“Where is everyone?” I asked the 5 grade 9 students who came to class on Wednesday. “They not come.” “Really? Who told them this trip was an option?” I asked them. Wednesday was the day that all the Jr. High were to go to a day shelter in the slums of Bangkok to give them all the money we collected from our students speaking Thai. Out of 23 Grade 9 students in my class, only 9 came. Man, I was so disappointed, frustrated, and a little angry. I really wanted my kids to experience a part of Thailand and life that they usually don’t see and most of them punted to play video games and sleep in.
I cancelled the big bus we had rented as it seemed frivolous for 14 people (add my 4 grade 10 students who all came) to rent a 40 passenger bus when a 15 passenger school van could take us for free. The grade 7 and 8 students went to the shelter for the morning shift to play with the kids and then we were to follow in the afternoon as the shelter was too small for the 63 of us to come at the same time. So it was decided that I would take the grade 9 and 10’s to Big C in the morning to buy adult and child pampers, rice, and baby formula as per the shelter. It was fun to give each group of kids 1000 baht and send them off on a spree to spend as much of the 1000 baht as they could! 1 team spent all but 12 baht, the others went over by a couple of baht and paid the extra. It was cool! I then bought them all fruit shakes at Oot’s before we headed off in the 12 passenger van…oops! We were cramped like my legs after a soccer game with little AC and lots of big sweaty students!
The shelter is 12 years old and is open in the day time for kids and adults with disabilities where they teach the people about the Bible as well as how to make crafts for sale. It gives them a sense of worth in society as well as giving them truth of the Word. The kids were all sleeping when we arrived so we watched the adults paint and do bead work for a bit and then took a tour of the slums. Man, I have to tell you, it was eye opening! It was a maze of 1 room houses stacked on top of each other with only a narrow walkway in between that was lined in garbage and beer bottles. Kids ran around with no shoes, the windows and doors were just holes in the walls, and the houses/rooms themselves were filled with junk save for a TV. We decided that when these people got money the first thing they bought in this claustrophobic setting was something to open up their world! Wow!
We ended where a fire took 300 houses the week before. I could still smell the smoldering black ashes and wood. The place was leveled with garbage everywhere! Man, it was intense. All the displaced families now lived under a traffic bridge awaiting their houses to be rebuilt by the government and private companies.
We returned home and had a briefing session of what we saw and experienced. They were thankful for where they lived and for what they had and were glad that their money went to help those people. They were really intimidated by the down syndrome people even though all these sweet people smiled and said hello with such joy they could melt your heart! The earlier group thrived playing with the kids and were so happy to share time with them they bubbled over telling their stories, it was fantastic to hear their take on the whole experience. And what about those that skipped out? They now have to come up with their own service project to help the underprivileged and actually seemed excited about it! Im so thankful for that!
Last night I went back to downtown Bangkok to one of the many upscale malls to see a movie. When we went to buy the ticket we found out that only first class tickets were available…650 baht. My roommate said she’d pay for half of mine as a shower present when I balked. We went to the lounge and sat in free massaging chairs and then were placed in our leather lazy boy reclining chairs and were presented with a blanket and pillow when the movie started. Eegads, I can’t tell you how much I felt like poo as I thought about how far that money would go for those I had met just a few days before. God forgive me for my extravagant spending. I pray that my time and money will be spent in a way that glorifies His kingdom and not my own frivolous desires. Funny how lessons learned one day can be quickly forgotten by a good nights sleep.