Children's Homes

In October, Nick Jackson of Powerpack encouraged us to propose the Hoay Maw children's home as the offering project for the children's groups at Spring Harvest 2009. We were excited by the idea and so we submitted a proposal and prayed.

Our proposal included a DVD containing testimonies of some of the children and some videos that we had already prepared:

Powerpack's Heather Thompson in Thailand

After some busy months we were enjoying a visit from Heather Thompson of Powerpack. We had an amazing time doing children's ministry training and children's conferences. We saw God moving powerfully among leaders and children alike. See Powerpack diaries We had just taken Heather to visit Hoay Maw. Heather had remarked on the progress that had been made since her visit the previous year. We commented to Heather that what would really help, would be an injection of funds to help raise the standard of the quality of the home e.g. if Hoay Maw could be chosen as the Spring Harvest children's offering project! We sent up a silent prayer.

We drove back down the mountain to stay the night in Mae Sai and began preparing for the next day's training. We were all in a room practising drama and puppets when an email arrived from Nick with the good news that Hoay Maw had been selected as the Spring Harvest offering project.

We were overjoyed and praised God!

Our Friend Agnes

Then came the challenge of how to produce good quality video stories. We prayed about whom we might be able to ask for advice and help. When back in Chiang Mai, I emailed our good friend Agnes in Singapore. Agnes had been involved in media during her career. Agnes had recently visited us and helped us organise the Christmas "Blessings in a Bag for Hoay Maw.

Agnes was quite busy but spoke to her friend, Vairam, a video professional, about the project. Vairam has his own business called MediaCom. We were totally amazed at God's provision when we received an email from Agnes saying that she would pay for Vairam's flight from Singapore to Chiang Mai, and Vairam would give his time and skills in exchange for "some food and a mat on the floor"!

Video Vairam

After a few skype calls with Vairam, the plans were set in place. Although we didn't know each other, it was truly amazing how we were able to quickly plan and work together. Vairam visited for 5 days. We had prepared a script to link in with the Spring Harvest daily themes. Our two boys, Tom and David, had school commitments and so they stayed in Chiang Mai with friends, whilst our daughter, Jessica, obtained permission to miss a day of school to join us and help narrate and present the videos.

Newcomers

When we arrived at Hoay Maw we found that two new children had arrived. They were a brother and sister aged 5 and 3. They looked nervous as we tried to make friends with them. You can see them feature in Spring Harvest videos. It was a blessing to see the children begin to relax and smile as other children from Hoay Maw befriended them and helped them begin to settle in.

Filming

At end of Thai school, we went over to the school to film the children there. After that, we filmed the children in Chinese school. In the evening we filmed the children in the Church and then doing homework.

We explained to the children about Spring Harvest and they were very interested and excited to help make the videos.

The next day was a full one, trying to make sure that we captured all of the filming that we needed. By getting up early, we managed to film quite a few sequences as the children were gathering wood, collecting eggs and working in the vegetable farm.

The filming for the "Living at Hoay Maw" story included sequences with Jessica presenting to camera with the girls in the bedroom, clothes area, and bathroom.

Oranuk is the girl who Jessica asks to show her around. Although the two girls could not understand each other's language, they did a great job interacting together.

The children at Hoay Maw had a lot fun in the filming, especially as we shot sequences of them waving and sending greetings to Spring Harvest.

We tried to make the filming as natural as possible and were able to get the majority of the filming as the children were genuinely involved in the various tasks.

Mission Accomplished

On Saturday evening, we set off back to Chiang Mai. Vairam stayed a further 3 days to help us begin putting the videos together. We know that we couldn't possibly have achieved such a good quality without Vairam's expertise and so we thank God for that gift and we thank Agnes and Vairam for their part.

Jenny and Adrian finished the editing including selecting music, recording Jessica's voice-over and mixing the sound.

We wanted to use the music "Call to Freedom" by Terl Bryant with Psalm Drummers. We were able to contact Terl and were delighted that he gave us permission to use the track. We love the heartbeat of the music.

Through working on the videos, it showed us how much the children and staff at Hoay Maw have achieved. When we first visited everything looked so poor and helpless. They were hopelessly under-resourced. The children had been eating only rice for months on end. We actually thought that maybe the best thing would have been to try and close the home. There have been many challenges and it was a long process to begin to encourage Hoay Maw to start to take responsibility for themselves and to be faithful stewards of the very little that they have. They have been faithful in the small, and now they are being blessed with more.

We actually felt that the children at Hoay Maw have a great deal to teach the children in the West - perhaps there is potential for a schools program!

We hope that the children at Spring Harvest will really enjoy getting to know the children at Hoay Maw and that they will realise that they can be Nation Shakers! That by praying and giving they can make a real difference in the lives of the children at Hoay Maw.

Thank you Spring Harvest, God Bless you - Bye!

Friends of Hoay Maw

Submitted by jennyol on Sun, 2009-02-22 11:58

We are so grateful to all the friends of Hoay Maw who have supported in so many ways.

This is Robert and Alex who did a 10 mile sponsored run in support of Hoay Maw and raised £300.

Robert is a member of Ron and Dot Bennett's cell group who have also encouraged and supported us regularly.

This is Chris and Sue Moss's cell group at their Christmas meal. The group donated £300 in order for the drinking water tanks to be serviced. They have not been attended to in nearly 20 years and so this is an important step in order to protect the children's health.

Jill Woodcock, a member of the group, came to visit us this January. Jill came up to Hoay Maw and inspected the old tanks.

This is the same group that supported the mending and painting of the dining benches and tables.

Thank you everyone
on behalf of the children and staff at Hoay Maw

Car-Super-Sizing

Submitted by adrianol on Wed, 2008-11-19 16:55

We have finally done it! We have joined the Thai vehicle super-sizing club

No - the above were not us...

We needed to get some 88 blankets up to the children at Hoay Maw childrens Home as quickly as possible due to the arrival of the cold weather. And not wanting to be defeated by a minor space issue, we followed the Thai technique...now if we were really Thai, we could have got another 100 blankets onboard, and Jenny, Rosie and Niti would have travelled on the top...maybe another time... As it was, Jenny and Rosie were pretty squashed...

Needless to say, the children were delighted!

Cold Weather....

Submitted by adrianol on Sun, 2008-11-16 20:52

Last Sunday, the weather changes from the "wet" season to the "dry" season...

We have been wondering when this change would happen - it was a long time coming. The hot wet season has lasted a lot longer than usual.

PocketWeather provided a bit of insight...

My device has been monitoring the World Ocean Temperatures and snap-shooting the images each day. From that, I was able to put together the above animation, which runs from the beginning of October 2008 until Mid November.

From the animation, you can see that the Bay of Bengal suddenly gets warm - my guess, offsetting the attempts of the land to cool. Then early November, the Bay of Bengal changes again - immediately afterwards, the weather in Northern Thailand changes.

So with this cold weather, we have been having to kit ourselves out with warmer cloths.

Reason - we are off to the mountains on Monday and Tuesday to stay at Hoay Maw. Reports say that the temperature is getting as low as 5'C at night. And they have no heating...

On the way up, we will be stopping off at MaeSai to purchase some 80 warm blankets for the children of Hoay Maw

Adrian