The Olivers In Thailand

Thank You!

Thank you Tore and Open Hands! On Sun 26th October the Olivers visited Hoay Maw with Tore of the Norwegian charity Open Hands.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Tore and Open Hands. Without their ongoing support to help with food and half the staff wages, circumstances would be a lot bleaker at Hoay Maw.

It is not so long ago that the children were eating just rice for weeks on end. The children now enjoy regular vegetables and occasional protein in their diet. Without this support for staff (along with another individual supporter from the UK) it would not have been possible to even begin to take the steps to develop self-sufficiency projects or to establish any degree of consistent quality of care.

Our friends from Mae Sai kindly brought doughnuts for each of the children made in their bakery.

Fish Project

Some unused land has been acquired and it is proposed that this might be a better site for the fish pond project. An advantage would be that unlike the other site, it is not on a slope. It also is in watery land and so would probably not need to be concrete lined. It is a little less convenient for access but they felt that they would still be able to attend to the fish. It is alongside the tea and therefore it could be a good thing if they are actively caring for projects in this location.

Money has been received from Links International to cover 30% of the project costs (thank you!). The final processing of the project by World Vision is currently in progress. World Vision will then provide the remaining 70% of funds required. We want to ensure that World Vision approve the new site prior to commencement.

New Land

Pigs or Chickens? - That is the Question

Some locals have expressed disapproval of the pig project being in the vicinity of their dwellings. For the time being the pigs have been moved back into the old concrete pen alongside Pastor Joseph's own pigs. On the surface of things this seemed a disappointing setback.

Ready for Christmas! With regard to the pig project, it has been a long slow process to establish this, however, at this stage, some piglets are nearly ready to be eaten. The children have had the chance to gain vocational skills and lessons have been learned about taking care of the project. However, we have found that without nutrient food, the piglets grow quite slowly and the nutrient food is expensive. It is therefore questionable as to the profitability of developing the pig project further as compared to say chickens. This is why we wanted to test things on a small scale before expanding. At this point, we feel that we will let the pig project run on but without significant further investment or expansion.

We were already considering a trial of chickens (and/or ducks) which friends in the S.E.E.D. Project (something to Eat Every Day) have used to good effect for both eggs and meat. Chickens can be raised using the same organic method as the pigs using a natural floor and fermented liquid feed. It would therefore be a suitable use of the organic pen at this stage. We will do some further research into the feasibility and costs.

Medical

When we last visited, one of the younger boys had a badly infected scalp. His head had recovered following advice from our GP friend but his little friend had become infected. This reinforced the need for basic training and medical supplies. Better

Finances

Tore kindly offered an additional 10,000 baht from Open Hands for the market bill for October. At present there is no provision for food for Nov-Dec but if further money is available next quarter then hopefully they will only be at the usual position of owing 20,000 baht at start of quarter. The current change in exchange rate has hit quite hard both in terms of Hoay Maw support and in terms of any money that comes over from the UK.

Christmas is Coming

Last Christmas, it was a privilege to be able to bless each of the children with a special bag of gifts. The joy was evident on the children's faces.

We were also able to give the children warm hats, gloves and socks to protect them in the mountain winter frosts.

Thanks to the generosity of Arun Community Church, Links International, Open Hands and kind individuals, there was also money remaining from the Christmas fund to help secure the children's school registration for the up-coming school year.

Joy to - "A child"
Christmas Delight!

We would love to be able to make Christmas special for the children at Hoay Maw. Please consider if you, as an individual, church, business or group can bring a blessing this Christmas.

Please see how to get involved.

On Thurs 25th – Fri 26th September we went to Mae Sai and Hoay Maw. We took Rosie on the trip. Rosie is from our home church, Arun Community Church, and is staying with us until mid-December.

Mae Sai

We spent time with the children at the Hope for Life children's home to share in worship and activities. The children made photo frames and we took their photo as well. We talked about how we are special to God and that He made us and loves us. We taught the Powerpack song “Shine” which we have translated into Thai with the help of the Ban San Faan children and staff.

I'm Special

Hoay Maw

This was the first time that we have visited Hoay Maw without a translator. We delivered some chicken, groceries and hygiene supplies and then had lunch with Joseph and family.

Tentative Good News

Three years ago there was a project to set up a tea plantation at Hoay Maw. This project offered what seemed like significant potential for income generation. Unfortunately due to a number of factors, the tea didn't thrive. Subsequently there was a fire which destroyed one area of planting.

"T" for Tore

When we first came out 2 years ago our intention was to try and develop this further but with the various problems, we had basically given up any thought of this bearing any fruit. Apparently not everyone had given up because Marit Hyttedalen has now told us that she has prayed for the tea from time to time including just before this visit.

We were surprised and pleased to hear that when Paul went out to look at the tea in the main area of planting, about 2/3 of the plants are now thriving. We will continue to monitor the progress and if it is possible to harvest some tea then it will be sold directly to Joseph's contact who owns a tea company.

Rosie's Basics

Having helped shop for the basic hygiene supplies, Rosie, an 18 yr old, had been impacted by the contrast between the basic requirements of the children at Hoay Maw and the quantity, quality and availability of toiletries and cosmetics taken for granted by young people in the West.

Rosie has taken this to heart and wants to take up this project for herself and make a difference. Rosie is praying about how to take this forward but would like to communicate with the youth (and possibly children's) groups at home as well as with her previous employers. We would also like to feature Rosie's appeal via our web-site ...

We talked with Rattanaporn in order to make a detailed list of the basic requirements. We found that the monthly supplies that we've been taking are close to what is required but we cannot sustain that ourselves in the longer term and at present Hoay Maw has zero budget in this area. We are not talking about cosmetics but rather basic supplies e.g. soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, needed to promote the health and hygiene of the children.

Essentials not cosmetics

Medical

We took some Paracetamol for the home and were aware that they have no provision for basic medical supplies. This was brought home because there was a small boy with open sores all over his head which had become infected. We were able to arrange for a Thai speaking Doctor friend to phone back the next day to give advice.

House-Mother tries to clean sores

It is our hope to address the following:

• Support for basic medical supplies
• Support for a small medical fund particularly for children who don't have Thai ID and would not be eligible for Thai assisted medical care
• Written First-aid advice for the staff in Thai language
• A First-aid training opportunity for the staff
• Ongoing annual refresher for staff and training for new staff
• An initial medical check and evaluation for the children
• Ongoing annual medical check and review for the children

Finances

According to the pattern of the past 9 months, they were 2 months in debt at the market. They have continued to limit monthly spending on groceries at or below 10,000 baht (NOK 1,330 = £160 = $320). We have been praying for support to cover the 30,000 baht market costs per quarter. This quarter we were 17,500 baht short however we are so grateful that indiduals have provided an unexpected 7,500 baht. This will enable the market debt from the previous quarter to be paid off but means that we are still commencing this quarter with none of the 30,000 baht required for food. This highlights that they are very vulnerable to fall into debt and that they are under-resourced to meet the very basic level of subsistence.

Whilst we will continue to strive towards increased self-ownership of responsibility and self-sufficiency, we are also looking to raise the level of regular support to a stable minimum level.

We continue to pray that God will lead us together with partners who share a heart and vision for this work.

Care

As good progress has continued to be made with respect to managing the home, accounts, staff and projects, the area of developing the staff's ability to provide quality care for children comes into the spotlight. We spoke to Rattanaporn and the House-mother about teaching the children in the area of personal hygiene and keeping their clothes clean so that the children don't smell. We will be praying about the best way to provide training ideally in partnership with individuals or an organisation with the appropriate language and skills.

Computers

We delivered the other 2 computers donated by Grace International School. The first computer of the 3 will be used by Paul and Rattanaporn to support the management of the home. Adrian spent further time trying to get the internet to work using Paul's mobile phone. It worked using another staff member's phone but not with Paul's and so we may need to get a different phone for Paul.

Adrian sets up computer

The other 2 computers and Paul's previous computer were put in the “computer room”. This is in a building that Joseph built quite recently with the left-over materials from the work on the boys dorm. They had been given some computer desks which the children worked on constructing, with assistance for Rosie.

We also took a set of 8 Thai-English visual dictionary CDs. I had bought them from a yard sale to help myself learn Thai but as they work equally well from Thai-to-English, we donated them to the children which will help them learn a little English. Unfortunately, we found that the audio drivers weren't installed and so they couldn't use them immediately. We will address that next visit.

The children, in particular the older ones, will now have the opportunity to learn basic computer skills e.g. word processing, spreadsheet, powerpoint, etc. We hope that the Singapore team will be able to give some basic instruction when they visit in Dec.

Joseph was present and he couldn't have been more pleased with the new “computer facility”. The children enjoyed watching themselves on our video, “A Day in the Life of Hoay Maw”.

Computer Facility

Summary & Future

• It was a milestone that we managed to communicate ourselves without an interpreter.
• “Computer Facility” coming on-line
• Continue development of self-sufficiency projects
• Forward money to enable commencement of fish pond
• Develop accurate, overall budget and encourage basic minimum level of regular support.
• “Rosie's Basics” project to provide basic hygiene needs.
• Address medical supplies and staff training.
• Address staff training needs to further develop quality of care.
• Develop policies for care and management at the home.

Apologies that this update is delayed but we wanted to report on the visit of some young "Powerpackers" to Thailand.

When we were involved with Powerpack at Kingdom Faith during the Summer, we shared about the needs of the children at Hoay Maw.

We were approached by a family who were due to visit Thailand in the following weeks and we arranged to meet up and to take them to visit Hoay Maw for themselves.

Nathan (who had been in Powerpack), with sister Chloe, Mum Patsy and Aunt Jeanette, joined us on our trip.

Jeanette and Patsy had been brought up in Nepal where Jeanette and her husband now work, so the family had a background in mission.

We set off on Tues 26th August in a borrowed minibus first stop the Charin Garden Restaurant, a.k.a. "The Pie Shop". This is a favourite half-way stopping point where we especially like to take guests. They serve very nice Thai food as well as delicious pies in a very pretty and peaceful setting beside a flowing river.

We continued on to Mae Sai taking a slight detour to stop at a view point in the Golden Triangle where the borders of three countries, Burma, Thailand and Laos, meet.

Jeanette, Nathan, Adrian, Niti,
Patsy & Chloe at the Pie Shop
"Golden Triangle"

We received a phone call from Esther at Hope for Life to say that the children were home from school so went on directly to do an activity and worship time with the children.

The children were all specially dressed in their traditional Akha costumes and looked very beautiful.

As usual the children thoroughly enjoyed our simple activity which was to use coloured tissue paper to make a creation picture. First we went through the 7 days of creation and gave them some ideas for their pictures. Nathan and Chloe did a brilliant job joining in with the children and demonstrating different "tissue-techniques".

Eventually we had to persuade the children to finish and to put their wonderful pictures together in a gallery.

Then we had a worship time where they wanted to sing some songs that we had taught them previously. Their main language is Akha but they go to Thai school and speak thai quite well. We have translated some simple songs into Thai and so we sang the Thai versions of "Father God created the world" by Ishmael, "Lord Jesus, I'm here to Worship You" by Jenny, and "Holy Spirit Come" a Powerpack song.

Chloe and Nathan did a great job of leading the actions.

Creation gallery
"Praabidaa Songsang Jakawan"
"Father God Created the World"

After that, the children blessed us by singing one of their songs which we tried our best to join in with (mainly the actions).

That evening we enjoyed a lovely meal at our favourite Thai restaurant situated in a garage compound. Chloe and Nathan practised their chop-stick technique (not really Thai - more Chinese) as well as having an impromptu Thai language lesson benefiting from the expertise of Ajaarn Alien (aka Adrian).

Chloe Gin Khao
Chloe eats rice
Nathan khit aroy khrap!
Nathan thinks it's delicious!

The next morning Adrian, Jenny and Patsy got up early to go to the market to buy provisions for Hoay Maw.

Patsy with the Dragon fruit
Leaving the resort

We arrived at Hoay Maw late morning and delivered the supplies. We were able to see the mosquito nets that had been installed on each of the children's beds.

Kitchen inspection
broken plates
bathroom
bedroom

At lunchtime we enjoyed the food and hospitality of Joseph's family. Nathan and Chloe asked Joeseph some questions about the children.

After lunch we were able to see the significant progress that they had made with the agricultural projects.

Nathan and Chloe particularly enjoyed inspecting the pigs.

Little Piggies
and mushrooms

We stayed long enough for the children to return from home and so Chloe and Nathan were able to meet them and kindly gave them their football to keep.

Next summer at Powerpack at Kingdom Faith, we will be able report about how the £260 raised at Powerpack has helped the Hoay Maw children to attend school. If Nathan is in Powerpack again then it will be great if he can give a personal report of his Powerpacker visit to Hoay Maw.

“We are thinking about starting a jumping food business.”I laughed and laughed when I heard this from our military Christian leaders at Unit 51 and 14. We had been discussing creative ideas for micro businesses when they told me about their idea for a frog farm. One of my goals while I was in Cambodia this time was to connect with the three community leaders we have been Sandra Bradleynoreply@blogger.com0

On Wednesday 27th August the Olivers and Niti made our first visit to Hoay Maw following the Summer break.

As we neared Hoay Maw, I wondered how we would find things.

I felt a whispered reassurance - “You don't have to worry about a thing.”

On arrival it was good to be greeted by Paul and Rattanapon as well as Pastor Joseph and his wife. We had brought hygiene and grocery supplies and so delivered them to the home. They welcomed these as food supplies were short. We also took used clothes donated by friends at Grace International School. Paul began to show us around.

Mosquito Nets:

Money had been raised to supply each child with an individual mosquito nets. Contributions came from St Margaret's School year 3 and from a coffee morning in Cirencester. Malaria and Dengue are real threats in the region and so it is excellent that the nets have been purchased and installed successfully.

Fish Pond Plan:

Proposed location for pond

Having taken Paul to visit the fish farm near Chiang Mai, we had heard that he was eager to move forward with plans to establish a fish pond at Hoay Maw. We were pleased that Paul had been able to approach World Vision for help. A site has been identified and a budget drawn up. The total cost will be ~£1300/$2600, 70% of which will be funded by World Vision. This equates to the building of the pond. A further 30% (~£400/$800) needs to be raised which equates to the stocking and 4 months feeding to raise a batch of 30,000 fish.

In the future there is potential to sell some of the fish (~1/3) in order to cover costs for raising the next batch. The primary value will be in providing regular nutritious food for the children as well as some income generation potential.

Crops & Vegetables:

Paul then led us on to see developments with crops and vegetables. They had been able to receive advice and training from a retired, Taiwanese agriculturalist. The agricultural area now has a screen boundary for shade and protection from animals.

Brush made from Japanese plant

A trial crop of a Japanese plant is being tested. If successful then they may be able to grow more for export to Japan. They would also invite local villagers to come to the centre to learn how to grow the crop in order to pass on vocational skills to the community as well as increase volumes co-operatively.

Long beans
Cucumbers

They have planted new crops of long beans and cucumbers that are producing well. They also have further planting of sweet potatoes. The pigs eat the over-ground foliage and the children eat the root vegetables. The mushrooms are still producing. Old mushroom compost and pig-pen litter is being used as fertilizer. The children have also been given training and are participating in the agricultural projects.

Pigs:

Nathan and Chloe (from Powerpack)
check out the 6 new piglets

The small mother pig has produced a litter of 6 new piglets. Paul has arranged for the iron frame to be made and installed for the large mother pig. The large mother has not yet become pregnant again and they are going to try giving her hormones. The original piglets are continuing to grow. We are providing money for nutrient food from Links Christmas Gifts.

Finances:

Rattanapon has continued to maintain excellent accounts which have been audited to date by Niti. We have been blessed that Open Hands have been able to provide ~30,000 baht per quarter in addition to the cover of half of the staff wages. This approximately covers the market bill although with the money arriving at the end of the quarter, they tend to be 2 months in arrears at that point. If we could inject 20,000 baht (~£320/$640), this would enable them to avoid any period of arrears. Bottom line is that it is an excellent achievement that finances are being controlled and not sliding indefinitely.

The other half of the staff wages comes from an individual supporter. We thank God for this provision which enables funding of the staff. Without this, none of the development of projects or child care at Hoay Maw would have been possible.

Family Groups:

Paul reported that he is very pleased with the family groups and that they continue to be an avenue for delivering more personal care to the children as well as for equipping the older teenagers with leadership/parenting skills.

Computers:

We are very grateful to have received 3 computers for Hoay Maw that have been 'retired' from Grace International School. The intention is that these will be used for educational support for the older children. One of the computers may be used for administration on the site of the children's home.

The computers will be kept in the recently built extension to the dining area. Adrian will support the installation and set-up of these computers. Adrian is also working on enabling internet access for Paul via mobile phone so that we can email between Paul and Niti. We have liaised with the Singapore team who will be visiting Hoay Maw in December from Living Spring Fellowship and they have agreed that they can do some basic computer training at that time.

Summary:

We are extremely encouraged by the level of progress that has been made. We thank God and we thank all who have prayed, encouraged, and contributed in any way.

Future:

It was true. There was no need to worry about a thing. Hoay Maw is in safe hands. Those of a loving Father God, and of His capable servants - Paul and Rattanapon and their staff.

With the major improvements made in areas of organisation, accountability, initiative and care, we feel that it is now appropriate to encourage some further support at the same time as continuing with the emphasis on self-responsibility.

Some people have expressed a desire to support costs on a per child basis e.g. £15/$30 per month. We are also considering encouraging individuals, church, youth, children's, cell or school groups to consider supporting educational, hygiene or project costs.

We value the opportunity to build connections where people have a heart to get involved.

I lift my eyes up to the mountains,
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from You,
Maker of heaven and earth.

(View on the way home)

During our Summer UK visit we were able to share with the two year 3 classes and a year 5 class at St Margaret's C. of E. Primary school . The children at St Margaret's noticed many differences between their own lives and those of the children at Hoay Maw.

A particular need that we highlighted was to provide mosquito nets to cover the bed of each child.

It was a blessing that the year 3 teachers and children wanted to help in some way and decided to contribute money towards the mosquito nets instead of the customary end of year gifts.

£65 was donated and together with £50 raised at a coffee morning by some friends and supporters in Cirencester, every child now has their own mosquito net over their bed.

This is extremely important for the children as Malaria and Dengue warnings have been issued in the region. These are serious illnesses transmitted by mosquitoes. When the children are asleep, they are very vulnerable to being bitten.

On Weds 27th Aug, the Olivers visited Hoay Maw and were able to see the newly installed colourful mosquito nets.

Thank you St Margaret's year 3 and our friends in Cirencester for this gift to the children at Hoay Maw.

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Last week, our family attended Kingdom Faith, a Christian church conference, in Peterborough where we helped out with the Powerpack children groups.

Jenny, Adrian, Tom and Jessica (part time) helped with the 7 to 9 year olds in "Powerpack", while David helped with the 5 to 6 year olds in "Livewires".

This year's Powerpack mission focus was the orphanage in Hoay Maw - in particular, the educational needs of the 77 children.

During the week, Adrian and Jenny presented to the "Powerpack" group about the Hoay Maw children's home, with particular attention to the children's education, as we were wanting to raise money to help the orphans attend school.

• Monday - introduction to Hoay Maw
• Tuesday - about the facilities and where the children come from
• Wednesday - pigs and vegetables
• Thursday - schooling
• Friday - summary

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At the end of the week, the children and their families raises £268.03, which will go towards the educational costs of the children. Exact details of how the money will be spend will be published later.

Thank you!

We are also starting up a sponsorship programme for the children of Hoay Maw to cover the ongoing costs of the children - more details to follow (to include sponsoring the cost of a child's toothpaste...)

Adrian

On 13-18 August 2007 ; There was bible training class at Sattahip( Eastern region of Thailand.) Scott fletcher and me, we served as the subject : Understanding into God's love. There were around 15 church member studied in this class. We had bible studied 3 night (av. 2 hours /night) on 14-16 night. God used Scott to pray for the leader and Holy Spirit anointed over them. They received the phophecy from God through their life. Some one has been fallen on the floor by anointing. I believe this class may be the right way for developing our people and has been growing up in christianity life. People wants us to train them again. They are really eager to go further in christ. Our church is going to grow with strong foundation. God sent new people to our church,we 've regular member around 20 person now. Please pray for us,we needed your pray very much. In GOD we trust, C.Niti

On June 3o,2007 : I went to the living word center church at Sattahip. There were 2 women came to church and they'd received the salvation. One lady had been touched by the Holy spirit while she listen the worship songs at church. she cried and needed to know why Jesus was crucifixed on the cross.
Therefore I shared to her how GOD loves her. Thus she decided to receive the salvation and said that Jesus is her Lord.

Please pray for those lady. Tip is in black blouses , Su is in white t-shirt ;they 're older sister and young sister. Tip is older sister.

C.Niti

On May 15,2007 : Our brethren from the living word center , Sattahip visited Chiangmai. They had come to join the leader conference which provided by todd power ministries. We had the conference at COC. ( Christian Outreach Center) " GOD is so good all the time." they said.C.Niti

This photos shown about the construction of the roof behind boy house. C.Niti

On June 10,2007 : Joseph children home , Huey mor villege , Doi Mae salong , chiangrai.The children home has 2 mother pigs. The big mother pig above this article has pregnance. She'll give new birth for piglets as soon. We hope it will become good pork for children at homes.C. Niti

On June 9,2007 : I went to Mae sai and teaching at the bible school. The subject is " The religions comparation. " This subject will open view about another beliefs, it 's helpful for christian evangelise to unbeliever. The content of lesson is religion meaning , religion functional, Islamic , Buddishism , chatholic, singhism, Hinduism. I know it doesn't easy for them but it's good to chew hard food sometimes. C.Niti

Thus, I taught the small group of children at my house. Most of the children,they had been never heard about Jesus. But nowsdays ! They know Jesus by this ministry. I open my house for Basic English teaching. They are children in the fresh market. I taught them English , worshipping, words of GOD to them while the parent work in the fresh market. They are lovely children. Please pray for this children because the school is open,they go to school and come back in the evening. I quited this service for a while. Let GOD show me wisdom and how is going on.

Reported by : C.Niti

The book of Enavald was handed thru Pastor Solomon in Chiang rai. A pioneer God own heart : the encourage book for a pioneer, it's so good for every bold christian who followed them calling. Pastor Solomon is a pastor at Chiang Saen, a small district in Chiang rai. He was so happy with the books. He related with a minority group called "Wa people." He thought the books may open eyes and give the vision to Wa people who read Thais. Reported by : C.Niti