community meeting.

A few weeks ago, two volunteers connected with Partners about water purification projects. They have a pretty amazing system they can put in to purify local water sources, and they are hoping to do a training here so that Partners can take the idea into other locations. As part of the training, they tested a variety of water sources, which included government-regulated tap water at the office, the purified water we purchase, our neighbors’ well, water from the Partners’ farm, and standing water on the side of the road.

The cleanest went to tap water. Which I suppose is good, but also important to note that the office is in a gated neighborhood and generally receives the best utilities available. Slightly disturbing that it wasn’t the purified water that we drink, due to ridiculously high chlorination levels. Lovely.

The worst water, though, went to our neighbors’ well. It had extremely high levels of E.coli in it, among other things, which might explain the high levels of sickness we encounter.

Either way, the two volunteers suggested they do a training in our neighborhood, where they could teach our neighbors and Partners’ staff alike, and ultimately provide them with a clean water system for drinking water.

Pretty amazing, right?

But we have to sort out if they want it, if they are willing to learn, and when the best time is.

Meanwhile, we are trying to sort out our plans for the future, and attempting to see what additional ways we could help the community. We’d like to invest further, but weren’t sure what they’d be interested in.

Add all of these things to this weeks’ current struggle of finding kids gambling outside our door, despite being told not to: we decided to have a community meeting.

I had told Mong Ey on Monday, and asked her to tell the adults.

We scheduled Stephen’s Burmese teacher to come translate, to ensure we were communicating accurately. My Karen is acceptable, but it is sometimes difficult to know if we communicated effectively. Our primary translator from Karen to Burmese is also very…opinionated. We were concerned she might do less translating and more convincing of everyone else. Thus, a translator was requested.

That brings me somewhere around 5:45pm on Wednesday. Stephen had run to the store to purchase cookies, which may or may not be used as a form of bribery; he should return any minute. Our translator, scheduled to arrive at 5:30pm, hadn’t arrived. I reminded Mong Ey just twenty minutes earlier; but the community looked entirely unfazed.

I wasn’t really sure if she hadn’t told anyone, or perhaps if they simply didn’t care?

As I looked out the window, I realized our goal of compiling a group of 20 to 50 adults across more than three languages with the time scale of “after dinner” was ambitious. I realized all the details that have to fall in place, the translations, the coordination. Even just the sheer desire to participate, to build relationships, and to see where this goes: it was a stretch.

We had been praying over this for weeks: for participation, for the translator, for wisdom in what to do next. We have been praying for when to start new projects and when to just be friends.

And I sat there in front of the window, I was just so nervous. Nervous that no one would come; that these relationships are one-sided and they simply want their kids out of their hair. Nervous that I care and they don’t.

But God is good. And more than that, I really believe he has been in this from the beginning. By 6:00pm, our community space was filled with twenty or thirty adults and few young children mixed in. I gave out some cookies outside to keep the kids and their loud voices in the street, and we had a little community meeting.

Stephen coordinated our discussion, talking about the water purification system first: Did they want it? Would they use it? What were their concerns? Would the help build it and maintain it?

Everyone was more than happy to have it and more than willing to help. Their main concern was having enough water in the well, as during dry season (which we are in the middle of) there sometimes is enough water for everyone to bathe, wash clothes, and cook with. The community is divided into two areas and each has their own well. In the end, I think we will start by building a water purification system at one well, where we can all be trained, learn, and build it together–though I’m fairly certain it won’t be as picturesque as I just made that sound, add some miscommunications, the sun, and rivers of sweat–and then re-create it at the second well in the other area of the community.

Everyone seemed to think this was a great idea, and we’re hopeful to have the first system up and running next week!

We also discussed our new car and told them how our friends, family, and church had purchased it for us! We told them we were more than happy to use it for medical needs and other things as well. We suggested a few ideas we had: if they needed to purchase bamboo or wood to repair their homes (sometimes we see them with huge bamboo poles on their bicycles, usually with a kid precariously perched somewhere); or perhaps we could take one person into the market with a list, where they could purchase vegetables at cheaper prices or in bulk. They loved the ideas, and we suggested they mention it to us the day or week before so times could be arranged.

We discussed gambling–that they are free to gamble in the street or at their own homes, but not here; we didn’t want it on our property–for legal purposes as well as our own preferences.

We also suggested an idea we’ve had for sometime: starting a rabbit farm. It seemed like a relatively easy, inexpensive way to provide meat to the neighbors as a community project. Among friends who have started them, they are always very successful, and the only challenge has been when communities have trouble eating the cute little guys. That said, we thought we should ask if they’d be interested, if we were able to start one in the coming year. They said it was a great idea, and one woman stood up to tell us she had some great recipes!

{Side note: This rabbit farm is unrelated to Kayak, which we recently purchased at a market for our own fun. He will be our pet for a little while, and perhaps he, too, will be eaten by our friends later, but he is not the start of the rabbit farm.}

Another project we have contemplated for years was providing English classes to the neighbors. It seemed like a way to upskill them for local work as well as when they return to Burma, where English is taught in schools and used commonly. However, I’ve been nervous for awhile. In some ways I just didn’t want to start something I couldn’t maintain amidst travels and chaos, but I was also nervous about their response.

However, we brought this up in the meeting, and asked first if any of the adults would be interested in learning English. A resounding roar rose up: men, women, young, & old. Everyone was keen–extremely keen! They asked if we’d teach the children, as well.  We’re hoping to sort out the details in the next month and begin providing a couple classes a week, most likely to three levels: adults, where will focus on conversation and ignore writing, as most of them aren’t literate in any language; older children, focusing on vocabulary, sentences and comprehension; and younger children, learning letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.

This was the highlight of the meeting for me. They were so excited about it, and its a very easy way for us to engage with everyone on a regular basis. It brings them into our lives and us into theirs. I’m really hopeful to get some sort of a plan together and get started!

By the end of the evening, we’d had a great little meeting. Everyone seemed hopeful, and Stephen & I were elated. It seems we are constantly asking if we are on the right path: is this working? Are the Band-Aids and puzzles and Mama noodles and cup after cup of water adding up to anything? Are the hours of language getting us anywhere? How many times will we clean writing off the outside of our wall or tell them we aren’t going to go to the Buddhist celebration because we are Christians?

It seems we are always praying for the Kingdom to come here; for our home to be a peaceful refuge, for our responses to be gracious, for our smiles to be full of hope. We are praying for the Band-Aids to communicate love, for the puzzles to give a future and a hope, and for all those little cups of water to be full of life.

We have big prayers for our little, tired lives.

But God is good, and we are truly thankful for the community, for the meeting I was so nervous about, and for the steps ahead of us as long as God blesses us to be here!

Today in home church we sang “God of this City,” a song written by BlueTree in a bar while they were in Pattaya, Thailand.

You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are

You’re the Light in this darkness
You’re the Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done in this city 
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

As we sang today, I was thinking of our little community and our little plans for English classes and rabbit farms and trips to the market. Little plans, little community, little meetings; but a big God that is the King of these people, the Light in all of our darkness, and the Hope on the most hopeless of days. And greater things are still be done here!