Bethany House Orphanage
Last year when our STM team went to Chiang Mai, we were lucky enough to go visit an orphanage called Bethany House for a couple days. It’s a small orphanage run by 2 sets of parents who take on about 10 girls each aged between 3-15yrs. Each of the orphans come from really tough backgrounds – of physical, sexual abuse, parents on drugs or both parents have committed suicide. The thing that excites me about this orphanage is that it’s not just a place that looks after the physical needs of the kids – in providing food, shelter, education, but a place that also looks after the spiritual needs of the kids. The parents of this place are Christians who know that ultimately their greatest need of each of these kids is to know Jesus. they take them along to church each week, and they’re taught about God’s love for them. It’s exciting to see so many of the girls who have never known what it means to be loved, to come to understand God’s love for them. They’re shown love in a practical and spiritual way.
I’m looking at working with one set of parents of Bethany House called Ratree & Niphon. They already have 3 kids of their own, yet they have pretty much ‘adopted’ another 10 girls to care for. Not that I’m a parent, but I’ve seen how tough it is for those of you who have even 1 kid, let alone 3. Imagine if you had an extra 10 girls who have really special needs that you also had to look after and provide for – financially as well. Niphon, the husband works full time in order to help support the family and the girls, so it leave Ratree to basically be a mother to 13 kids – she has to do all the washing, cleaning, cooking, help with homework….you name it. You can imagine it’s pretty tough. I'm not 100% sure what i'll be doing with them yet, it could be anything from helping Ratree, to helping the kids with their studies, in particular english or other possible new business opportunities.Just recently, they have moved location of their house which means that their rent has also had to increase. They are keen to look at starting some kind of business venture that i see can serve several needs:
a. To generate some additional income into the orphanage to help pay for the rent
b. Give some of the kids some work experience (as they need to leave the orphanage when they hit 15yrs old)
c. If successful, to possibly give some work opportunities for the kids who need to leave (as many don’t want to leave as it’s the only family they know and have).
Personally, i think it's a massive leap of faith for the orphanage to even think about pursuing a business opportunity, and from when i've spoken to them, they don't seem to be the most business minded people. I’m hoping that if it is something that they want to pursue, that any of the business knowledge and contacts that I’ve acquired over the past few years will come in handy so that I can help them make it a successful venture. It’s something that I’ll definitely be keeping you posted on.
Church
One of the things i will do is be involved in church in Thailand however i can. This will mean obviously going to church, but also being part of a bible study group and maybe even part of the music team and whatever else is going on. I realise that it's going to be interesting and probably very frustrating at first not being able to understand everything that's going on, but my hope is that by being a part of a bible study group and being involved, it might help me to improve my language quickly, but more importantly, i'll be able to build relationships with people from the church. I'm not 100% sure which church i'll be going to yet. there are a couple options i'm thinking of - 1. Grace Church 2. Lana International Church. I honestly don't really know too much about Lana about at the moment as i've only visited it once. But it is the church that Buu works at so I'm keen to ate least visit a couple more times to get more of a feel for it, and hopefully meet more of the church members there. For those praying, it'd be great if you could be praying for wisdom in deciding which church to get involved in, and once i've done that, for opportunities for me to get involved.
