February 7, 2018

t h a i l a n d,

chiang khong, thailand.

location: chiang khong, about four hours outside chiang mai (or 7 hours by bus) up in northern thailand. we are right on the laos boarder and can literally see laos from across the river. the weather is beautiful here, 70s- 90s during the day and 40s – 50s at night, only about 50% humidity. more of a small city, with bigger grocery stores and things about a 30 minute walk away from us. we walk about 20 minutes to get to the school we teach at or our host’s coffee shop.

language: thai, hmong, english

ministry partner/host: we are working with the hmong developing quality of life foundation started by an american couple from virginia about 15 years ago. they work with our host, a hmong man named somboon.

the hmong are a nomadic group that has been displaced over the last 400 years after persecution in china, and now they are spread out in thailand, vietnam, laos, and china, facing persecution by each of these governments at some point in time. often the children do not get more than a third grade education.

this foundation gives hmong children a chance to go to school, learn thai and english, and a chance to learn about christianity as well. right now they have 11 students. in the past they have hosted medical teams as well but unfortunately the thai government has made that difficult in the last few years.

lodging: we are living in a small church, some of us have our tents set up inside to protect us from bugs and mosquitoes (i am just using my bug net). we have a squatty potty and cold bucket showers this month. we are responsible for all our own meals, but food is pretty cheap and we have a refrigerator and gas stove. we eat out a lot or things like ramen and PB&J – also, green tea and oreos. our host also owns a coffee shop about 20-30 minute walk from the church which we frequent for great coffee and wifi.

what are we doing? in the evenings we teach conversational english with the hmong students as well as hang out and play games with them. they are older, around middle school – high school ages. in the mornings we are working on the church, we are moving bricks out on the bottom floor and shoveling out the rocks, leveling it, placing sand down, and we are working to clear out the area around the pond so they can have a little area to raise their own fish for food. we will also be doing prayer walks and hopefully visiting some hmong villages with our host as well.

we are staying inside the church but there are some bugs around so – tents & bug nets (mine is the blue bug net thing that is precariously held up by throwing a laundry rope over a rafter and tying it in place to chairs).

the bridge to laos – just across the river!