My wife and I had been hoping to go visit the Myanmar refugees in Thailand for quite some time now, but due to the political instability we didn’t know if we would be able to or not. We visited Maesot. It is one of 9 refugee camps in Thailand and it is about a 6 hour drive from Chiang Mai. Along the six hour drive there were several check points, where we were asked to stop and let officials to examine our passports. I don’t think we could have done it by ourselves. I am so glad we went. Hearing about their situations and actually going there to get an insiders look can’t be compared.
Churches and NGOs
We went with a team of nine people who have regularly been going in and out of Thailand and Myanmar for many years now. They formed a foundation that provides the legal structure needed for working with other foundations to provide necessary medical, educational, and other forms of aid. There is a tremendous need here. Maesot has more than 100,000 refugees. Churches and NGOs are trying to make a difference, but it is hard. Pray for the churches and NGOs that are working so hard.
Facing Challenges at Mercy School
During our time there we visited Christ’s Vision Church and Mercy School. The school has been open for 2 years and a lot has been invested. Currently, they have 200 – 250 students. Pray for enough food. Their chef is from Myanmar but had worked Singapore for a number of years. She told me that the kids come to her asking what they are going to eat. She tells them let’s pray. Then somehow God provides the rice and they can eat. Currently, 10 of the students attending this school receive sponsorship. Pray that the needs of these and the other students are met. A young man named Joseph showed me around their campus. Here’s a 6 minute video clip that focuses a lot on Mercy Education Center. The last school mentioned in the video, Home of Love, is actually in Chiang Mai. The students there are Thai students.
6 Minute Trip Video
Pastor Nanda
I was super encouraged by Nanda, a woman who started a church and a school. She herself fled Myanmar 3 years ago. Nanda has many stories of God’s faithfulness in providing the funding and man-power. My story favourite story is the one about how God used her daughter to speak to her about starting her mission school. It must have really grieved her heart when her daughter told her that she wasn’t going back to the local school because they forced the children to worship idols there.
Pay the Teachers
In each of the schools we visited, the schools do not have enough money to pay for all of their teachers. This makes sense though. The students are refugees and can’t afford much for school fees. The schools have to keep the fees low. It’s hard to run a school without funding. I talked to one of the men who serves in this situation. He told me that God will take care of him. The refugees in Thailand’s prayer needs are many. I think it was Nanda’s school, Mercy Education Center, that has 19 teachers, but only 8 of the teachers receive a salary. As the leader of our team said, the teachers invest into the lives of the kids. They deserve to be paid. Here’s what one of our meetings looked like at Mercy School and Christ’s Vision Church.
Run Down Rented Property
The facilities on the rented property are very run down. They were built for temporary use at least 2 years ago and many of the roofs leak. Workman recently finished building a building with 7 rooms for widows to live in. The widows will move over from the rented property soon. This is a much needed upgrade for them. Pray they will be able to build more classrooms and dormitories on the campus for those that are still living on the rented property.
Grace Church and School
Grace needs a new roof for one of their classrooms. They had been using the sanctuary, but we were holding our meeting in the sanctuary, so they were back in the leaky classroom. Another need is for a bus/van for picking kids up with and taking them back home from school. I sat in the sanctuary. I listened to the principal and the teachers express their hearts. I could tell that they were faithful and hardworking, but they were discouraged. It seemed everything costs money, but they had grown accustomed to doing stuff done without much money. Some members in our group asked simple questions like, “How much would it cost to do such and such?” We had the privilege of dreaming with them. Things that they had been almost afraid to voice out were now verbalized. Pray that God does mighty things on their behalf. The kids in this video are especially cute.
I met a young man who is the principal of this school. His English is good and I really enjoyed talking to him. Some of our team members expressed concerns about the schools kitchen being too close to their toilets. They are a pretty big school and I am sure their needs are similar to the other schools we went to. Here are the students. Please pray for his school they recently experienced an out break of the flu. Many of them are sick and some of them have had to go to the hospital.
Doctors
Pray for the doctors who agreed to set up medical clinics to serve the refugees. May God give them strength and wisdom to serve and help the refugees and may they be blessed in the process.
