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MAY IN THAILAND
caught between open and closed
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Before we say this, let's not do the comparison game. Each country and region is facing unique challenges and sometimes comparing COVID responses is like juxtaposing apples and attorneys. That said, Thailand has now entered "phase two" of easing restrictions. International air travel remains closed, a national curfew is still in place, an emergency decree has been extended, but shops and malls are open as long as they follow government guidelines. Thailand has also launched a web-based app which you use to sign in and out of every store, restaurant, mall that you visit. So there are hints of the life we knew in January, but things are still very much "unprecedented".
Before all of this, we would have been writing to you about PAOC's General Conference which was set to take place in Halifax. Instead we stayed up late to participate in the online version. Nothing will ever replace in person, but it was so meaningful to see Global Workers contributing from around the world. This would not have been possible were it not for the pandemic level pause on travel.
After General Conference, Matthew was to make his way home to be with his Mom for Mother's Day. This obviously didn't happen. Honestly folks, we've been good through most of this, but the unknown of if / when travel will reopen makes the separation feel deeper. Before we knew we could jump on a plane if family needed us. It would take time and money, but it was doable. The new reality is that Canada is far away and at this rate Izelle may be high-5ing family members when they meet her for the first time. Separation sucks. Separation + the unknown sucks more.
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Traditional Swedish hand gel dispensing maiden.
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Signs that once guided traffic now guide shoppers
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Thailand Pentecostal Seminary (TPS) has started it's master level courses for this term and is doing so online. There are 6 students at this level. The college dorms are set to open on July 1st, but this is all very tentative. We will wait and see what guidelines are in place by then.
For the final Sunday of the month, 30 people were permitted to attend church in person. We weren't one of them. This season of online services has been a good reminder for us that church is not a meeting place. The push to return to a building has made us wonder if we're more about maintaining what we know rather than transporting who we are as Christians into new and unexplored situations.
Even as we return to a meeting place in part, we are only doing children's ministry online and so Matthew will continue working with the team to keep supporting our children. We've been using a private Facebook group, but this past week put some of the video lessons on a public Facebook Page. Each week's lesson is done in 2 videos (1 Thai and 1 English as we cannot be together to do it bilingually). Check out LifeKidsBKK.
If you're pastoring and these videos could be helpful to your church's children's ministry, please use them!
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Filming "The Living Room" which plays before our Sunday service live stream.
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Filming for LifeKids
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COVID19, like any crisis, is a stress-test for society. Things are shaken up and we often end up seeing some of the ugly stuff that was previously out of sight. The detention centers, of which there are 22 across the country, were one of those things put in the spotlight. CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE which talks about the detention centre system (including the one we engage with - Suan Phlu). This line resonated deeply with us:
"In a crisis like this, we’ve become more narrow-minded, as if your humanity is tied to your nationality.”
Having visited a detention centre while here with us, a Canadian back home donated funds for food and supplies for detainees. Rather than just spend the money at a store, we hired a refugee to cook 20 meals for her husband (a detainee) and others. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to work, earn for her family, and provide for detainees. We'll call her F. She's single parenting her 3 children. They fled religious persecution in their home country, but the UNHCR closed their case here. With no way back and no way forward, they were stuck in Bangkok. They made a way. A year later, they were swept up in raids. F and her children were put in a centre in the northern part of the city while her husband, J, went to Suan Phlu. 5 months later, she was allowed out on bail as her 1 year old had fallen ill. All of that was almost 5 years ago. J is still detained at the centre and F is still finding a way to raise her kids. They've been approved to immigrate to Canada, but back on March 17th, the Canadian government paused all refugee resettlement leaving thousands in limbo - or for J, leaving him in a detention centre.
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COVID has the centres closed for visits so we wait outside to leave food and water (no pics allowed technically).
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Food and water bagged and labelled with a detainees ID number.
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Across the city there are education centres and makeshift schools trying to foster education among refugees. Matthew was invited to the opening of a new learning centre. The centre had been unduly evicted from their last building and God has provided them with something even better. One of the children spoke and thanked all of the parents. He said that parents are like stairs - they can get you from one level up to another, but you have to do the work of climbing. As we are in the midst of online learning, this hit extra hard. We want to help our kids climb so high.
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Learning stations at the refugee learning centre.
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The kindergarten room at the refugee learning centre.
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ENGAGE WITH THAILAND
how we can all partner with people in Thailand
We continue to support vulnerable communities - specifically refugees with a family member detained and those in Bangkok's largest red light district.
In the red light district, we are providing one of ISM's partners with hygiene supplies. A great moment came when one of our friends shared about how their lab work is slow. So this chemical engineer was making their own hand gel. We asked if we could buy 500 bottles. They agreed and then donated 300 bottles of sanitizing spray! Amber also rallied the women at our church and the response was beautiful. One of our church members had lost her job and was making masks to pay the bills. We were able to purchase 100 reusable masks from her. The needs are big, but there are beautiful opportunities to support others while helping others (layers upon layers of intentional kindness).
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300 hand spray sanitizers
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500 hand gel sanitizers
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Nana is Bangkok's largest red light district for foreigners
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supplies from our church's women's group
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If you are able to help with food for refugees or hygiene supplies for those in the red light district, please get in touch.
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CHILDCARE PLUS
children matter
The Thai school year is set to begin on July 1st. This month we prepared the school fee payments for our sponsored children. It can get to feel like spreadsheets and numbers, but behind each tab in Excel is a child grabbing the opportunity for a different future.
With help from ERDO, the humanitarian agency of the PAOC and CCP's parent organization, we were able to make food parcels for some of our sponsored children and their families. We did not have funds to do this for all of our sponsored families, so our Program Managers worked to identify those with the most significant an pressing need. Different provinces have different social distancing regulations in place which means each program location has to distribute these parcels in their own way. Our team is in process of distributing food now and it's a practical way we are helping to show God's love.
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PRAY WITH US
we believe there is strength in numbers
- last week there was talk of international schools moving from online learning to modified classroom learning. The government eventually said no. We've worked hard to manage our expectations and those of our kids, but this one hit us. Perhaps it's lock down fatigue, but it was an emotional week as the kids were excited then nervous then happy. It reminded us of how much all of this "new normal" weighs on our kids, even when they cannot articulate it. Pray for our kiddos and all the kiddos.
- vulnerable communities are that much more vulnerable. Pray for divine protection.
- pray for the racial tensions that span our world but are currently boiling over in the USA. We believe Christians have a role to play as frontline peacemakers.
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CANADIAN residents can partner with us through the International Missions department of the PAOC to receive a tax receipt.
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AMERICAN residents can partner with us through our American sister organization to receive a tax receipt.
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