Wow… so ok, I’m back from being in Thailand for a month. It was an incredible experience, on many levels, and I’m going to try to sum it up nicely for those of you who have expressed interest in how it all went. I’ll put the experience in sections, but I’ll resist the urge to color-code it LOL.

MISSIONS CONFERENCE – a.k.a. 10 hours with 4 yr olds every day! June 8th-June 18th

I gotta tell you, though this was the “official” reason I went to Thailand, I wasn’t expecting it to be as fulfilling as the trafficking relief work. God proved otherwise… I had the great opportunity to love 8 four yr-olds for a week. I always thought I enjoyed little babies the most, but forming friendships with these curious, say-what-they-think little ones was so rewarding. Their parents are all missionaries in Southeast Asia. Most of them had lived abroad for longer than they’ve been on American soil. Harry, an adorable little cuddle bug took an immediate liking to me (his mom said he has a thing for curly haired ladies) LOL. He would see me in the cafeteria before class and smack me on the back of the leg. I grew to recognize this little love pat as a “turn around and hug me, silly!” To which, I would pick him up, find out where his family was sitting, and join them for breakfast. It was wonderful getting to know this family of 6. I have been extended an invitation to come and live with them, help home school, and minister in their village in northern Thailand anytime I’d like. It’s very tempting to go back and do just that! One day, we were looking at an aquarium, and Harry saw an orange sea anemone. He was amazed by it, and we decided it needed a name. He thought about it, and decided that “celery” should be its name. Celery it was! He proceeded to find every person he could to come by and see this amazing creature. We must have showed it to 15 people. Emily, a soft-spoken teeny little girl with the most precious voice, by the end of the week considered me her best bud. She didn’t want me to leave her side even for a moment – “I want go WITH you” was her favorite thing to say. (I of course, melted and gave in every time – when I have kids of my own, I’m going to have to buck up). She got a painful ear infection that week. She was crying uncontrollably on her side until I came in and started rubbing her back… her crying turned to pitiful whimpers and she fell asleep. I felt more like a mom at that moment than I ever have. Katie was a sweet girl who loved to dress up in our princess gear and had a heart of gold. I observed her sharing, offering to be the “caboose” in line when Micah started crying b/c he wanted to be the engine, etc. She loved to know that she had done the right thing, and didn’t hesitate to ask me if she did a good job if she was concerned that perhaps I didn’t notice her recent act of kindness. It was so adorable. Micah, who appeared at first to be only concerned with working things out to be in his favor, ended up being quite the softie. One day in naptime, when he really didn’t want to sleep, he kept asking to get up. I had given him a hug this last time and said that I understood he didn’t really want to sleep, and he didn’t have to, but he needed to lay down and be still so the others could. About 5 minutes later, I hear a tiny “miss Kelly!” I resisted my initial urge to rebuke him, instead saying a simple “yes, Micah?” He said “I love you VERY much.” Ok, so after that, saying I love you to me became a daily thing. He was so sweet.

The parents got to enjoy a week of worship, prayer, and fellowship with other English-speaking Christians (they are typically isolated from practically any believers, and many of them live in closed countries). Knowing that their children were being lovingly cared for in VBS during the day was a blessing bigger than I realized. I’m so glad to have been a part of it!

ABBA HOUSE – June 18th-June 25th – a week with girls at risk!

David and Joyce Moore started the Abba House 5 years ago –they are two independent missionaries who spent their retirement money to start a home to shelter girls at risk for being trafficked into the sex industry. There are currently 32 girls housed there, and they all are receiving education (the Thai government only covers education until the 6th grade.) After that, they have to pay, and many of them cannot. If they do not continue their education - especially girls from the hill tribes - they have virtually no hope for a real future, and many either are lured into the sex industry because they have no other options, or are forced into it by a stranger. I coordinated a visit here since I would already be in Thailand. Child trafficking has been an issue on my heart for about 6 years and it was a fulfillment of a dream to live among these girls for a week.

THE SEX INDUSTRY
A booming industry in Thailand, one that the government overlooks b/c it brings in tourism, is fueled by poverty, lack of education, and apparently is mostly run by the Thai and Russian mafias. Girls are kidnapped as young as 7 years old and “seasoned” for 2 years by being placed in a small room with no windows and forced to service 10-20 men a day. After this, they are allowed to work alongside other girls in brothels. Even if they had an opportunity to escape, most would not because they have been told that their families will be killed if they do. It’s a sickening thought... that these innocent girls would have their lives stripped away from them by greedy pimps. Now you may be thinking that this is happening in a far-away country and you can’t feel a connection to it. Consider now that over 25% of the customers of these brothels are from America. Only in the last 5 years or so has it been illegal to go overseas for sex tourism.

KIDNAPPED AND RAPED - I was asking Joyce about the girls here... many of you already heard the story of the one girl who was taken from her home in one of the hill tribe villages forcefully, raped all weekend by this stranger in his hut, and escaped. She is now the criminal b/c by doing this, the man had taken her as his wife and she had left her husband. When this girl’s father came home after she had been taken and found out his wife had not even gotten a chicken or a pig in exchange for her, he beat her and broke her leg!! Joyce and David rescued this girl last year. What this man did is very common in these tribes – women are considered property, and can just be taken and raped by someone who finds a liking with them. Women are not expected to have any enjoyment in marital sex – it’s all about the man.

TEMPLE ABUSE - 9 of the girls here were rescued from a Buddhist temple last spring. Apparently, monks here are not always celibate as they promise to be. They do 2-year "contracts" and they can leave when their contract expires, or renew it. They are almost always recruited from poor families, so it’s not a choice like I would have assumed. Therefore, there is more corruption in the temples than we might imagine b/c their hearts aren’t really in it. 65 girls were being housed in this one temple in a stinky, dirty room. They were not given soap or any way to wash their clothes or sheets. They were not fed enough… Joyce found out about them through a radio broadcast that the monks sent out saying that the government had not given them enough money to take care of these girls and they needed people to come and adopt them. When Joyce got there to take them, the monks resisted... turns out they did the broadcast only to shame the government into giving them money. The girls were there because the monks had promised their parents to give them an education (which they were not getting – they were only being taught Buddhist chants, etc). It is common to have girls and boys homes in temples, apparently. Joyce made away with 11 of them, but the temple threatened to sue the Abba House if she did not give 2 of them back. Joyce said they were the two prettiest girls. Joyce had witnessed first-hand the horrible conditions in that room, but she told me that the girls would not speak of what happened to them there at all... we can only imagine the worst.

ORPHANED BY MURDER - 5 of the girls here are true orphans. Wai, the oldest one (now 22), was very young when a man murdered her parents and sister. Apparently, he had left his pig with her family while he went on a trip. The pig escaped or something and when the man returned and found out, he killed 3 of her family members. She has 2 brothers who she hasn’t seen since. It’s not safe for her to return to the village. She is safe at the Abba House.

SUICIDAL PROSTITUTE - The two latest ones came the day before I arrived. One is a mother (Meo) who is a prostitute who took rat poison to try to kill herself. She was planning to kill her daughter too, (Dali -12 yrs old) but she starting convulsing too early to give it to her. She was throwing up blood still, the day I arrived. She continued to improve during the week I was there, and we are hoping she hasn't done permanent damage to her body. She's about 60 pounds - Apparently most prostitutes are anorexic in order to make more money. The smaller and younger they look, the better they do. This woman is absolutely beautiful in the face... she prayed to receive Christ in the hospital with Joyce. Now she and her daughter are living at the Abba House, and the changes I saw in her in just a week were astounding. She asked me if I could do a portrait of her and her daughter. I finished it just an hour before I had to leave. It was such a privilege to be able to give her something that celebrated her and her daughter’s life, considering that they were both hanging in the balance just a week before.

DAUGHTERS OF PROSTITUTES - Several of the girls’ mothers are prostitutes in Bangkok. One girl’s mother let the Abba House take her, but has tried since to convince her daughter to come work in a bar that she works in. Prostitution is largely passed down from mother to daughter in this country, so keeping the girls as far removed from that as possible is a huge deal.

HIV RISK - With the girls there who have been raped already, there is a chance that some of them have HIV. The neighbors in the area are trying to get the Abba House shut down or moved because they aren’t educated well enough to know that they can’t “catch” it from being near to it. The home was empty for 5 years prior to the Abba House, because the neighbors had run off the founders of a home for HIV babies for the same reason. It is nearby now, and I was actually able to visit it and spend some time with the adorable children there. Joyce is already preparing for the quite-probable eviction, and has already purchased land for a new home. She can only continue building as money comes in, so it may be a slow process.

MY ROLE AT THE ABBA HOUSE – How much can one person do in a week, really? But I wanted to see firsthand what was going on here, and I’m so glad I did. I was able to meet these girls, form relationships with them, and hear their stories. I helped them with English lessons and played volleyball with them (they are really good!). I started doing portraits of them the first day I arrived, and was able to complete about 20 of them before leaving. That was really cool – being able to give them something personal. I also was able to purchase them their own pocket English-Thai dictionaries, with the help of several friends here in the states. They only had 3 dictionaries to share among 32 girls, and learning English is paramount to getting any kind of good job in Thailand. They have English class at school, but it’s far different from having real conversations with a native speaker. It was fun teaching and learning from them. 3 of the girls had birthdays this month, so Joyce asked me if I’d like to bake cakes for them. Um, me bake? Silly question. It was great because the girls don’t get sweets often. I made 2 chocolate cakes and one plate of brownies. “Aroy mahk” is the Thai phrase for “it’s very delicious”  I was “Kerry” to most of them. ‘L’s are hard for them to pronounce. Heheee! I was given the opportunity to give my testimony during one of the two worship services they had during the week. The house manager, Sang La translated it, and I hope it was meaningful to them. Most of them have accepted Christ and are growing daily in their walks with Him. It was so amazing to stand with them as they worshipped in their own language. Joyce and David are concerned foremost with their salvation. Many of the girls want to become missionaries!! It was tough leaving them… I had grown close to several of them, Cream, Fah, and Ying begged me to come back someday. I’d like to.

HOW YOU CAN HELP – Volunteers are encouraged to come for any amount of time! You can stay virtually for free at the guesthouse next door, or stay as I did with the girls in the Abba House. You’ll get the opportunity to do activities with them or alone such as an elephant riding tour, swimming at this beautiful local pool (seriously one of the most beautiful pools I’ve ever seen, but I didn’t swim). You can also go in the afternoons to volunteer at the HIV children’s home. David and Joyce were not affiliated with a denomination in the states, so they’ve found it extremely difficult to receive funding from churches for their ministry. Many denominations will only support missionaries from their own denomination. If you’d like to support their non-profit ministry (tax-deductible), you may visit www.abbahousefoundation.com. I have seen firsthand the things money goes to.

TRAVEL AND SITESEEING – June 26th-July 2nd

CHIANG MAI – These are things I did while still in Chiang Mai – while I was still with our initial group from the church. We went to an elephant camp, where we saw a show and got to ride the beautiful beasts. They are quite funny and quite smart! They “played soccer” and painted (yes, REPRESENTATIONAL paintings – amazing!!). I have video of them doing this. Riding them was so fun. Later, I went to a monkey training school and watched them do all sorts of things like ride tricycles, pick coconuts off of the trees, etc. We also went to several temples and heard some monks chanting. The temples are beautiful, but it saddened me to see them and all of the people so dedicated to Buddha… it felt really empty and sad to see them. The night market in Chiang Mai was really great, too. There were musicians there playing beautifully – just on the side of the street. There were all sorts of crazy foods, like a whole stand that had various fried bugs. EW.

KO PHANGAN - I spent my last week seeing some other parts of Thailand and part of China (briefly). First was a long day of travel to a southern island, Ko Phangan. It is beautiful – takes about 2 hours to drive around its perimeter on a moped, though it’s not recommended, as parts of the road aren’t safe. I did do the safe part on a moped. There are waterfalls, a national park, and beaches. Lots of little restaurants run by families who live underneath. So quaint! The food is ridiculously fresh, and I had a nice time of relaxing after several weeks of a strenuous schedule. Mango is my new favorite fruit. Hammocks are my new best friends.

BANGKOK – A far cry from the peaceful island, Bangkok is a bustling city that doesn’t sleep (except for the roosters, but they get up a way early LOL). I did stay in a great, quaint little place called the Shanti Lodge. They had greenery and ambiance that make their visitors feel like they are somewhere serene. I only had 2 days here, so I felt the pressure to pack as much in as I could. First was going to the famous “Floating Market,” a unique experience that I can only describe as feeling like I was in the Venice of Thailand, but more crowded, and the gondolas are filled with food and items for sale. It was really cool. You go through these canals and little old Thai ladies and men have fresh fruits and food for sale right from their boat! Along the banks, people have permanent shops set up and you can purchase things as you float by. I have pictures. After that, I visited the 30-acre weekend market that is the biggest in Thailand. There are over 8,000 vendors, and yes – it’s overwhelming. In 4 hours, I visited only parts of 3 out of the 7 main sections. They sell everything from flying squirrels to home décor, to food, to clothes and handmade items. Amazing! And everything is super-cheap – like in all of Thailand. At night, my friend and I visited the two most famous red-light districts. It was safe since I wasn’t alone, but my heart was sickened at the things going on there… if you’re interested, ask me for more details, but I’d rather not put them here. I went because I wanted to see firsthand the things that the girls at the Abba House were either taken from or saved from. It made me appreciate the work being done there even more.

HONG KONG – This leg of the trip was a convenient 16 hr layover on my way home. I only got the chance to eat some authentic Chinese food and stroll through one of their outdoor markets. Oh, and walk along the main waterfront at night to see the amazing, huge buildings all lit up. It reminded me of the Brooklyn Bridge of NYC at night, but even more beautiful. Hong Kong is an amazing place, big, but easy to get around in, clean and stunning. If I hadn’t been so ready for home by then, I would have enjoyed seeing more in the daylight hours.