Hill Tribe Villages

Friday Morning..June 22n d…8:30am – First, I (Jen) would like to retract my earlier statement about the heat here. We were told that it was a little less hot than Cambodia. However, we spent time at the orphanage last night…and it felt like 100 in the shade. Definitely still hot! I am thankful that I had 6 inches of my hair cut off before leaving – that was Jen, not Keith:)

As we mentioned last night, the guest house feels something like a resort…especially after being in Cambodia. However, we are the first team to stay in the guest house, and so some of the basics like sheets were not purchased, so some of the team experienced a night without covers. It wasn’t until we actually got into bed that we realized that there was only a sheet covering the mattress. It was a cold night for some! The air conditioning here works well. Apparently we westerners are very hard to please!

Another side note…back in the states, Keith was a little disappointed because his nickname never really took off. You will be happy to know that the children are now using it…they call him Chipper. Feel free to spread the word.

We got to play with the children and then were able to witness their worship time. It was awesome. The children know many songs with motions and sing on key with beautiful voices. They sit in 6 lines smallest in the front to tallest in the back. You could see their love for Jesus on their faces. The kids take care of one another…some were nodding off as it was late, and the ones behind them were helping them.

After the time of worship, it was bedtime…and it got really crazy. The kids were so excited that we were there that they kept hugging us and hanging on us to the very last minute when we got into the vehicles to go back to the guest house.
We were all exhausted, but then went to a local attraction called the Night Bazaar after a short break at the guest house. For those of you in Columbus it would be like the Columbus Arts Festival on steroids. This happens every night from 8:00 to midnight. There are vendors upon vendors lining the street selling anything from t-shirts to food to lamps…anything a tourist could ever want.

We said this before, but the difference between Cambodia and Thailand is striking. Walking at the bazaar was more like being in a tropical vacation spot. It was clean…there was no trash littering the streets. The traffic was not overwhelming…streets are like what we would see in the US (except they drive on the left side of the road!) There was room to walk as people were not pressing in on us. It continued to remind us of the implications of the war in Cambodia and how the development was so drastically stopped 30 years ago. At one time, Cambodia was considered the “Pearl of Southeast Asia.”

We are near the town of Chiang Mai. It has about 3 million people in it. Bangkok has about 7 million.

At this moment we are in a van headed into the mountains. We are going to visit a hill tribe village. All of our children come from hill tribes. We have been told that it’s poverty we have never seen before. The Hill Tribes came from another country north of Thailand (maybe Tibet..we are not sure at the moment) and settled in the mountains. They are not considered citizens of this country. Therefore the kids there have little hope for their futures…especially if they are orphaned.
We anticipate seeing a contrast of the children in the village compared to those in our orphanage. Last night, they were laughing and playing with us. They are happy, safe, loved, and well cared for…they have hope for their futures. Our children are going to school now, which would not happen if they were still living in the mountains.

Tutu (our orphanage director) came from a hill tribe, and has had a vision to start this orphanage for the children. In a later blog, we will tell the story of how this orphanage got started.

3:30 Friday afternoon…Just returned from our visit to the hill tribe. This tribe is called Palong..and they originally came from Burma. There are 85 people in this village, and 80 of them profess to be Christians. The Asian vistas along the way were breathtaking. Chipper (aka Keith) says that they resemble those in Hawaii..and he should know because he is part Hawaiian. It was at least a 1 and 1/2 hour drive north of Chiang Mai. We couldn’t go to any remote villages because the van was not able to handle the steep terrain.

They knew we were coming, so they had their wares ready for us to look at and purchase. They were dressed in their traditional clothing – lots of bright colors. (The kids at the orphanage have those traditional outfits, and we hope to get pictures of them later this week.) The women of the village make purses, bracelets, scarves, and water bottle holders in traditional bright colors. Although some of us weren’t really looking for items to buy, we wanted to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ by providing some income through our purchases.

After we shopped, one of our team members took a look at a couple of kids who were sick. We had stopped on the way at a pharmacy to get medicine for the village and were able to leave them with a box containing several different kinds. Next to the pharmacy was a 7-Eleven where we loaded up on snacks and drinks.

After about an hour and a half at the village, we headed back to Chiang Mai where we stopped to take in the live snake farm and show. (We were too late for the Elephant show, but hope to see that later this week.) The snake ring announcer had a monotone style that reminded Chipper of a cheesy carnival side show. There were king cobras and pythons and a variety of other snakes that the handlers showed. We don’t want to share many details for those of you who might come in the future…we highly recommend that you sit in the front row!

Tonight we are having the traditional Thai favorite…spaghetti and meatballs. Then we are going to the orphanage to spend a few minutes with the kids before taking the older ones to a retreat in Hot Springs. This is the same place where there is another orphange that we will be looking at to perhaps partner with through Vista Community Church. This is one of three projects that we will be discussing when we return.

These blogs are being done at the orphanage where the staff has wireless internet access. Saturday morning we will blog more. We are supposed to be teaching the kids how to play kickball and baseball. Remember the heat we talked about? There are no shade trees on the field. You can pray for strength for us!

Until next time…