act justly. love mercy. walk humbly.

Connect

2007-12-22T23:32:00.000-08:00

We are back in Thailand and having begun an organization called Connect. This will serve to connect people and resources in Australia and America with the Karen people in Thailand. For more information and continued news of Connect's work as well as the Harrison Family in Thailand please visit www.connect3e.blogspot.com or www.fantasticfour100.blogspot.com (Harrison children). Thank you for your support. Ruth.

Make Straight Our Paths

2007-05-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Our prayer everyday is that God would make straight our paths. It is our hope and belief that God will indeed give us wisdom and understanding in certain situations and will then give us strength to act in the way we think is right(eous). This past week has been our hardest yet. Hard because we have made plans to come home to Australia. While there are a number of factors that have led to this decision, a major reason is timing. We realized that the next six months were crucial for us to begin preparations for a new work here. It looks certain that we will return to the Thai/Burma border (south of where we are now) to begin a new school for Karen early 2008. The school year here starts in May and we think it wise to be back here for that. We have just spent a couple of days travelling around the province of Ratchaburi and think that this is where we will 'plant' a new school. The Baptist church here (we hear) is wanting to have a school nearby for the villages and so it seems we will contact the Baptist Church in this province and begin the process of developing a new school. At this stage we will call the school Mhyrrlar (something like that) it means HOPE in Karen. We are beside ourselves with excitement and are humbled at this path that God seems to be making straight for us. For now though we are looking forward to catching up with family and friends in Australia. While there we will begin saving and speaking with some of you who may be interested in sponsoring Karen children. We can't prepare as we need here, and therefore see it best that we return for the second half of this year. We have spent a lot of time speaking with each other and there is deep sadness over leaving the students, but each understands and feels peaceful about this decision.

So......we fly back to Australia June 8 into Melbourne. We will spend about 10 days there and will head to Brisbane June 18 to see our families including two new cousins! July 11 will see us head to Cairns to live and work there for the rest of the year. Our children will go to school and Colin and I will get work. We hope to fly back to Thailand around March next year via New York and Canada where we hope to speak with friends who are in the Medical field. We need practitioners to partner with us and perhaps organize medical supplies and/or come and volunteer at the school/medical clinic. So....if you are a doctor, mechanic, teacher, bible scholar, photographer, artist, business person, hairdresser, student, a revolutionary follower of Jesus or good at serving people and fancy a stint in the Jungle....then let's have a coffee soon and chat!

SEE YOU SOON~

Our Children

2007-04-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you have kindly asked how our children are doing living and serving in Thailand. I wanted to take a blog entry to show you. The photos show the 'predominant' attitudes and feelings. There are however many days...when sticking to Micah 6:8 (Love mercy, seek justice and walk humbly with your God) is extremely difficult. Please continue to pray for these four children. Pray for their safety, pray for their hearts to be soft, pray for wisdom and pray for strength. Thank you for loving our children.

We visited some of the student's home village (Sangkhlia). Our children swam and played with the children. The house we were staying in became the centre for play while our children where there.
After church at the same village we went to the pastors home for lunch. This photo shows Casey interacting with the girls...who could speak no English. Not sure how it is done...but Casey seems to communicate without a common language - making 'best friends' in the process. Kum is a student at Bamboo School and we stayed at his mother's house on mats, underneath nets, on a wooden floor. His aunt lived in this house also and has lived her life with severe mental disorder. She behaved like a two/three year old. On one of the days Casey and Kenz went down to the river with their new friends and Kum's aunt. Casey came home and retold the story of how the children had begun teasing the aunt and that the aunt (approx 60years) had begun to cry. Casey continued to tell of how she went to Kum's aunt and helped her across the rocks and hugged her. The aunt began laughing and sat closely to or held our girls hands for the rest of their time there. One night Casey needed to go to the toilet...which is down the ladder and out the back. Kum's aunt woke and walked with her. It seemed that she wanted to care for someone who had cared for her. We were able to encourage Casey saying that she was leaving that village having 'loved mercy and sought out justice'.Casey taught the children 'Duck, Duck Goose'. However she adopted the Thai word for 'run' (wing) to help them understand what to do. It was thrilling overhearing her teaching the giggling girls what to do. Kenz was her support teacher.
The rainy season is beginning. Our children run outside and bath/play. The laughter is loud and the rain brings refreshment.
The boys played football/piggy in the middle....many high fives were given and laughter shared.

Blood

2007-04-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Following our time in Phenom Phen we headed to Siam Reap, the home of Angkor Wat. This is a famous temple (one of the Seven Wonders of the World) dating back over 900 years. It was lost to the jungle and found again a few hundred years ago by French colonialists - and it was one of the first places the Khmer Rouge desecrated when they took control. To walk over and around this once bustling city, now laying dormant was breathtaking. To watch our children run ahead of us, to have them listen as we read about a time long ago when Angkor was a power to be reckoned with, to watch them discover the past, to hear Jordan say 'I love history' was a blessing. Added to that was the opportunity for me to wander in my own world and take photos of the ancient, ruined world. There is so much I could write, but I will simply add photos....I want instead to tell you about the end of the day. On our return to the guest house we went past a hospital and saw a sign that was asking people to come in and give blood because of a severe shortage. I noticed the sign and so I said 'Colin' 'Did you see that....they need blood...we should go back right?' Colin said nothing but continued to stare straight ahead. I repeated myself 'Col.' 'We will turn back...ok...and give blood....we should do that don't you think?' . 'Can't say I am too excited about it' said Colin....with a blank stare. But that was enough of a 'yes' for me and so Zach asked the driver of our Tuk Tuk to stop and go back to the hospital. We all unloaded and walked into the hospital. We passed the mats where patients were sitting waiting to be treated. We explained we were there to give blood and we were ushered into a room where there was a doctor and nurse...which soon became a large group of doctors and nurses when the news spread that there were foreign children in the room. As one doctor began the initial tests (what blood group ect) for Colin and I - the children were interacting with the other 7 or 8 doctors...one young doctor took Kenzie and made her a bracelet out of tubing from blood bags (unused) and clamps. When our testing was over the doctor asked Colin and I to lay up on the beds. Colin was a little white faced...but ready and willing. As we lay there trying to encourage each other with slight smiles, the doctor came to me and said that my iron levels were to low to give blood. I sat up...and said "sorry babe...but I have to bail....you are on your own." Colin did valiantly and felt only slightly abandoned by me. Colin then received a bag with a Coke and shirt inside. He helded the shirt tightly and said 'This is great...I will really wear this with pride....' We left the hospital and returned to our guest house and Colin tried on his shirt....but....in a cruel twist of fate....it was too small and he had to hand it on to ME! So I now wear a shirt that states I gave blood in Cambodia....and apparently Colin doesn't feel the least bit bitter!

While there was lots of laughter this experience was really humbling and powerful to us also. Having learnt of so much bloodshed in the past, for Colin especially, giving blood was a practical act of service in the rebuilding of their future. It is very possible that a child's life is saved because of Colin's blood, despite him being a foreigner. For us it is often hard to constantly feel connected to those we live alongside, namely the Karen people. In various ways we are reminded that we are so different from this race. Our skin is different, our eyes, our hair and speach. But despite these differences, as our time in Cambodia reminded us, our blood is the same. We can be deeply connected with these people. Certainly the greatest truth is that it was Christ's blood, that he gave, that allows this connection to take place spiritually. It is His blood, spilt for each of us, that unites us and offers each person a promise of hope and freedom.

The Killing Fields.

2007-04-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

We have just spent a week backpacking through Cambodia. We had to cross the border again for visa reasons and decided to spend some time in the country this time, rather than walking into a customs office and out again.

This was a week that without exaggeration will change our family forever. We first went to the capital of Cambodia, Phenom Phen. Here we went to the Killing Fields. There are many places around Cambodia with this name but the one we went to is the largest. The largest because of the number of Cambodian people that were killed there. In 1975 ( only 32 years ago) Polpot and the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia. Their trucks literally rolled into the city and ordered people to leave their homes and to head to the country areas. Little children were playing hopscotch in the streets, others were shopping and cooking their next meal. All were ordered to leave and thus began 4 years of unimaginable pain and suffering for the Cambodian people. Polpot wanted a new country. A country where people did not think for themselves. A country where there was no religion, no outside influence, no individualism. The people lost the freedom to chose their own clothes, each were issued with a set of black clothes. Schools were used as places of torture and temples desecrated. Anyone who was educated was killed. After being tortured (to get information as to the whereabouts of their family) they were commanded to kneel, hands tied behind their backs and hit with farming tools, so as to save money on bullets. Doctors, teachers, lawyers even his own men who were educated were slaughtered under Polpot's leadership. Those who wore glasses (and therefore thought to be intellectual) were killed. Children of the educated (they were apparently smart by association) were killed also. We were told this history, and were overwhelmed. Overwhelmed because unlike the times that we hear of news on the television, we were looking at the skulls of these people. We could see the hole the hoe or pick or bamboo stick left in the skull, when the person was beaten to death. We saw the clothes that belonged to the victims. We walked next to their graves. We walked around the holes in the ground that young and old Cambodians just years before were often thrown alive on top of many other people and then covered with soil. We walked around the edges of these graves, and our guide (my age) would stop and pick up a tooth or a bit of bone or clothing and show it too us. While he had told many people this story before...he was visibly moved as he picked up a tooth and showed it to our children.

Our children were quiet, Colin and I were quiet. Our guide told us of the thousands of people who died from starvation and hard physical work. Our guide slowly and quietly told of how he was a baby and barely stayed alive being fed by his mother. His stomach was protruding and his head enlarged. He would stop talking periodically and take our girls hands and smile to them. Later he told us that he had no sisters and that was why he liked our girls.

He told us about the children who were brainwashed and taught to kill. Children our children's age. Jordan asked if they would have had to kill their parents and brothers and sisters and our guide sadly said yes. The guide went on to explain that the children would not have known they were doing so, such was the brainwashing of Polpot's soldiers. At the end of our time there, we were asked to buy incense and pray to Buddha for the people of Cambodia. We bought the incense, and knelt as a family outside the building holding the thousands of skulls and other bones. We prayed to God, our Heavenly Father, who we knew was grieving more intensely than we were. We prayed for the future of Cambodia. We prayed for the Christians in Cambodia, that they would be bold and loving and they would tell a new story to the people. We prayed that the smoke coming from the incense would be similar to God's love, that it would waft through the country and settle on people and give them a love they have never experienced.

I write this blog hoping that you...our family and friends would you pray the same thing for Cambodia and other countries around the world? Perhaps like our family you need to educate yourself and your family further. Christians need to understand how important education is in order for our families to pray...to really pray seriously for these people. In Micah 6:8 it says that God requires us to 'Seek justice". I wonder if we forget that some of our 'seeking justice' is to pray for it. To cry out to God to bring His justice to these countries. We are realizing that there is much to pray for around our world....we just don't open our eyes, ears or hearts to the pain. We long to pray better and to teach our children to pray....but we so often can't get past 'Thank you for the fun day and help us to sleep well and have a great day tomorrow....Amen' prayers. Please begin to research your world, to hear the stories of your brothers and sisters around the world who need you to pray for them. I have a friend who would always say that the best way to have God answer your prayer is to pray for what God wants. Let us pray for God's will to be done here on earth as it is done in heaven. Let us pray that God's kingdom...his ways....his justice will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. I believe God wants justice around the world. I believe God wants Christians to be bold in the way they live and love and serve. I believe God longs for leaders to turn to him for guidance. I believe that God longs for people deprived of dignity to know they are valuable and worthwhile. If you believe this, then join with our family as we pray for these things. The Karen people need you to pray, the Cambodians need you to pray, those without a home in Melbourne city need you to pray, and many others do also. So...let us pray.

Bulatoo

2007-04-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Bulatoo is coming to spend some time with our family today. He is a student from Bamboo School but has no family to go home to in the holidays. His parents...from what we know....escaped from Burma with him and settled in Bong Ti (Village near the school) They sent him off to Bamboo School and when he returned home one day - he found nothing. His parents had just simply left and he has not heard from them since. With nowhere to go, our family asked if he wanted to come live with us for a bit. He seems to have somewhat of a connection with our family and he seems genuinely excited to be coming. Bulatoo is obviously a troubled teenager with anger that surfaces periodically. We will attempt to soak him in love and through that teach him a different story - a story that tells him his is precious and valued and was created by a God that wants to guide him, love and give him a peace that passes all understanding. There is definitely a softness that we see (not many people get to see it- so we feel privileged) and he certainly has the capacity to be a great leader. I love him dearly and am looking forward to treating him to a train ride and DVDs and Milkshakes among other things today.

Laughter, Eating and Connectedness

2007-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

We took the blue boat to Piloke

Our family is feeling more and more at home here in Thailand. We care deeply for the Karen people and their futures. This past weekend we had the privilege of visiting a village about four hours away. This village, called Piloke, is home to 5 of the students that live (during the school term) at Bamboo School. Two of these students call us mum and dad - so visiting their home was a gift to them, but more so it was a gift for us.

Piloke is a Karen village surrounded by many others, accessible only by boat. We took a bus for a couple of hours to Tong Pha Poom and then took a boat to the village. We stayed with Apisit's family ( a 16 year old student from Bamboo School) he calls us mum and dad and introduced us to his family as his second family. I cannot portray in words how honoring it is to be introduced to a village as family. Piloke is a fishing village and so fish is the main food for each meal of the day. The family grow and prepare their rice also and so each day, three times a day, we ate fresh rice and fresh fish...incredible. We slept on mats and spent time at night laughing and talking with Apisit's family. They knew no English and limited Thai, so we spoke our limited Thai and Apisit (who can speak some English) filled in the rest of the gaps. On Saturday Apisit and his brother took our family fishing and hiking. We went by boat (there are no cars in Piloke) and then hiked into the jungle for about an hour and stopped near rushing water and swam while some fished. We drank water from the river and ate fish and rice.till our tummies were full. On our walk back Apisit's brother stopped our boys and said 'shhh'. His warning was a little late and a snake about a meter long and 5cm in diameter slid between Jordan's legs.

On the Sunday I preached in the Baptist church, this particular village is 99% Christian, most villages are 50% Christian and 50% Buddhist. The Baptist church is the only church, placed in the middle of the village. The bell rings and many of the 900 or so villagers begin their short treks to church. Apisit translated for me, something he had been telling me he could do for many weeks. He was so proud to be translating in front of his village, he was so proud to be introducing us to his village and he did a remarkable job. Colin preached at the night service and we returned home to sit and talk again with Apisit's family.

The following day we took photos with his family and said our goodbyes. The people had overwhelmed us with their love and acceptance. They ate after we had eaten, they cooked and cleaned up without allowing us to do anything, they hugged our children and moved away from their space on the floor for us to speep there. While we hugged and shook hands - Apisit's grandfather was bathing his grandmother on the bamboo floor of their home. His grandmother was very sick, very thin and frail. As the grandfather poured water over his wife, with his arm supporting her as she struggled to sit up on her own, we saw another glimpse of love. This family laughed with each other, they served each other and they were connected to each other. They owned very little and worked very hard. They are under constant threat that Burmese soldiers could come and attack them and probably have horrific stories of attacks or escapes in the past.

We heard a quote the other day, I can't remember it fully, but it speaks of today being a day that each of us were given. The challenge is to be present in the day. So often we long for the days past when we were stronger or lighter or younger or richer or single. So often we long for the days in the future where we will be retired or wiser or without young children or graduated. The Karen people don't know what the future will bring. They don't have freedom today and may not experience freedom in their lifetime. They don't know if they will have enough food next week, they don't know if they will get so sick that they have to travel two hours to see a doctor. They don't know if they con get permits to work or study in Thailand. They don't know if they will get permission to travel to the next town. They don't know so much. And yet....they seem to live today. Present in the day. Laughing, caring, seeking God and enjoying connectedness with each other. Today was a gift from your Father....did you live it? Really, were you 'there'?

On the right is Apisit's brother and his friend. Our girls are in the middle. They are scaling and gutting the fish that we ate for lunch. They were little fish that were put on skewers.

Here is Somgeit (a student from Bamboo School and Colin cooking the fish near the river. Our skin doesn't hold up in the sun like the Karen skin and we were a little roasted with the fish! The Karen thought it was hilarious that we had sunburn.

Here are our girls (and boys in the distance) eating from banana leaf plates...They absolutely love the fish...they eat around the bones and very happily crunch on the fins and head. Kenzie loves to get the head of the fish and mix it into her rice and then add sweet chilli sauce! Kenzie's face looks pale because she has yellow Karen face paint on. We covered ourselves in it to protect us from the sun. The Karen do this also, but it is now also part of their traditional dress.

This is Apisit's father. He has two sons and adopted our two girls as his own. The girls would wake in the morning and run to give him a morning hug. Our girls are wearing their Karen outfits...it was Sunday morning and we had just come back from church.

Our four....weary...but peaceful.

Photos

2007-04-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

These are some of the precious Karen children dancing. They are incredible....we teach all of these children. Some are from the village we live in, but most live at Bamboo School.

This is Lukai...one of the older students. Our family helped build this house (hut). We dug holes for the main poles and split and wove bamboo for the walls. It is now finished.
This is Kum...another one of the older students. Kum and Lukai have become very good friends with our family. We value them highly. Kum is using an electric circular saw as he balances about 3 or 4 meters from the ground....for safety reasons he is wearing his glasses???
Here are our 4 children at a beach in Southern Thailand. We went to the beach for a few days when we last went across the border to renew our visa. I love this photo...!

Please continue to pray...

2007-03-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Again it has been too long between blogs. I am sorry. A few weeks ago there was an attempted rape in the house (hut) next to us...just down the path a little. Since then there has been a number of sightings of a couple of men, one stabbing and more attempted rapes. This has meant that the village has been on alert. Each night for the past three weeks there have been two villagers roaming the village throughout the entire night with guns and knives-for security. The older boys from Bamboo school have had to patrol our grounds and have at times been carrying a knive. There is a bit of anger and Col and I have had talks with the older boys about killing, hatred and peace for the Karen people. These have been amazing conversations brought about only because relationship has been established. It seems there is a feeling of confidence to speak freely and honestly about feelings. One night Col was ask if he would shoot someone if he was given a gun. Col said that he would not and had to explain that an Australian shooting a Thai would mean deportation of his family!!! Col has been sleeping next to our girls and both he and I have had some sleepless nights. The last couple of nights have been prowler free....so maybe he has given up????

On a more positive note...or maybe not so positive ....Col got his ear pierced. I had suggested that he get one of the older boys (Kum or Lukai 18years) to do it for him...Kum had just pierced his own ear with a needle and string. Col declined and said he wanted to wait till we went to a larger centre where he could get it done with the piercing gun. I understood and so when I walked past a little booth in Kanchanaburi the other day and saw a young girl getting her ear pierced - I called Col to come back and get his ear done. He checked with me that the shop was piercing with the gun and I said 'yeah...pretty sure they are!" So Col sat on the chair (after choosing the earring he wanted) and waited for the lady to begin the procedure.... The next thing we all saw was the lady with a file - filing the end of the earring to a point....hmmm maybe no gun? Then she placed the sharpened end to Col's ear and pushed it through! Done! Col looked at me, I looked at him and knew I was in trouble! Not really - Col was gracious and we all laughed about the experience.

This week we begin house sitting for a lady in Sai Yok. This means a break away from life at Bamboo School (Sleep ins, our own cooking, videos, ect). It also means skyp. Skyp (for those that don't know) is a phone service through the internet. It allows us to call a home line anywhere in the world...for free! So I am looking forward to some long chats with you - our precious family and friends.

I will go now...I have just taught the holiday English program at the local school and need to get back to Bamboo School to keep levelling extremely rocky ground for a new toilet block that we are building.

love to you all.

Solidarity

2007-02-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

The word and concept of solidarity has become somewhat of a challenge (initiated by God-we believe) for our family. In our last blog we shared with you that we were moving into a house in Sai Yok - about 10km away from the Bamboo School. We were at peace with this move, and believed that we could continue to 'minister' to the children at the school along with having more freedom as a family and so on. However....this peace left us and we began to talk about what it really meant to stay in solidarity with these Karen children and young adults. We decided that we could not move. We needed to stay and continue living in proximity with the Karen both at the school and the village surrounding the school. This was a hard decision to make and yet we made it, with conviction, in a matter of hours. There was general excitement amongst the students that we were staying put and this helped us understand the power there is in proximity.

We have consequently continued to build really great friendships with the three older students and many other great relationships are beginning to really take shape. A couple of students even call me mum! The other day in church one of the boys about Zach's age had his arm around Zach. The students walk past our hut on their way to school and this morning I heard 'goodbye Mackenzie', 'goodbye teacher'. The students are confiding in us and seem to have taken confidence in the fact that we didn't move and we see that we have, through staying put, given them a strong indicator that we are indeed here to love them for the long haul.

I am on holidays for a few weeks from my teaching job in the high school, but will resume this when their new year starts in about 6 weeks. I love this job and it also is opening many more relationships with teenagers. I ride my motorbike (that the school have loaned me) to and from school. I listen to songs on my MP3 player and let the wind blow in my hair....I sing out loud and feel very at peace living in the jungle of Thailand. When I get home Colin often takes one of the children out for a motorbike ride and a coke, they also listen to the MP3 player with one earpiece in each persons ear.

Having made this decision to live in solidarity we are noticing other opportunities to stand with the Karen people and serve them. It is as if we have relaxed into our new home and are starting to 'blend' in a little.....well, maybe not blend...I still have every car and bike and truck that pass me on the way to work - beep their horns, wave and smile at the 'foreigner'! but I think the people are allowing us to be with them (not just watch them)as they work and play a little more. We have worked hard and continue to work hard at showing our strength both physical and emotional to the Karen. We carry buckets of water, we have learned to weave and split bamboo with the machete, we have learned to eat many vegetables (many we don't know the names for), we are teaching the children not to cry when they are hurt (heart sadness is OK to cry about - but even then mostly in our house). The Karen don't even flinch when having 5 or six teeth pulled out - and that was a 7 year old girl! We are learning to put up with blisters and cuts. We are getting used to large lizards in the house and bees that can put you into hospital flying around the hut. We are starting....just starting....to look a little less awkward living in a village in the jungle of Thailand.

The other night a very old little white haired lady, who can say 'good afternoon' in English but that is all, beckoned Colin to put her on his back and carry her down that rocky uneven hill to her hut. She walks with two long pieces of bamboo or on her hands and feet. Colin obviously obliged and lifted her onto his back. She had a black dress on and that was hitched up and her bamboo poles put under Colin's arm. The other villagers laughed with delight as they watched Colin and his precious cargo walk by their huts. It was solidarity at its best and Colin looks forward to the next time he gets asked to help.

Let me leave you with this quote that speaks so loudly into our life. “Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say "We have done this ourselves"." Lao Tzu.

I would challenge you to live with people, obviously not in their homes, but in their streets, at their places of work, go to where they play and relax. Learn from them, love them. Get to know them, hold their children. Look through their photo albums. Help them wash their car. Take them fishing. Listen to them. Pray for them.

Blessings to you
Ruth.

Di Gai

2007-02-06T23:09:00.000-08:00

No matter where you live in the world, no matter where you work, no matter where you play, being an authentic Christ follower is a struggle (well, I hope it is for you - because it certainly is for me!). While we are 'loving life' - everyday brings us challenges and disappointments. Everyday brings discouragement and questions. Certainly the days when we go to bed certain we did everything right - are few and far between! Our following of Christ here in the jungle of Thailand, at the orphanage, brings varied feelings. The questions and struggles and discouragement and disappointments, we are told, are evidence that the Christ following is indeed real. While our spirits are lifted by that truth - the reality remains the Christian life is exhausting - would you agree?

There have been many nights when we go to bed juggling thoughts of the past day of living at the school of 60 children and surrounded by the many villagers. Did we communicate the discipline and love together well? Did we empower others to lead? Did we stand up for what we think is right? Did we chose grace? Did we do anything right? Do we want to be here? Are we useful? And so on! Perhaps you ask the same questions at the end of some of your days!
And many nights the only response Colin and I have for each other is....."We have always said that our life will be about loving God and loving people....let's keep doing that....and trust that it really does make a difference" And so we have (amongst many questions and feelings) tried to love God and love people - hoping it was actually changing lives - but not completely certain! (you know that feeling -knowing something in your head but not in your heart?)

This morning I woke at 4am. I had felt frustrated last night at the new roster which has the three high school students (year 11 and 12) down for cooking. Frustrated because these students in the midst of exams are now waking at 4 am to cook and will work until 10pm at night preparing vegetables. So....I think GOD woke me at 4am and I felt I needed to get up and go and help these students. I did this and expressed my concerns for there health and schooling and suggested they talk to the principal about changing the roster. They (culturally) are very submissive and expressed their inability to quit and so I offered them the compromise of me working instead of them every second day and them being able to study, catch up on sleep and so on. They agreed to this and so I will speak with the Principal this afternoon.

Following this chat we all set to work - preparing breakfast. Two of the students began chatting to each other in their Karen language and then stopped. In broken English on of them said 'Ruth, your thinking is different' I asked him what he meant (aware that many of my friends think the same thing!) and he said 'Your thinking is different, you care for people'. Ohhhhh....what encouragement. I said 'That is what I think being a follower of Jesus is....to have different thinking'.

After breakfast I said to Colin (as he was going off to collect water from the river for the toilets) "Col, God is using us, they think our thinking is different". Col too was encouraged.

In the Thai language they say 'kwam su' for happy but have another word for a peaceful, satisfied, encouraged heart - ' di gai'. This morning God (through the words of those he has asked us to come and love) gave us a 'di gai'.

I write this so each of you will be encouraged also. Never wonder if loving God and loving people makes a difference. G.K Chesterton said that no theology is harder to believe than the truth that people matter to God. The commandment to love God and love people -appears to be so pithy, not regal enough, not impressive enough and so, many of us sidestep it in our faith, and go onto more 'godly' matters. I have been reminded to keep my faith about loving God and loving people. So whether you are a teacher or student, employer or employee, mum or dad, the person buying or the person selling......love God and love people.....it is a radical movement changing the world.

You know you live in the jungle when.....

2007-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

You know you live in the jungle of Thailand when

You wake up in the middle of the night and a ferel cat is on your bed.
Your nightly brushing of hair is done with a lice comb.
You drive into a bigger town and marvel at the sizes of homes (which three months ago would have been classed as shacks)
You clean and dress every scratch.
You crave rice if you don't have it at least twice a day.
You lace your food with Chilli instead of salt and pepper.
Running water...hot water.... and a flushing toilet are novel.
You go and have dinner (as Colin did) with the head of the Army and you then stay up all night vomiting after eating their chicken and pork (possibly raw saoked in blood!)
You eat the whole fish and think it a real treat - scales, fins and suck on the bones. Ok, ok we don't eat the head yet....but hey, who knows!
Taking patients to hospital on a motorbike (including babies) is common place.
You are teaching one of the leaders how to drive and you have to include teaching them to avoid children, chickens, cows, bikes, laden trucks and potholes.
You are happy and at peace.

Changes

2007-01-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

We have been very busy - so busy that finding time to write a blog has been difficult. Our days begin at 5.30am and often don’t finish until 11.30pm, when Col and I finally have time to chat through the day and have our bucket shower. The nights are warming up and the days are getting sticky. The principal comes back next week; we have both enjoyed and felt exhausted with various aspects of our time in leadership at the school/orphanage/medical clinic. We have struggled to be at peace with our role amongst the Karen people. We are trying to determine if we are needed or if we are an intrusion – detrimental to their ownership of their futures. This and other factors mean a constant degree of tension in our hearts and minds. Tension of this kind is not all bad…it keeps us thinking and abiding in Christ. We feel at peace about the need to teach them English, and we certainly want to stay very involved in the lives of these Karen people (many of whom we are connected to deeply). We want to work alongside them, eat with them and worship with them. We want to remain accessible as their friends, mentors and in some cases parents. However, in order to protect our family unit and to remove ourselves from the politics of the school/denomination and release ourselves from the presumed role that because we are white we are in automatically in charge; we have decided to move away from the actual school campus. We will still be very accessible to Bamboo school coming out everyday for English week (every second week) and many of the weekends to work at the school with the children.

We are moving into Sai Yok a little town close to the school. In Sai Yok I have the opportunity to teach at a high School of nearly 800 Buddhist children. I have already done some teaching at the school and have loved the enormous challenge of it. I will teach for six hours a day and have just one break of 30 minutes for lunch. I will be able to get to know the teachers there (all Buddhists) and will be able to live and work as a Christian there. Colin will home school the children and we will have a lot more time as a family. It looks as if we may also start a church in Sai Yok (there is no church there yet). This will initially be a family gathering but one where others (including children from the school) may come to discuss the Christian faith. Quite a few of the older children from Bamboo School also go to this high school. It will be great to support them at school, where they are the only Christians among many peers. Last week (when I went to teach for the day) the school lined up for parade. During the parade children and teachers pledge allegiance to their country and salute the flag and then turn, bow and pray to Buddha. The children from Bamboo School (three at this stage) don’t turn, remaining still and facing the front. It is a loud and clear statement that tells everyone present that they are Christians. It is a statement which often results in taunts and laughing from others. I spoke that evening (at Bamboo School) to all the children during devotions. I spoke of how Jesus says that none of us should ever be ashamed of being his followers. I said that I was proud of these young people who stay committed to Jesus in light of teasing. I encouraged them to all continue as ‘hot’ followers of Jesus, never to go ‘lukewarm’ and to be confident that Jesus would then not be ashamed of them. The new school year begins in April, but I may begin before the end of the current school year. This is an exciting adaptation to our lives and mission here in Thailand.

I will be paid about $300 a month and will be given a house. This will be enough for food and internet connection and clothing supplies. So…if you come and visit, you can stay with us and we can take you out to teach and work at Bamboo School, you can also come and teach with me at the High School. Sai Yok is situated on the River Kwae (as in Bridge over the River Kwai) and the school is fed with children from the numerous surrounding villages- many of which are situated alongside the river.

I wrote this blog a week ago and never got to an internet place long enough to post it. We are now on our way to Cambodia to go across the border to then reenter Thailand. I haven’t as yet organized my teaching license and therefore had to leave the country after three months of being here and reenter. We have needed this break away from the intensity of the school and our children need us to reconnect with them. Our children have been 4 of 60 for the last month – so we needed this time to remember what they look like!

2007....

2007-01-06T00:33:00.000-08:00

This morning, as with every morning, we woke at 6am (quite often before-depending on how loud the singing and guitar playing is from the boys dorm nearby) and had devotions, breakfast and headed off to Bangkok, dropping a lady off at the specialist hospital in Kanchanarburi on the way. It was a cold morning, but beautiful as we drove the school ute along the bumpy road past sugar cane, banana trees, motorbikes, school children walking to school and monks collecting their morning offerings of food and water. The sun was shining and the smoke from the constant burning off in the mountains and mist filled the air and caused the windshield to glare. I hard to drive slowly so I had time to consider my Maker - and I felt at peace.

Yesterday a lady walked many kilometers to the school to receive medical help….she was shaking and could not walk at all once she got to the school and collapsed. I was starting the schooling with our four children and had to drop that and attend to the lady as our visiting nurse was out visiting elsewhere! The only thing we could do (Colin had the ute in Kanchanarburi taking another lady to hospital) was put her on the back of a motorbike. Dong (one of the student leaders) rode the lady to the hospital and I rode the other bike with one of the other volunteers from Australia (visiting for a while) and the lady’s one year old baby between us. I am still getting used to riding a bike in Thailand – so to have three of us on the bike (one being a tiny child) was daunting! All was well and the hospital in Sai Yok refered her to Kanchanarburi – so we brought her back to the school and she slept in our hut for the night….vomiting for some of the night….but there was no cleaning up to do as she simply made a split in the bamboo floor and vomited through it!

Another special night this week was New Years Eve…when the Baptist church invited the whole school to dinner and to participate in their concert in a nearby village. We took two loads of children over to the party (many were away visiting their own villages for New Year but one load totaled 27 in the ute!) and enjoyed meat!....very, very spicy meat…..oh yeah, there were repercussions the following day from that meal! About 300 villagers came to the concert, the shed was full and the ground…threw up dust all night long. There was a stage with curtains and two guys pulled them shut and opened them again before and after each act. Our family had been asked to sing a song…with me on the guitar. We agreed and had chosen and practiced a song. My family will laugh but we chose the song the five Walker children sang at Col and my wedding! I was already a little giggly thinking of my sisters and brother and how we would often laugh when singing as children. Our family was called to get ready to go on stage and the children from Bamboo School, in order to allow us involvement in their culture coated our faces with baby powder! They do this to make themselves look whiter and protect themselves from the sun. When we stepped onto the stage we positioned our family and nodded to the two young men waiting to pull open the curtain….they were taking their job very seriously! After confirming and reconfirming that we were ready….they pulled open the curtains to a somewhat shocked crowd of Karen villagers. The Bamboo School children were so proud of us and were delighting in us being one of them…they simultaneously broke out in a load cheer. As they began so did the other 300 people. All of this before we had sung a single word. This was enough to get me laughing….I knew Colin standing behind me was ready to crack also…but we held it together….the children better than me and got through the song….we finished and again the cheering started. It was so very cool to join…to really join the villagers. It was honoring to them…but such an honor to us to have been cheered.

I have many more stories…but will leave it here.

Oh , by the way….we received the chicken promised to our family as a result of me helping with the Bessa Blocks! One of the cooking staff..who lives at the school….was thrilled and promptly took it off me acting out (she knows very little English) the slitting of the chickens throat and excitedly announcing the name of some dish she would make with it. The chicken was plucked and then cooked…..the whole chicken….and I was brought a special sample in a spoon to try before everyone else…..mmm.

We had to get the ute fixed the other day....the gear box was having big troubles.....it cost $10AUD. That same day we paid for a friends motorbike to be fixed....that cost $12AUD. Then we got a haircut for Zach and that cost $1AUD. We then paid for a student to have her hair cut into a style she was dreaming about....she is 17 yrs old...and we paid a whopping $2 for the style cut. Hmmm I think we will find it hard to pay Aussie prices for a style cut when we get home.

This has been a crazy week. The children are not really getting much of their schooling done. About 3 hours for the whole week...they are not complaining...but we are going to have to address this situation...!

I have been reminded of how Jesus laid down his life for us. I am reminded also of our instruction to be like Jesus. The example of laying down our lives for each other is hard but very much at the core of Christianity I believe. I am understanding more that it makes very little difference where you are in the world…each of us are asked to lay down our lives for each other and in doing so we lay down our lives for our Maker. Can I challenge you this week to think of those you interact with and ask you to follow in the steps of Jesus and lay down your life for them? This is hard…as it means putting aside your own plans and agenda, putting aside your own interests and seeking to put someone else before yourself. Simple lesson…but so hard to carry out consistently!

Love to you all.

Thanks!

2007-01-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

No doubt you have heard about the bombs in Bangkok....you probably know more than we do! We hear very little out in the jungle....nice and a little wierd also. We are safe though and hoping things have settled some by Thursday...as we take people to the airport in Bangkok on Thursday!

Thank you for your prayers for Zach's skin.......God is taking very good care of him. His skin has cleared and we are staying on top of his ecshma (however you spell that!). He is enjoying life a little more!

More blog to come tomorrow!

Thank you so much for all your comments....I don't generally have time to reply but know that I am thankful.

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas Eve…and unlike any other in my life. It is hard to lay here typing….it is so cold. The hut provides little warmth. I am currently inside my sleeping bag and under two doonas. I have socks and a jumper on also.

Today was a special Christmas eve as I learnt how to ‘flick’ the bucket at the bottom of the well so as to tip the bucket and allow it to fill with water before pulling it back above ground. The well is about 4 metres down before the water starts. This ‘flicking’ is an art and I am glad to have added it to my repertoire…Colin of course had it mastered a while ago…but hey….I am still proud of myself!!!

Tomorrow (Christmas Day) we will send the children from the orphanage off to the government school as per usual (imagine that Aussie kids…school on Christmas day) and we will (our family and some other older and younger children who don’t go to school) travel 30 minutes to Sai Yok and buy our lunch to give the cooking team a break. We will then come home and complete all of the children’s jobs before they get home from school….a treat for them. We will haul water to the five ‘hawng nahms’ (toilets) and to the kitchen and to some of the guest house bucket-showers. We will scrub the toilets and sweep – allowing the children to come home…take their river-baths and play a little…something they don’t really do a lot of. We will then have a very special dinner – it will include chocolate soy milk!!!! And give a present to each child.

My mum and dad sent our family a gift of money and so we were able to have a special day at the shop buying a present for each other. Zach bought a tiny Christmas tree and we have put our presents around it in the corner of our hut. Tomorrow after breakfast…we will come down to our hut and have a Milo and a bowl of cornflakes (a huge special) and open our presents. Christmas is different this year but also filled with anticipation and excitement. It is also very interesting to be a group of Christians celebrating within a Buddhist country. It seems to bring a “radical-ness” to this years Christmas and allows you to clarify what the day is about.

Today we were asked by a local village man if we could drive him to get some cement for his house. He is renovating his bamboo hut! We agreed and I was sent to drive him as I had another couple of other jobs to do also. This man bought the cement…5 bags in total… but also bought approximately 100 Bessa Block bricks…and loaded them into the back of the ute. When all was loaded the front of our ute was riding very high and he added to the weight in the back by sitting on top of the bricks. I drove cautiously aware of our damaged steering rod (that is getting fixed next week!) We got back to the village safely and the man, his wife and I unloaded the bricks and cement. The villagers are always a little alarmed that ‘white’ people…especially ‘white’ women are offering to work. I shook my head and said ‘it is ok….’ and continued to unload with them. They said their thank yous and I left saying ‘mai pen rai’ (you’re welcome/no worries). Tonight the message came up to the school (BS) that they were so thankful that I helped them that they were killing one of their chickens to give to the teacher…ME! So……this Christmas dinner may include a village chicken…..! If only you could see the pained look on my face as I contemplate the thought!!!!

Each Sunday morning we work with all the Bamboo School children for about 4 hours, gardening, cleaning and doing odd jobs. Following this time, while waiting for lunch – today there was a brief time to relax. Jordan was sitting around the fire/rubbish pit with one of the boys. This boy had a sling shot and killed a bird that was flying past. The boy (as Jordie watched) cooked the whole bird in the fire and ate….the whole bird…..the whole bird – inside and out! He only threw away the feathers. The boy kindly offered Jord the leg...but Jord refused. I am laughing as I write this….! Dear Jord delighted in relaying this story to us at dinner and was even more excited when I said I would put it in a blog.

We are enjoying our time here. We are feeling more confident in our leadership while the principal is away. We are doing a semi ‘survivor’ theme, as in, the children are in teams, and have bandanas and get points for various things. We are playing games with them and reward them for hard work. The children are responding well to us. They seem settled and seem to trust our leadership.

Zach has had an infected leg again…his whole left calf was covered in puss! I have tried my hardest to keep him off steroids and antibiotics and I think things are improving. I clean and re-bandage twice a day and today had him stay in the hut to try to give him a break from all the bugs outside in the dirt. Once you step outside the hut…you get dirty. Last night he slept for about 13 hours….his body is fighting infection at a rapid rate. Please keep Zachie in your prayers.

Casey and Mackenzie are doing well. We chopped off their hair to make it easier to handle here in the jungle….Kenz then decided to chop a little more and swiped off all the hair and the front and now has a very short fringe….AHHHH! After being told off a little and after I got over the sadness of having a girl who looks like a boy…we cuddled and remembered that hair grows!! Thank the Lord for that body feature!

We are so thankful for letters, emails and comments on the blog. We often print out emails and savour them at home in our hut so we don’t have to read them in a rush in an internet café.

We hope you will take time over this Christmas season to pray for the Karen people. Many of the Karen are Christians…but won’t celebrate Christmas with a heap of food and presents. Rather some families will spend the day hiding in the jungle, fleeing villages or separated from those they love. We who have freedom and identity must pray! Please plead with God that He will raise up leaders who will address the fighting and political unrest in Burma. Pray that God will also raise up Christian leaders amongst the Karen people - leaders who will preach that a relationship with Christ offers a unique freedom and radical identity.

Christmas Day……this morning we woke to a group of 15 or so children singing Christmas carols in their own language and in English. The time was 3.20 am. I got out of bed dazed but delighting in a very different start to a Christmas day. I sat on our bamboo step and looked out into the dark and said ‘you guys are crazy! You think us Gallaweh (white people) do crazy things….you Karen do crazy things also”! They understood enough English that as they left they were laughing. I yelled ‘Dablu’ (thankyou) and went back to bed….as the roosters around the village began their singing!

We wish you all a deeply meaningful Christmas.

Jack and Jill of all trades!

2006-12-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great day. We were busy and challenged and tired and satisfied at the end of it. Colin was left at Bamboo School while I (Ruth) travelled the hour and a half to the city of Kanchanaburi. I was dropping off a patient at the specialist hospital and picking up a medical student - who was a past student at BS (Bamboo School) and was coming home for a week. We also needed to find a guitar to buy for the chaplin (Billay) and finding that in an Asian city (with Thai writing on the signs) proved a challenge. Billay is Karen and so doesn't know Thai and cannot walk (from Polio as a child). We accomplished it all and I enjoyed a great day with Zacho and some of the team from BS.

I got home and Colin had taught our children their schooling for the day. He had also put empty rice bags on the roof of our boys room so the dust/dirt from above would stop falling through. You can't stand up in their little room...even the boys are too tall - but they love it. They have mats on the floor, mosquito nets hanging from the roof and their clothes in a box. They are happy. Colin also fixed up a light switch that had a bamboo stick as the switch and exposed wires previously and fixed up the head wound of a two year old boy that had come up from the village.

We laughed together thinking of the various roles we had palyed throughout the day....Taxi driver, ambulance driver, electrician, carpenter, teacher and doctor.

To end the day we had two older boys come to us asking if they could go to a hut in a nearby village to visit with their father who had just (illegally) crossed the boarder from Burma. We relied on wisdom that we trust God is giving to us and said ok! So ...at sundown we put the two boys in the back of the dual cab...got their Bamboo School ID cards (they don't have Thai ID) and took our passports and drove them past the Dochidore (border police) and took them to the village. We were not stopped and thanked by the boys and will pick them us again tomorrow at 4pm. We drove back home and waved at the police....and laughed a little nervously to ourselves! So to top of the day....we played the role of 'people smuggling' also!

Thank you so much for your prayers! We struggle still with Zach's skin...his eschma is really bad again and is being exposed to bugs and easily gets infected. It is very very cold here at night and very dry. We rely on your prayers.....

All is well and we are peaceful.

We hope to speak to some of you on Christmas day.....whenever that is!!!!! It is very bazaar to be this close to Chrisy and not know what day it is!

We Miss YOU!

2006-12-21T01:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since our last blog-we have not been able to get into Sai Yok…(a little town about 20 minutes away) to get internet. There have been times when we have got into the Sai Yok only to find that the internet café owner was closing for the day (at 2pm) or the internet was down. OH WELL! I am writing this blog in the room where we teach English to about 34 children and where our children are currently doing their schooling. I will then cut and paste it into our blog – hopefully tomorrow!

The political scene over the last couple of weeks has meant that we have had to increase ‘security’ at the school. We are not sure if there is increased tension at the Burma/Thai boarder (only a couple of kilometers away) or if there is another reason but for the last couple of weeks the Thai government has sent many extra police (boarder police) to this boarder. The other night Colin saw flashes of light from over the hill (possibly mortar fire). For the last week we have had police standing at the corner (of the road that enters our school) day and night. We were warned to expect raids on the school at any time of the day or night. We have not had any trouble but have had to make sure that everyone on campus has Thai ID cards and that no visitors (without Thai ID cards) are on campus after sundown. One Karen man (from a neighboring village) who has an ID card rode his motorbike home from church with a passenger (a friend who did not have a ID card). They were stopped by the police and the driver immediately put in prison for helping someone without an ID card. The man put in prison is the father of one of the children that live and learn at Bamboo School. We went out singing to the surrounding villages the other night, in the Karen, Thai and English languages. We went to the man’s village and with his son gave the family food and some treats. The son (Chargegerh) came and hugged one of the other leaders and said ‘Thank you for helping my mum’. One the way home, with 25 of us crowded into the back of the ute we stopped at the Dochidore (boarder police) and sang English songs. They stood and listened with smiles and then clapped at the end. We gave them Kanoum (Lollies) and went on our way with the police a little more on our side. It was surreal. Colin and I imagined later what reaction we would get from Australian police if we pulled up alongside their road block with 25 children and adults in the back of a ute and began singing to them! We doubted the reaction would be clapping and smiles!

Another day this week we had a medical clinic (with a team of doctors from Hong Kong) for the surrounding village people to bring themselves and/or children to. We had a room for the initial consultation and then the patients would move to another room to see the doctor. We set up our children with their schoolwork in the ‘initial consultation’ room and Colin and I weighed people, counted and labeled bags with medicine and help take blood sugar levels. The children’s schooling soon fell by the way side as they were needed to wash the thermometer after use or count tablets or label bags. I figured, at least they were learning to count, nurse and spell ‘paracetamol’!

We received letters this week from family and Lifegate…it was such a treat. Colin had gone into Sai Yok and brought the mail into our school room….it was such an amazing gift to have words of affirmation and promises of prayer and words that sparked laughter…and PHOTOS! Thank you so very much.

We wake every morning to roosters and cow bells and often see a pig walking past our hut. It is now commonplace to bath with the pig down river....and commonplace to always hear the Bamboo School children singing and playing the guitar.

Please be praying for us over the next month. The principal is away and Col and I have leadership. Last night 4 children were missing and away 'possibly' stealing from a nearby hut. We had to wake at 5am to walk them through punishment....I think it was more of a punishment for Colin and I!!!! We are finding this task a little daunting and would appreciate your prayers.

Tomorrow we are taking a patient to hospital (about an hour away) in the city of Kanchanaburi. We will go as a family and plan to visit the icecream shop – Swensens. The children are looking forward to this trip and this morning Zach wrote on the blackboard ‘Today is Wednesday and tomorrow is a trip to SWENSENABURI!’

We are now on our way home to the school. Today we were stopped by boarder police - checking to see it we had any Karen people with us without papers. It was just us...and so all was well.

We think of you all often and pray for you often. We are so thankful for family and friends like you all.

Love
Harrisons.

Bamboo School

2006-12-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

We are overloaded somewhat by the enormous pain and oppression experienced by the children here. Each child has a story of neglect, rejection, abuse or escape. We are better understanding the school and its role and I want to share some of that with you. The school has two arms to it. First there is the orphanage that has about 60 children living on campus. Some of these children have been abandoned by parents, some have never known their parents and others have loving parents who are not able to afford to have them live at home. Alongside the orphanage is the school. Each night we have devotions and then schooling from about 6.30pm-8pm. One week they learn Thai (to better equip them to go to school here and to get jobs later on) and the following week they learn English (for similar reasons). We teach for the English week. Many children in the surrounding village come to the evening classes. Every student at the local primary school (approx 200) have first been to bamboo School to learn enough Thai to assist learning. The village is helped also by Bamboo school. Gifts and donations of clothing go to them often. The village consists of about 480 homes with 11 (average) people living in each home. When teams come to the school they will put in a well or a few hawg narms (toilets) to lessen disease and poverty. We are currently beginning to build relationship with a village about an hour away to begin serving them also. We will go in the next few days and take them clothing and ask if they would like a visiting medical team to come to their village and we will speak to them of the possibility of us building a well and toilets. As we do this we are able to establish credibility with them - to then share about a God who loves them and sent his son Jesus, for their peace and life. These people loose many of their babies and others to disease. Please be praying for us as we begin relationship with this new village.

The police came to the school the other night...asking why there were other foriengers (Colin and I) drivng around and asked if we had visas and work permits. We do, so all was well. There is a constant threat of being stopped at the check points and the ute then searched for Karen people who have escaped over the Burma boarder. Many of our children have and so there is constant prayer as we travel on the road. Three little (as in 6 ot 7 years old) left the school without permission the other day. They wandered in the jungle trying to visit their parents. They returned unharmed (until they were smacked by Momo Cat) and warned not to do that again. There is trouble currently at the boarder only a kilometer to our west. They girls were warned they could have been picked up by police and then the future is very unsure.

The children (our 4) have started schooling. It is a bit sparodic...but it is happening. Eating rice and vegetables is hard at 6.30 in the morning...as is the getting out of bed. OUr children were not eating much rice for breakfast and then finding it hard to concentrate on schooling. I bought porrige yesterday and so this morning the Harrison family had a secret porridge meal in our hut (we ahve an electric kettle also) before heading up to breakfast. Concentration was more visible today! We go into a bigger centre fairly often and will get specials (junk food) every now and then. We have to constantly treat scratches and cuts...as tropical bugs can lead to serious infection. Normally you begin a treatment of atibiotics immediately. Jordan has a cut presently...but we are keeping any infection at bay.

We bought a few DVDs in our travels (they cost $.80) and these have become a treat when schooling is finished. Our four children gather around the laptop and watch a movie.....ahhhh heavenly.

Thank you for emails and phone messages...they become such precious gifts to us. Our mailing address can be used...so if you have a moment to write letters to us or the four children we would really appreciate news and contact from home.
PO BOX 2
Amphur Sai Yok
Kanchanaburi 71150
Thailand.

If Lifegate or Mimos or individual families could put together a bunch of photos and letters telling the children at Bamboo School that you pray for them and that you love and follow Jesus also (even if it is a long way away) and send it to them....it would be a treat for them also and great for their faith.

Thanks to you all. We love and miss you. (Missing you all quite a bit this week actually)
Ruth - for us all. As I write Colin is at the wood shop getting Coconut wood to help build new guest houses and rooms for children coming into the orphanage. The children (our four) are with one of the Thai leaders at the market shopping for more rice and vegetables....walking by the exposed meat, toads, turtles, eels and cockroaches....hmmm we are glad we only eat rice and vegetables! Let me quickly finish with a story of a village lady who came to the clinic before we arrived. Oh....I forgot to tell you that there is also medical clinic attached to the school for anyone who needs anything from a bandaid to quick surgery to infant formular. This lady brought with her a tape worm that she had apparently spent an hour 'pooing out'. She had been given medicine to get rid of it earlier. This lady was convinced of the need for good hygiene when she saw a four metre tape worm...the reason behind her stomach cramping. For this reason we don't eat pork from around here either!!!!!

Tuk Tuks and Birdies

2006-12-01T03:47:00.000-08:00

This is a Tuk Tuk...they are used as taxis in Thailand. Having arrived on bus (we had travelled through the night) into a somewhat remote Northern town in Thailand we were greeted (as you always are) by a Tuk Tuk driver offering to drive us to our destination. It was 4am in the morning, we were tired and cold and eager to get to our guest house. A little apprehensive that we would all fit in a Tuk Tuk, we determined a price with him and we began loading the six backpacks and the six of us into the back. The children were loaded on first and then the bags and then Colin. At this point in the 'loading' process the Tuk Tuk began to tip!!!! I was yet to get on. The front wheel was literally off the ground. I was to even out the drivers weight...a little Thai man!!!!! Colin and I were not at all sure of this driving arrangment but were protesting through uncontrollable laughter. (We were tired remember). The man was confident and off we went....certain that at any moment we would tip....!

This morning at breakfast (at a little side stall) we were approached by a lady selling caged birds. These tiny little birds were trapped in little baskets and could be bought and let free for good luck. We bought some...not for good luck but for a quick family devotion. We happened to buy a basket with four birds and Colin and I talked about the birds being like our four children. We talked about why God had created the birds...and concluded that birds were made to fly and to have freedom. We talked about why God made us....to have life and freedom and that when we love God and keep his commandments ....we experience real freedom. We then talked about Jesus' words that he had come that we might have life and have it abundantly. The children went out to the street contemplating how they would follow God in their lives - aware of his love and reason for creating them and sure that they never wanted to be like the birds in the cage - and let the birds go. It was moving and will be remembered.

Travelling Around

2006-11-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

Hi to our precious family and friends.....We are still travelling around Thailand and loving the time spent getting 'used' to Thailand and being just our family. We travelled today on the back of a truck (ute) for 6 and a half hours from Mae Sot to Mae Siriang (North Thailand). We are meeting the 'cook' from Bamboo School here (she is on holidays) and she is going to take us to visit her home village in the hills. It is supposed to be a very healthy Karen village and we want to see and understand better the Karen heritage and way of life so we can assist Momo Cat implement a 'healthier' emotional way for the children at Bamboo School. So much of their childhoods have been full of physical and sexual abuse, and so much education is needed to ensure they live healthy futures. It is so important also that they are introduced to a God who loves them and created them intentionally.

We will continue to travell up North and will spend some time in Chiang Mai before heading back to the school. We are well.....a few tummy cramps and so on....but nothing to drastic. Kenzie has decided she would rather the squat toilets to the ones in Australia...she is on her own there however...! Today we watched many of the Hilltribe villages get on and off the truck. It is their public transport system. The driver blows the horn so they know he is coming and they come out of the villages. We would smile as they got on and they would smile back revealing rows of rotten teeth attained from beetlenut. The Thai are such beautiful people, very excited to get their photos taken and very smitten with the girls. They cuddle and touch the girls arms and faces and little Kenz is getting passed regularly from one to the other. She takes it all in her stride.

We discover the different towns mostly by foot and stop often to buy a Cornetto for each of the children....a treat they rarely get in Australia...but here they cost 70cents. Colin and I find ourselves reaching for the chilli...we can't do our food as hot as the Thais do....but we are getting there. We are loving just stopping at a little Thai stall for our dinner at night. May explain some of the cramping...but hey!!!

We have a mobile....we can't be reached when out at the village....but it was cheap enough to have to call family when we head to the larger village every couple of weeks. For the next week or so we will be contactable though. Our number is 08921 007 48 (you will need the Thailand Code...which i think is 66 then 2 and drop the 0... i think!)

We will write again soon. We love you.
Ruth for the Harrison Village Tribe.

THAILAND

2006-11-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

WOW......let's never think that following Jesus is dull.
We have been in Thailand for a week....we think....we have lost track of days. We headed straight out to Sai Yok, near Kanchanaburi (4 hours west of Bangkok) to drop off luggage at our new home and to introduce ourselves to Momo Cat and the children. The first night at Bamboo School (which is situted in the village of Bong Ti) was exhilerating and terrifying all in one. We taught our first English class that first night to 28 children (without any prep) for two hours. We bathed under a bowl of water and used the squat toilet. We ate vegan and Casey narrowly missed getting bitten by a Scorpion while Kenz got her first bee sting. Zach saw a snake and Jord began digging a well and toilet hole. Colin and I did our first load of washing in the river and we all travelled on one motor bike with a side carriage (including the driver). We drove a lady from the very very poor village near the school to hospital (2 hours one way) and travelled 100kph in the back of a ute. We found a huge goanna in our hut and were offered a little three year old to adopt. ALL IN ONE and a HALF DAYS!!!!! We love the school, love Momo Cat and feel very at peace. Our faith is needing to go to new levels, much deeper than ever before. The children are amazing, they have warmed to us quickly and we are trying to learn names. We rise at 6am and go to bed around 10pm. We have left the school for a couple of weeks and are already beginning to look forward to our return.

Currently we are staying on an island called Koh Tao (Southern Thailand) it is very beautiful and we have just stopped to update the blog. We are riding around on two motorbikes (three on each). We are happy and safe and enjoying some time as a family. We miss you all at home and hope that many of you will come visit. There are children here that need sponsoring...about $30 a month along with you sending letters and photos, please consider it. There is also a year twelve girl who needs sponsoring so she can go to university. Email me if you are interested.

Love to each of you
Ruth....for the family.

Psalm 91

2006-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

God keeps bringing this to my attention. (Ruth)

Psalm 91
1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. 5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. 6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. 7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. 8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.
9 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, 10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. 11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. 12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. 13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. 15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

2006-10-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Bong Ti....this will be our new home in a few weeks. Zach said to me (Ruth) today in the midst of our garage sale - 'I just want to scream as loud as I can'. This being very unlike Zach to show such passionate emotion, I asked him why. He said ' I am just so excited, I love our life, I love the adventure, I love that we are selling stuff and I love that we are going to Bong Ti'. This is very much the feeling within our family. Most of the future is completely unknown, but we are anticipating adventure. While there is excitment there is also... a growing awareness of the injustices toward the Karen people who are having to escape Burma - heading to Thailand. Col and I are sickened by what has been apathy on our part toward the oppressed in our world. Just having opened the window a little we are overwhelmed at the comfort of our own lives. The more we have got to know Jesus the more acutely aware we are becoming that our lives can be anything but comfortable. So we head toward this new chapter in our lives - not knowing fully what we will learn. Colin said to me the other day 'this will be defining for our family' and I believe it will be. Our hope is to return to Australia better equiped to lead the many faithful followers of Jesus in Australia in responding appropriately to the poor and oppressed in our country and countries around the world. Here are some photos of what will be our new home - Bamboo School. We will teach English, help in the medical clinic (Colin will anyway - I struggle with one of our children cutting themself, let alone someone's spleen hanging out or a gun shot wound!) we will teach Bible and love the children/young adults there. We will eat vegan and Colin (a lover of meat) has already warned us that if one of the Water Buffalo go missing we will know where to find him and it.