Report from BHW Thailand Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key Person: Prasert Taksin 

I visited Prasert and Tungsonghong near the end of June 2018. After arriving at the Muang Tong Mission Centre late in the afternoon I took a motorcycle taxi for the trip to the House of Hope in the Tungsonghong area.

When I arrived the Wednesday music class was in session and the house was full of the sounds of guitarists, ukulele players and the occasional drummer. It’s loud but fun, and there are a lot of kids. The House is seen as a safe place for the children to be, along with the skills they learn and the care they receive.

Prasert took time with each individual child to sit and play through a song, offering encouragement and advice where needed. She can talk at length about each young person and is very proud of their achievements, especially a few whose musical skills developed through the House of Hope have earned them awards or, in some cases, a place in a better school.

There is always a lot of joking amongst the children and later they help themselves to food that Prasert provides as some haven’t eaten much during the day. There were a few familiar faces from my last visit, particularly the chilidren who are also attending the church service held in the same place.

I met Prasert at the Mission Centre the following morning to talk about the wider scope of her work, from the distribution of school uniforms to the outreach into another poor Bangkok community and also into a village about two hours north.

I returned to the House on Friday afternoon for the English class, which seems to be very popular. Even with two helpers everyone was busy running three classes for the different levels. There was food available again for the children that wanted it and various relatives arrived to collect their charges from about 6 pm and paid their respects to Prasert. One mother proudly photographed her children with the text books - apparently it’s a common occurrence.

Recent Events

Activities

Prasert currently runs music classes every Wednesday afternoon and English lessons each Friday. There is also regular Saturday outreach (both in and from the Tungsonghong community) and Sunday church which, when not in another village, is held at the House.

The songs that they learn are all Christian ones, most if not all with Thai lyrics. Prasert said it is nice when the older children who can no longer regularly attend return and start to play the familiar tunes.

The English lessons are run using the help of language texts for each level. Prasert used to run a Bible study before class but the timing made it difficult for the children to get there after school. About 12 children are an average number for the classes, though there would have been at least 20 when I visited.

Prasert is helped by a 26 year old young man who was once a student at the House. Now he comes every week to assist. More recently he has introduced a friend, a young (Buddhist) lady studying at the same university, who also takes one of the classes. She knows the content and context of the classes and is happy to help out in the community, which also provides her with some teaching experience. 

Adult classes

Prasert has also been doing the occasional class for adults in the community. Through relationships with other networks she taught a number of adults from the Tungsonghong area to make baskets out of plastic strapping. They are useful at home and also able to be sold in the market. The participants were proud of what they had achieved and it is also a good way for Prasert to get to know the community. 

Other Communities

The new community in which she and some of the kids from Tungsonghong have been working in has been encouraging. Since the highly successful Christmas program there has been an increasing number of children who have been coming to the regular Sunday events.

Further afield, with the help of a visiting team, they ran a program for a few days in an outlying province. They taught crafts, singing and a message was presented. The connection came through a relative of one of the girls from Tungsonghong who let them borrow a small house for the duration of the program. They set up two tents alongside the house to accommodate the team. About 20 people were expected but 60 came to the program.

Later Prasert and her husband returned to the village to distribute 33 school uniforms and school supplies to children unable to afford them, along with a further 26 sets in Thaisumut.

Uniforms

Over 40 more uniforms were also distributed in the Tungsongjong area. Prasert mentioned that improving circumstances for some of the families meant that they were able to provided their own uniforms this year.

Personal Stories

Nurse is 15 years old and gave her life to Jesus three years ago. Her older sister and two younger brothers come along to the House of Hope and last May her 12 year old brother also gave his life to Jesus. She and her sister live with her stepfather in the local area.

One of the boys who regularly comes to music lessons has been learning the guitar. His skills have improved so far that he has placed well in a local music competition.

While visiting some of the people in the community we saw some children who were not in school and asked them why. They said their school uniforms have been washed and were not dry yet. With only one uniform each they had to stay at home as they cannot go to school without the school uniform. They have been given another uniform so that they don’t miss out on school.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The result of all the interaction with the community is that Prasert has earned their respect and the interest of both the children and adults. One woman whose two daughters attend programs at the House of Hope also brings them along to church there on Sunday. She is not yet a believer but has borrowed a Bible story book from the House library to read.

Prasert continues to work in with other people and groups to mutual advantage. For example, the weaving training was something that came through Chuenjit’s connections, and there are plans for the Good News Team to go to the Nakornprarhum village to put on a puppet show.

The local people in the Tungsong area clearly hold the House of Hope in high regard, and members are very grateful for her commitment to the area and their children.

It is also great to see young adults who went through the program as children now returning to help.

Community leaders in Thaisumut have asked that Prasert come back to deliver her program and offered to let her set up in the public park to have space for more people. When she replied that her focus was in teaching people about Jesus they said that they had no problem with that and that she was welcome.

Plans for the Future

As outlined above the partnership and projects continue to develop with new opportunities being taken where and when they present themselves.

Plans to increase a presence in two relatively new areas will be a challenge though Prasert is considering how to manage the resources she has to make this possible.

The current budget is sufficient for the original scope of the work. Should plans to increase the frequency of visits to Nakornprarhum come to fruition there will be a corresponding increase in the costs for travel.

The increasing number of events and children would suggest a second worker is required whose support will have to be raised somewhere. Consideration could be given to partial funding of this position, perhaps for a specified period of time.

Current Issues and Challenges

It has become more challenging to get students to engage with lessons due to the proliferation of mobile phones among the youth at all levels of society. 

As the children progress through school there are also more demands on their time. Several children who can no longer regularly attend stopped in briefly to say hello and maintain some contact.

Thaisumut is another poor community and drug use is a significant problem there, including among the youth who have “no feeling of wrong or right”. It will be a difficult place to work.

As Prasert extends her program into other areas (as well as the ones she is currently in) there is an increasing amount of work to do. Large numbers of children require a bigger team and while there are plans to grow with a permanent coworker looking promising that has not yet been finalised.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Pray and praise for expansion of programs into other areas
2) Pray for wisdom to know how best to manage this and how to allocate time and resources
3) Pray for plans to bring in a helper to expand the work – particularly for the freeing of the right person to come into the role and resolution of support issues around this
4) Pray that the children who have made a commitment to Christ will continue in the future
5) Pray for the work in Thaisumut, a place that is “very dark” but where people are hungry to hear the gospel

Comments

It is always great to visit the House of Hope and to see Prasert interact with the children and the community. She clearly has a heart for the people with whom she works and the respect with which they respond is manifest.

While working in these areas is never easy, Prasert continues to strive to make a difference with each child (and adult) and the growth of the program and expansion into other areas is a testament to her commitment.