It’s the first Friday in May. Our tulips are blooming and Derek’s back from Thailand.  He and Ellie spent spring break there with the Emmanuel Youth (see previous blog).

At Imagine Thailand, a few significant ideas are percolating and we’ve got some great success stories to tell you!  Here’s our top 10…….(though not necessarily in order of importance because every one is equal in importance…oh, isn’t that sweet?)

10: Mae Sot Leadership Training Center

Imagine Thailand is at the beginning stages of creating a school of leadership for Thai, Burmese, and International students in Mae Sot.  We’ll keep you informed about the next steps…

9: 24-Hour Famine for Mae Sot!

The student-led Rotary club at Mt. Boucherie raised $2,000.00 for a water system for New Blood School in Mae Sot.  Students gave up food for 24 hours and were sponsored for their participation!  Student participation is key to the elimination of world poverty!

8: Easter Generosity!

At our Community Good Friday service, the churches in West Kelowna collected an offering for water systems in Mae Sot – almost $2,000 was raised.

7:  Thai Food for Lunch!

A middle school teacher in West Kelowna is raising funds for teacher resources in Mae Sot.  While most schools have curriculum, they don’t have teaching manipulatives, posters, or learning toys.  We’re putting together a Thai menu and he and his team will sell the food at the cafeteria to Grade 7-9 students.

6:  English as a Second Language

What people in the West may not be aware of is the deep desire of Thai educators to provide opportunities for their elementary and high school students to learn English.  What stunned me is the fact that the Thai government wants approximately 35,000 English speakers to come to Thailand to teach English.  So…if this is up your alley, there’s a huge opportunity for you!

5: Extended Stay

Dave, Lorelie, Courtney, Meghan, and Cami Hanson are staying in Thailand for a second year!  After thinking, evaluating, and praying, the Hanson family has made a decision to serve for a second year on the Thailand/Burma border.  They’ll return to Canada this summer to get organized for year two and then head back to Mae Sot in September.

4: Schools Beyond Borders

SBB is a non-government organization that brings western schools together in partnership with schools in developing nations.  They are partnering with Imagine Thailand to help raise funds for water systems in Mae Sot. Thank-you SBB!

3:  Social Justice

A teacher at an elementary school in West Kelowna has organized her social justice group, and her school as a whole, to raise money for a water system at Pyo Khin school in Mae Sot.  It was so exciting to see children excited about giving money to a coin drive that would drive the thirst for clean water away!

2: Discovery Tour 2012

Following a successful Discovery Tour in January 2011, plans are being made next year’s Discovery Tour!  If you’re interested in seeing all the work Imagine Thailand does throughout the country of Thailand, we’ll soon be informing you about specific dates in January 2012 for the next adventure!

1:  International Volunteers!

We’re so excited to welcome teams to Thailand every year.  We’ve had youth teams, family teams, university teams, and church teams.  What we also love is when individuals spend an extended period of time in Thailand as volunteers/interns with Imagine Thailand.  We recently said goodbye to Kate after spending 4 months in Mae Sot.  We’re welcoming Kelvin and Evelyn as they head to the post-Tsunami south to teach English.

That’s all for now.

Have an aMAYzing month!

I’m sitting out on the patio of our guesthouse in Mae Sot, Thailand.

We’ve just come back from eating roti…a delicious pancake filled with bananas and chocolate.  It’s 10:00pm and we’ve just sent the 26 teens on our team to bed!  This is the largest team Imagine Thailand has hosted in Mae Sot!  It’s twice the work and twice the fun.  We take over restaurants, roads, schools, and churches.  And we do it with a smile!

The opportunity to go on this trip was advertised in September 2010.  By January 2011, teens made their official commitments to our spring break Thailand missions trip.  We flew out of Vancouver on March 16th and we’ll be back in Vancouver on April 1st.  It’s a 17-day trip designed to show teens another side of the world and give them an opportunity to serve alongside those who are making a difference in the Thai/Burma border community of Mae Sot and also in the city of Bangkok.

We’ve just finished our second day of Life Camps – Bible camps created for Burmese migrant elementary school children.  Our teens lead the lessons, crafts, songs, and games.  They help get the children ready for their passport photos and costume photos.  It’s a significant time for our teens.  More than one has already shed a tear about the uphill battle these children will fight in order to succeed in life.  We recognize that our contribution to their success is small but significant.  Knowing that God loves them and that we stand with them lets them know they are not alone.

By watching the children interact with each other, our teens are learning that the materialism of North America isn’t what creates happiness.  As hard as life is for the migrant children, their enthusiasm for life is unmistakable.  Maybe this visit will re-adjust some of the priorities of our own teens when they return home.  Our youth pastor, Andy Gabruch hopes so.

How old are our teens?  We’ve got kids as young as 12 years old and as old as 19.  They’re all a vital part of the trip.  Isn’t Thailand too far?  Not really…it’s only on the other side of the world.  And that part of the world can be reached with a couple of flights.  Internet access to keep in touch with family and friends?  No problem.  Even in Mae Sot.  Our world is getting smaller every day.

So, what are YOU doing this year?

What are you doing next year?  Have you got a group that would like to travel?  A youth group?  A group of friends?  Perhaps a number of families travelling together?  We’d love to host you.  You can help make life better for marginalized people, while learning a bit about yourself too.  Let Imagine Thailand make the arrangements for you.  We’ve got people on the ground in North America and a team in Thailand that will guide you through each experience.

Oh and by the way…after the camp today, we climbed a water fall.  You don’t get to that every day.  Add the roti I just finished eating and I’ll go to bed tired and happy.

An amazing adventure is just a phone call or email away.

What a great experience!

Imagine Thailand just finished participating in an event that saw over 700 Grade 6 elementary students in Kelowna, BC walk through a model of the developing world.  Every year, our city hosts a Global Citizens Week.  It’s amazing to live in a city that is so globally aware and is home to so many non-profit organizations working with marginalized people.

What did Global Schoolhouse look like?

Hope for the Nations organized this amazing event in partnership with our local school district.  A number of organizations joined together to transform 4 Canadian elementary school classrooms into simulated classrooms in the Developing World.  Each classroom presented a “barrier to primary education”.

Free the Children, supported by Club Penguin, created a classroom that demonstrated and discussed child labour.  World Vision dealt with the barrier of sickness/ health issues, Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan created an environment that brought the issue of gender discrimination in education front and center.  Imagine Thailand partnered with Niteo Africa to create a classroom environment with very few resources.

Students came in busloads over a period of 4 days.  They rotated through the 4 classrooms experiences.  When they had finished visiting each classroom, they went to the school gym for a presentation that helped them sort through what they had seen and to talk about possible next steps.

The event was well-organized and fun.

As I reflect on what happened at Global Schoolhouse, I think the event was beneficial for two main reasons:

#1:  It brought together a number of organizations interested in helping those in poverty.  1000′s of organizations all over the world reach out in many different ways.  Team work becomes important so that services aren’t duplicated.  Working together helps organizations see how other organizations function which helps use learn from each other. Instead of potential competition…co-operation becomes the motto by which everyone lives.   Global Schoolhouse was an environment for relationships to begin and to deepen.    We were also grateful for the partnership with School District 23.  The district office, the principals, and teachers who organized the event were amazing!  I can’t say enough about a school district that includes global issues in the scope of a child’s education.

It was a fantastic week of partnership, friendship, and celebration.

#2:  Global Schoolhouse planted a seed in the mind and heart of every student who went through the experience.  Grade 6 students are already forming opinions and ideas about the world.  For many, the classroom experiences would have been shocking and eye-opening.  We may have been able to help shift their life focus a little bit. Perhaps they will think differently about money and be more grateful for what they own. Perhaps they will begin to raise funds to help alleviate pain and suffering around the world.  Perhaps a few years down the road, when they begin to think carefully about their future careers, they will think about how best they can serve others rather than just living the North American dream.

Perhaps students will have more compassion for those around them.

In our classroom, bamboo and burlap replaced drywall and linoleum.  Dull and broken pencils replaced pencil cases full of pencils, pens, and crayons.  Children sat on the floor instead of desks.  The lesson we taught the children reflected on the culture of crisis.  The closing words in a story which focused on a desperate search for food (a story actually used in Ugandan classrooms) reminded students of the reality of so many children.

“…..they walked for many miles. They were tired and hungry.  But this district was also dry.  The hot sun beat hard on them.  It made them weak and thirsty.  But when the evening came, the air became cooler.  So they lay down to rest and fell asleep.  But the father never woke up again.  He was dead.”

NOT your typical Canadian feel good story!  We dressed in ethnic costumes, taught with a strict voice and a long stick, and insisted on all students greeting us with “proper respect”!  Along with a bit of classroom discipline and school uniforms, the setting was perfect!

Here’s a few pictures to give you an idea of what the kids experienced!

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On Sunday, Dec. 26th, 2004, a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered deadly tsunamis in a number of countries that resulted in the deaths of over 231,000 people.  The event is well known.  In Thailand, the waves killed over 8,000 people and injured and displaced thousands more.  Peter Dove (director of Imagine Thailand) remembers helping with the body recovery process.  He remembers the strong smell and the great sense of loss.   He talks about lining up the wealthy and the poor  beside each other in body bags.  Death had evened the score.  Money mattered little in the end. He was impacted  to put his days to good use…while he still had breath.    Imagine Thailand was involved in building homes, income-generating projects, nutritional support and educational support.  In terms of social behaviour, Peter and Cavelle noticed that after the “recovery effort was complete and most non-government organizations had left…” Imagine Thailand remained and Peter and Cavelle saw ongoing issues, including depression, gambling and youth involved in risky behaviour.

Naturally, the devastation took its toll on the morale of people.  Some of the hardest-hit communities were filled with spiralling hopelessness. Poverty, poor life choices, and reduced opportunities to excel left families without a reason to keep going.  One community named Phrue Tiew, a community so violent that police refused to enter it before the tsunami hit, was levelled by the monster waves.  The government relocated it. When the  trauma from experiencing the tsunami was added to the already-existent dysfunctional family life, children attending school in their relocated village struggled to pass their courses and more importantly, to know their true worth. The community asked Imagine Thailand to provide after school support for its children.  And so, in 2008, the first learning and ministry center was born.  Imagine Thailand hired Lek, a qualified Thai lady to run the Childrens’ Learning Center.

Lek and her Thai team have done a phenomenal job.  Besides offering the basic tutoring help for students, English training and access to the internet, the center helps provide support for emotional and spiritual needs – not only for the children but for whole families and the community.  Visiting homes to encourage the children and families became part of the staff’s focus.

Bringing out the imagination...

As a result of consistent support, students’ marks and attitudes have improved greatly and local schools are noticing.  More and more parents are requesting that their children be included in the learning center activities.  Furthermore, a nearby community  has asked for similar assistance for students living there.  Imagine Thailand is exploring options on how to best facilitate these requests for help.

Peter at the Childrens' Learning Center

So how can you become involved?  Our biggest need is $2720.00 to pay for the construction costs for an additional classroom, additional land rental costs (because of the addition), and additional staff. With $2720.00, additional space will take shape in the form of a Thai-style sala…a room with a roof, posts to hold up the roof, and no walls (not necessary because of the climate), rent on the Childrens’ Learning Center will be covered for one year, and a Thai teacher’s salary will be covered for one year.   We’d love you to go to Imagine Thailand and click on “Donate“.

It is hard to believe that 6 years have passed since that fateful day.  While most of the world has moved on, the development needs of children and families who have suffered need to remain the focus of individuals and organizations all over the world.  As we empower the local people, they will find their way to health and recovery.