knickknacks framed by anything else you can imagine from liveanimal to beads to fine furniture and antiques. The only thing I didn't want to leave without was a pair of chopsticks for my brother Reid (Reid, if you are reading this, act surprised when you get them in the mail;) Ibought him a pair at the same market three years ago -they have since come up missing. PERFECT!!! because his birthday is next month (march 4th for those who want to send lots of money, gifts and love!) I did come awaywith some lovely sticks, a pottery mug - so nice for my morning coffee treat- a comb for my unruly mess, an iced latte for a treat and some cinnamon - a rare commodity here. I spent several hours wondering the allies - some stores I passed at least 10 times because I got soturned around.

What a wonderful thing for the calm of my spirit to spend a day exploring along. Thought I was surrounded by bustle, i was quite alone. Though I listened to many conversations, I had none of my own. A great break for the ole' cords! I took a few pictures of particular scenes I remember from my day wondering with Melanie - dishes, lots of dishes! and orchids/hanging pl

ants. I enjoyed walking the many stuffy hallways lined with books of all languages - more lonely planets (of archival years) at Chaktuchak than anywhere else on this lonely planet I believe. I got over my fear of taking pictures - encouraged by the enormous SLRs that hung from my market peers' necks and too knowing I am currently in Asia... I believe the sentiment is "if there's not a photo, it didn't happen to an Asian."

Chinatown

So, all of this actually happened last thursday. But hopefully you can step up to the better late than never plate with me this week! So, Thursday was the chinese new year! Happy 2554! Thursday is also the evening we go to chinatown for outreach. Needless to say, it was PACKED!

Chinatown is a poor and dirty part of Bangkok. It is mainly inhabited by Chinese immigrants. The prostitution in Chinatown is very different from the bars. Here are the economics - Thailand benefits greatly from the sex trade in two ways: 1. sex tourism. The economy is supported by tourists - most of whom engage in the sex trade. I have seen statistics that claim 60-70% of the men who come to Thailand engage in the sex trade while they are here. So, if the sex trade was truly eliminated, what would happen to the economy? It would plummet! 2. The Thai government can get political brownie points for being moral and "cracking down" on the sex trade and maintain good business relations which keeps the business men coming in which keeps the sex trade booming. So, how does the country keep the sex trade booming and show that they are working hard to eradicate it all at the same time? They keep the bars open and running for westerners and arrest the prostitutes that serve locals. The chinatown prostitutes fall in the latter category. There are two main ways they go "under cover." 1. Many of them have mats with a small basket presenting cucumbers and alcohol drinks for sale. To the unknowing eye - their merchandise is inside the basket. 2. Other women will rent a stool outside of a shop for about 50 cents. She just sits, looking like a lazy customer of the shop and is extra friendly to the men who pass by. When the police come and question her, she hands over a pink envelope with some of her earnings and hopes he will turn a blind eye. When the ladies and johns agree on a price, they step into one of the many hotels. The hotels must do a lot of washing because they only rent out rooms in 30 minute or one hour increments. Then the girls return to their posts and the men continue on their way.

So, we went to the streets that night - two westerners, two Thais. As a non-Thai speaker, I was not very helpful. Most of my interaction was in the beginning with introducing myself and trying to understand and repeat the girl's name. The rest was too Thai for me to understand. But I'm glad for the going for my learning. Even thought I don't understand what's being said, I can see how it works. It's not so hard to walk up to one of these women and start talking. Hey! where are you from? How long have you been in Bangkok? - It's easy to talk about The Well. "We work for a group that helps people get off the streets an get other jobs if they want to." But last night we talked to one lady about how she makes her skin so white (the ultimate beauty in Thailand) with a special soap from the corner store. She told us that the night was going well because she had already had one customer and the police hadn't come by yet. After a while we said goodbye and moved on.

We saw a woman I recognized. She and her 12 year old son had been to The Well a week before for a visit. She was very loud and clingy and sat visiting with other rough characters with her son in a back alley. She was excited to see us. We sat and talked a while. She said she was doing okay. She had a japanese customer for a few days last week which was good for her financially. She explained to us that she lives with her boyfriend sometimes, but he doesn't want her son around, so the boy is homeless. She said a few years ago she couldn't find the boy. He had been picked up by a group that taught him to steal - he was good at it for a while, but eventually got caught and went to jail for a few months. When he got out again, she found him. The boy has never been to school. If he doesn't steal, how else does he eat when his mom is away for days at a time with her boyfriend or a customer?

This lady had been introduced to Jub (my housemate) by a friend who also lived and worked on the street with her eleven year old son. Jub asked where her friend was tonight. We never saw the friend and her son, but Jub explained to me that the mother works as a prostitute and hit the jackpot one week when she found a foreigner to sell her son to for a few days. He brought back 1,000 Bhat (about $30) and they bought all new clothes. She was very excited for her boy to be contributing to them so generously. The boy said he really liked the foreigner - he was so nice to him and made him feel so loved and cared for. When the ladies I work with Jub and Pada heard these stories they got very upset with the mother and said please don't do this to your son, it is not good for him. But she wouldn't hear it. The next week Jub and Pada saw the little boy. When he recognized them, he ran away - they haven't seen him since.

Before we left for home, we walked down the main drag to see the festivities. There were people everywhere! Street vendors were selling everything from flip-flops to ice cream. People were pushing and shoving. Crazy! We walked around (more accurately - we were shoved around) for 10 or 20 minutes before we decided it was late and enough and headed home. We were too tired to stay for the dragon show or the parade with the Thai princess.

I got home in time to take advantage of living 12 hours in the future and was the first to wish my boyfriend Liam a happy birthday!

It's not fair that I get to have this much fun!

I got some pictures up for you again! These first ones are of our house-mates Monday night dinner. It is a mandatory gathering of the six of us. Automatic demerits for being late or absent! We started off the meeting with Jub's delicious Thai cooking. Going clockwise from my empty chair is Ad, our designated house male - a Thai native, Cori from Idaho, Jub a native, Chelsey from Texas here to teach metal-working, and Hannah from London. When I took my third serving of rice to help buffer the amazing Thai spice, the two Thai's cheered and clapped! It startled me, but I accepted with a polite bow... Cori leaned in to tell me the best way to win the heart of a Thai is through eating - the more the better!

After dinner came music time. Everyone in the house plays guitar which makes for fun jams! Jub wanted to learn some "American dancing," so Cori and I jumped right into the electric slide. What a laugh to see two Thai's, an english girl, and a conservative southern baptist learning the electric slide to the slowest country music we could find! Ha!

Friday we celebrated this month's birthdays. We gathered for worship, games, and yummy food! One of the games left the losers covered in baby powder... you can see that Cori got the short stick:) Friday was Liam's birthday too! So, I brought a picture of the two of us to the party and everyone sang to him! He never showed up for his piece of cake, so I felt obliged to pick up his slack and ate it for him!