The first few days in Thailand were pretty neat. Simple, learning lots of cultural stuff and information about HIV & AIDS, seeing a bit of the city in person and getting to know our team.
The information we learned about HIV & AIDS was pretty stunning - the life expectancy, the way the virus attacks the body and presents itself & also the hope that medicine has brought to people who have it. I had learned a lot about AIDS from a book my best friend Chelsi had recommended called "There is No Me Without You." I'm still only 2/3 of the way through it, but it's a huge book and a very emotionally intense one at that. Anyway, it was good to gain this information and face the reality of what we (Christians) are doing and not doing in regards to those living with HIV or AIDS.
It's different in the US too. I'm not sure what insurance companies do for those living with AIDS here, but in Thailand you have to be a Thai citizen & then the government will pay for it. However, you have to be born in a hospital to be a Thai citizen, which means if your mother wasn't a Thai citizen and wasn't allowed to travel far enough to get to a hospital, then tough luck! There are over 40,000 births each year that go unregistered - and therefore, over 40,000 new people every year are not Thai citizens. There is a process for becoming a Thai citizen, but again, you need to be able to travel to government offices, sign lots of paperwork, have witnesses who will also travel to government offices, etc. Unless you are very educated (which you wouldn't be unless you were a Thai citizen since you wouldn't have any schooling if you weren't) you would really NEED an advocate to help you navigate all the paperwork and processes needed to become a citizen. It's really strange to realize how a government truly prevents people from moving forward in life, but Thailand is definitely one of the places around the world in which this goes on daily.
Matt came in a spoke with us regarding Human Trafficking on Friday as well. Matt works as one of the directors at Breanna's House of Joy & he is from the same church that all of my team is from. Ben is another person from that church who has ended up working at Breanna's House of Joy as well & he spent most of his time during that week coming with us to villages and everything. These guys are so great. Really on fire for God, serving faithfully and joyfully - they really brought a lot of encouragement and optimism to this group.
Anyway, Matt shared all the horrifying statistics, the sad corruption of government that enables these situations to keep happening, some individual stories and some information about best practices to end exploitation and trafficking. In Thailand alone, 9.4 million people are trafficked each year. And while the sex industry is huge, most of trafficking is simply forced labor! One man was forced to work on a fishing boat off the coast of Thailand for 3 years!! Another woman was a slave in another woman's home, locked up in a tiny bedroom & forced to clean from 5am-10pm almost every day for 16 years!!! But with the lack of education, people don't know their rights, or, since they are not a citizen they don't have hardly any rights, and therefore, they just wait until someone helps them or they finally get desperate enough to attempt escape. This 9.4 million does not count many people who are either killed while trying to escape or people who never confess what they were forced to do (which is VERY common in Thailand - cultural). All of this was incredibly sad to hear and only confirms the depravity we suffer due to our sin nature. It just makes me more glad to serve a God who hates these things and is providing a way out for those who call on Him. We just want more people to realize that He is God, He is powerful & He is worthy to be trusted.
During our first Friday, we also went into town. I have a bunch of photos from that, but I'll post those another day along with more info about what I saw and learned during that time. I feel like I will probably have to blog about 3-5 times per day of my visit! I learned so much, experienced so much and I know that God brought out a lot of things going on inside of me during this time. So, enjoy a few pics - this is the first hotel we stayed at for 3 nights. It is a Christian place where many missionary families come to spend a few weeks during a break or for having a baby - I guess Thai hospitals are very nice and very cheap - think $700 for a c-section :) The picture of the woman is my roommate Angel - more on her later!! Thanks for catching up here - stay tuned every couple days for a new post...
The information we learned about HIV & AIDS was pretty stunning - the life expectancy, the way the virus attacks the body and presents itself & also the hope that medicine has brought to people who have it. I had learned a lot about AIDS from a book my best friend Chelsi had recommended called "There is No Me Without You." I'm still only 2/3 of the way through it, but it's a huge book and a very emotionally intense one at that. Anyway, it was good to gain this information and face the reality of what we (Christians) are doing and not doing in regards to those living with HIV or AIDS.
It's different in the US too. I'm not sure what insurance companies do for those living with AIDS here, but in Thailand you have to be a Thai citizen & then the government will pay for it. However, you have to be born in a hospital to be a Thai citizen, which means if your mother wasn't a Thai citizen and wasn't allowed to travel far enough to get to a hospital, then tough luck! There are over 40,000 births each year that go unregistered - and therefore, over 40,000 new people every year are not Thai citizens. There is a process for becoming a Thai citizen, but again, you need to be able to travel to government offices, sign lots of paperwork, have witnesses who will also travel to government offices, etc. Unless you are very educated (which you wouldn't be unless you were a Thai citizen since you wouldn't have any schooling if you weren't) you would really NEED an advocate to help you navigate all the paperwork and processes needed to become a citizen. It's really strange to realize how a government truly prevents people from moving forward in life, but Thailand is definitely one of the places around the world in which this goes on daily.
Matt came in a spoke with us regarding Human Trafficking on Friday as well. Matt works as one of the directors at Breanna's House of Joy & he is from the same church that all of my team is from. Ben is another person from that church who has ended up working at Breanna's House of Joy as well & he spent most of his time during that week coming with us to villages and everything. These guys are so great. Really on fire for God, serving faithfully and joyfully - they really brought a lot of encouragement and optimism to this group.
Anyway, Matt shared all the horrifying statistics, the sad corruption of government that enables these situations to keep happening, some individual stories and some information about best practices to end exploitation and trafficking. In Thailand alone, 9.4 million people are trafficked each year. And while the sex industry is huge, most of trafficking is simply forced labor! One man was forced to work on a fishing boat off the coast of Thailand for 3 years!! Another woman was a slave in another woman's home, locked up in a tiny bedroom & forced to clean from 5am-10pm almost every day for 16 years!!! But with the lack of education, people don't know their rights, or, since they are not a citizen they don't have hardly any rights, and therefore, they just wait until someone helps them or they finally get desperate enough to attempt escape. This 9.4 million does not count many people who are either killed while trying to escape or people who never confess what they were forced to do (which is VERY common in Thailand - cultural). All of this was incredibly sad to hear and only confirms the depravity we suffer due to our sin nature. It just makes me more glad to serve a God who hates these things and is providing a way out for those who call on Him. We just want more people to realize that He is God, He is powerful & He is worthy to be trusted.
During our first Friday, we also went into town. I have a bunch of photos from that, but I'll post those another day along with more info about what I saw and learned during that time. I feel like I will probably have to blog about 3-5 times per day of my visit! I learned so much, experienced so much and I know that God brought out a lot of things going on inside of me during this time. So, enjoy a few pics - this is the first hotel we stayed at for 3 nights. It is a Christian place where many missionary families come to spend a few weeks during a break or for having a baby - I guess Thai hospitals are very nice and very cheap - think $700 for a c-section :) The picture of the woman is my roommate Angel - more on her later!! Thanks for catching up here - stay tuned every couple days for a new post...
Our comfy little beds.
And our cozy little Thai cottage :)
Everything here was very Thai and so beautiful! This was our little cottage from the outside.
Stepping outside was so neat - like you were just walking into the jungle, but on a paved pathway.
Beautiful walkways, gorgeous architecture... loved it!
The floral landscaping was awesome. And here's Angel, taking it all in!
October 27, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Can't wait to read more! Love the pics of the beautiful "hut"! :)