Church

It's Sunday after church, and we are enjoying a restful time at the guest house, which is about 30 minutes away from the orphanage. The church service is at the orphanage on Sunday mornings. Both the orphanages in Doi Saket, as well as other visitors attend. It's similar to any service that we might have in the states - singing, Scripture reading, communion, and a message. Except it's in Thai. And the service usually lasts at least 2 hours. I must admit that after not sleeping well last night, and sitting in a hot (really hot!) room listening to a language that I can't understand, my eyes were drooping a bit:)

But, I do enjoy listening to the kids worship. They sing out with all they have:) In addition to regular music, the kids practice singing on Saturday nights, and each age group (4 in all) sings a special song for the congregation. I took some video of this that I am going to work on getting uploaded. It's absolutely adorable. For now, though, you will have to settle for some pictures.

These are four of the orphans who were helping to lead the singing. Different children lead each week. They have lots of hand motions to their songs. Every once in a while they sing a song that I know and can sing along in English.

These are the children from Doi Saket 2. You'll notice that they are dressed in their traditional Hill Tribe outfits. The girls in the white dresses are from the Karen tribe (pronounced Kuh-ren), and those in the black outfits are Hmong. I'll explain those in a moment.

These are the kids in the middle group.

Below are some pictures of kids. There are actually several Hill Tribe groups represented at the orphanage, including the Lisu, Lahu, Hmong, Karen, and Akha. Right now, I only have pictures of the kids from the Hmong and Karen. I love it when they wear their traditional outfits!

The Hill Tribe villages are located in the mountains of Northern Thailand. They live as they have for many years...bamboo or wood shelters, dirt floors, and extreme poverty. They are not considered citizens of Thailand, and therefore do not have general access to health care or education. Those involved with human trafficking will prey on the girls of these villages...offering the parents money to allow the girls to work in "restaurants". As I sat in church today, I looked at the beautiful girls around me and thanked God that they were saved from that life.

Because of the poverty, there is often little food where these kids come from. Families will forage for bamboo shoots or mushrooms. There are kids at the orphanage whose parents have died from eating poisonous mushrooms. The kids will dig in the dirt to find something to eat, end up eating the dirt, and get parasites. This is not an easy life.

Some of the kids at the orphanage have lost parents to accidents, to disease, to drug overdoses. At times, the father dies, the mother remarries, and the new father does not want the children from the previous marriage. Some of the children have a parent who just can't take care of them because of the overwhelming poverty.

Being at the orphanage has literally saved the lives of these children. Thank you for supporting me so that I can be here to show them the love that they so long for and deserve. You can read the bios of the kids at the Asia's Hope Canada website. It is not up-to-date as the children are older now and some are not included on the website, but it will give you a good picture of the these kids' lives before they came to the orphanage.