Frog Farming

 After the English Camps in the South, another house we visited was that of another 14 year old, year 8 girl.  This girl had tidied her house and prepared food for us to eat.  Her mother was out working, her father had died some years earlier, so she hosted us by herself.'

She took us on a tour of her family business, a frog farm in the back yard.  I have truly never seen so many frogs in one place before.  There were literally thousands of them!  All separated into tanks according to their maturity.  Eggs in one, tadpoles in another, right up to the large frogs ready to be sold to the local restaurants.  If the family kills and skins the frogs, preparing them for the restaurant, they can get about $5 a kilo for these frogs.  A good income for this small family.

Just Loving getting to know people!

Home visiting in the South

Our English Camps in the South of Thailand not only helped to develop the English skills of the students, but also connected us and our team more closely with the community.  After one of the English camps concluded, a couple of the students invited us all back to their houses to see a little more about the life styles of Southern Thais.  Sa, pictured above is a 14 year old, year 8 student.  One of 6 children in her family.  Her mother (above, left) works hard, selling tea and somtum to help support the family. Dad (right) builds bird cages.  Connecting with this family and listening to the challenges of raising 6 kids on very little income was eye opening.  They had recently been given a motorbike, which means that mum can now get all the kids to school in only 3 trips, but the challenge of feeding them and paying for their education remains.  Like all families they face the challenges of raising kids in a society that offers drugs and other temptations to the kids and the heart break of watching some of their kids making unwise decisions.  We were so delighted to meet this family and very impacted by their lives.  We know that the relationship that has begun between the family and our team will continue on.
 with all of our lives becoming richer.

English Camp in the South

In July Tim & Bronwyn  headed to the South of Thailand to work with the River Team Members who are establishing a work with the government there.

We began by running a 5 day English camp in one of the local government schools.  Once the teachers at that school became aware that we had some free time in the afternoon, they connected with another school and organised for us to run a camp there also.  So we soon had 2 simultaneous English camps running.






95% of the students in these schools are Muslim, 5% are Buddhist, all are gorgeous treasures.
These kids are growing up in an area where bombs explode regularly killing innocent by standers. Where apparently random targets are shot dead in the streets and where there is much uncertainty about their future.  With the boarders of surrounding nations likely to open in the coming years, English language is seen as a gateway to future employment and is sought after.

 Of course English lessons Perry style, are not quite like any English lessons that these kids have ever experienced before.  The good, solid, lessons are filled with fun, illusions, songs, activities and of course love and relationship building.

We were so touched and impacted by these kids and their lives that we would love to continue to work with them into the future, should the doors open for that.
 

Chiang Mai Youth Outreach July 2011

The sound coming out from the hall at the beginning of the 2 weeks was loud, wrong and aweful !! But by the end of those 2 weeks of rehearsals, it had the resemblance of music.
We had been given the opportunity to lead the praise and worship at a city churches Youth group rally/concert.  The local boys from our HangDong Youth group  whom we have been working with for some time now were contacted and the rehearsals began.


For the first few nights the hotel staff and our team graciously put up with the noise, but by the end, many people were coming in to the rehearsals and enjoying the music with us.
The night itself was a fantastic night. The band played so well, the energy level was
huge and our team led the way with passionate and enthusiastic praise and worship.

Students Impacted by Thailand

 A team of 22 students from Melbourne, most of whom had ever left Australia before, had the experience of their lives volunteering with us at The River Team for 10 days.
Sure, they also rode elephants and had an amazing tree top jungle adventure, not to mention market shopping at the night Bazaar, but almost everyone commented the most life changing part was getting away from the tourism and ministering to the kids of Thailand!


These students mixed with, ate dinner with and performed for the youth of Hang Dong.  They taught a 2 day English camp for over 100 students selected from 12 local  Primary schools, taught 60+ kids from an extremely remote hill tribe village (whilst having to endure living in some quite trying and primitive conditions) and taught at two high schools in a remote township. Below are some of their highlights.




Cultural exchange night with the Hang Dong Government and youth included traditional butterfly dances and knife dances.

 

Remote hill tribe school

Singing Heads shoulders knees and toes, and playing games to teach right, left forward and backward.  In this school the Australian students had to endure quite harsh conditions (compared to home), but the local kids live this way all the time.  The school teacher is the only person in the entire village to own a computer.  These children have never used a computer or seen TV.



City School


These young Australian students all sacrificed and saved to come and serve the children of Thailand and we greatly appreciate their efforts and diligent service.  But to a person, I think they would all agree, far greater than what they did in this nation through their 10 days here was what God did in each of their lives.  They all went home quite impacted and changed