SOUTHEAST ASIA: BOYS’ PROJECTS

 Oftentimes our kids come from backgrounds where there is a lack of one or sometimes both parents. Commonly the boys have been cared for by their elderly grandparents (who can barely cope). A number of our Thai young people have fathers who have gone far away to find work but sadly a number of these men have got involved in drugs and/or do not send any money home to support their families. Hopelessness, lack of any clear future, desperation, and drugs are common themes for our children.

ABOVE: Mag is 27 years of age. He came to us back in 2009. He has now completed a master’s degree in theology and a bachelor’s in geography. He is now a pastor.

Back in 2011 when we first opened up one of our homes, we came across a boy who at the time was 11 years old. He was studying in just grade one because he was off labouring to help his parents instead of enjoying the luxury of attending school. He had nine siblings but seven had died. In 2009 his father had also died from an infected leg. His mother was a farm worker earning just one dollar per day - enough to purchase low-grade rice to feed her family for two meals per day. Now he is studying in grade ten. In the past, he was a little unmotivated with his study but over the last couple of years he has seen greater value in an education and is now studying well and even achieving school awards. He has become a very helpful boy who very capably carries out his duties at the house.  

Our house father hopes that he will be helpful for his family and God’s ministry. It could be that soon he will study for a diploma in Bible studies. Simultaneously he will also learn a trade so that he may be self-supporting. 

Some of our boys come from villages that are often having to shift camp. In fact they had been attending very low grade “mobile schools”. These are schools that follow the villagers around, moving according to where the villagers find themselves. In most cases the villagers move because they are fleeing from violence and conflict. They are akin to being refugees within their own country.

How can these children ever advance when sometimes their school has no schoolteachers? Before coming to live at the home, some of the kids had never been to a town before and had never seen a white person except on TV.

Within Thailand, we have moved the work upcountry to Nakorn Phanom province where we have located extremely poor children. Currently we care for 17 young people with scope to mentor many more in the future. This new phase of the ministry is led by one of our old boys, Dr. Santi Watiroirum. Santi came to live with us when he was 12 years of age, an now at age 3 8years he is an academic who teaches biology at a local university. Because he himself was a poor boy from a rice growing family he is well able to identify at-risk young Buddhist people.

Currently he is placing young people into local churches where they attend each week and thus develop relationships with members within those churches. We support their school fees while the church partners with us in developing and discipling them. These churches are also poor, with not enough money to support their new members so we pay for the childrens’ lunches and any costs incurred at church. On a regular basis all of the kids meet together with Santi and other board members.

AZ started living with us from 2022. He is 17 years old and is studying in 10th grade. His mother is a Christian and his father is Buddhist. His parents make their family income by working on a rubber farm. Unfortunately, AZ’s father wastes his income drinking and only on his own personal wants.  This means that the family is surviving only with the mother’s monthly income of NZD$200 (USD120). She has one day off per week.

They eat just two meals a day. For mum to purchase rice alone for her family costs NZD$145 (USD87). So, what happens if a family member is sick or needs a tooth filled or must travel to another city or worse yet, someone in the family gets cancer? Well, presumably, cancer would be a death sentence. How can AZ’s mum pay for his school fees and a uniform? Well, she can’t. And that’s why we selected him.