The House Collective

whirlwind.

by Filed Under: kelli, photos 6 Comments

It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind in our lives, but it’s good. God has been good.

First off, we survived our first team!  We spent a surprising seventeen days with them and sent them on a bus to Chiang Mai yesterday morning. We had a really wonderful time in Noh Poe refugee camp spending time with the students of the two dorms that Partners support there. We were also able to participate in the camp-wide celebration of World Refugee Day. Oh, and we encountered the largest spider I have ever seen. It was the size where if you smashed it with your hand, you probably wouldn’t win. The body was comparable to a flashdrive, with each leg spanning at least three inches. And we got to watch it devour a three inch cockroach.

Stephen & I had a chance to continue building relationships with our contacts there, and learned some gardening techniques from our host. Thara Lah Say (Thara is teacher in Karen) is the headmaster of one of the dorms and is the former Karen Camp Commander of Noh Poe.  He has a huge organic garden growing inside the camp that allows him to help feed the dorms. He was pleased to hear about our burgeoning community garden, offered some advice, and gave us 15 (yes, 15!) banana tree stalks to plant in our yard!  We couldn’t fit them all, so we shared some with the Partners office and staff, but we do have 7 banana trees of three different types of bananas now planted. Fortunately, they say bananas are the easiest thing to grow, and we should be reaping the benefits in just eight months.

In all, we really loved the team and appreciated their flexibility & willingness to serve in any way they could. We still have much to learn, but this was a good initiation project.

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We returned home to a) one day in the office to catch up on, well, everything from the last seventeen days and b) a package!  Can I just tell you that the Bakers are some of the best package-senders I’ve met, so we were pretty excited when we saw a big box from them.  We weren’t disappointed, either, and found, among other things, Cinnamon Toast Crunch & Golden Grahams!  They also used US newspapers to fill the box, so we promptly uncrumpled that to enjoy some American comics and news.

After our day at the office, we were headed home to clean up the mess from traveling, catch up on laundry, and hopefully be ready to rest for our two days off on Thursday & Friday. Instead, we found our neighbor kids ready to play and our super-ambitious neighborman ready to plant.

And thus began an evening of gardening. We now have all seven banana stalks planted, and we’ve transferred the pumpkin, okra, and some tomatoes into the ground.  And there’s a chance we may be working on it more tonight. Hard to say.

Good news is, we’re finding ways to communicate.  We’re finding out which parents & kids are Karen, attempting to communicate, and otherwise working with actions. The kids have been destroying our driveway & yard, breaking things and leaving trash. They also decided to color the side of our house by smearing flowers into designs. Yesterday I went out to clean up while they were there, got them to help wash down the walls & pick up trash. We’re doing our best to set up boundaries: no touching the motorbike, no entering the house. Those are the two big ones right now.  That said, we’re making progress. They’re learning. When I heard them open the door and look inside, they meet my eye and said, “No,” pulling it back closed.

We did have one incident yesterday where the kids were splashing in our…tub? in the yard. It’s a water pump & cement bucket; they tend to have water tubs all over, allowing you to have stored rain water or city water for dry seasons or when city water is cut off. Either way, the kids were playing in it and splashing each other in the yard. Not a problem until the one-and-a-half year old toddler tipped in to the two feet deep water.  His parents were helping us garden and didn’t seem too worried, but I was thankful Stephen was close enough to pull him out.

So now we’re here and enjoying two days off. We had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast and looking forward to time to step outside the whirlwind.

eat | not eat

by Filed Under: kelli, photos 5 Comments

We’re still learning how to define a) community and b) garden.

We had another translation session for our so-called community garden on Monday. A sweet friend from work came home with us and the team in town, with hopes of re-explaining the garden, handing off a key to the gate, and communally enjoying an afternoon of weeding to prepare the soil for the plants that are growing oh-so-quickly and will very soon need to be transferred.

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We think the translation went okay. It’s always hard to say, really.

But, we gave them a key–so they can get into the garden or store any valuable items (including themselves) locked inside for safety.  We also attempted the “let’s garden together now” idea, but it was a flop. She suggested the next day, when we were busy at work.

We came home to find the garden unchanged, and decided to go for a run.  We returned to find one man inside our yard, completely conquering the weeds. This jungle grew up on us in about a month, and we spent the following two months painfully attempting to eliminate the mess of weeds, thorns, ivy, ants, mice, frogs, and lizards that had taken over.  And this one man was doing about a weeks worth of work for Stephen & I.

In Stephen’s words, “How long were we gone?”

One of the things we’ve discussed with this garden idea is that it’s very difficult to make plans, i.e. “Let’s work together every Saturday” or “Let’s meet at 8 am tomorrow”. We decided from the beginning that it would take flexibility, so that when opportunities arose to garden with them or play with the kids or help in someway–we take it.

So we did.  Well, mostly Stephen in this case.

The next hour continued the subjugation of our yard. And it was divided into two categories: eat or not eat? This was communicated through motions that I wish so badly I could have Stephen imitate for you over a blog. Hilarious.

The things that remain: a papaya tree, a mango tree, about three bushes used for some kind of soup that we have no idea about.

The best part, I think, was the large tree on the side of the yard. The man promptly motioned to Stephen that you can’t eat it, went to get an old and broken machete, and took it out. The whole tree. I mean, why would you keep it if you can eat it?!

img_5697.jpg So our yard now looks like this. And we’re finding community to be any number of persons, at any age attempting to be friends, despite the inability to communicate at all.  And we’re finding that a garden is simply things you can eat–nothing more, nothing less.

colder.

by Filed Under: kelli 2 Comments

We stopped at 7-11 on the way home for an ice cream cone tonight.

As we were driving, I said something about the ice cream seeming harder than usual. Stephen said his was, too.

So I decided it must be getting colder, to which Stephen replied, “Yeah. We made it from the air-conditioned store to the air-conditioned car without our ice cream melting. It’s getting colder!”

sanctuary.

by Filed Under: kelli 3 Comments

Lord, prepare me
to be a sanctuary,
pure & holy,
tried & true.
With thanksgiving,
I’ll be a living
sanctuary
for You.
Lord, teach your children
to stop their fighting,
start uniting,
all as one.
Let’s come together,
praise His name forever,
and be a sanctuary
for You.

We live scarily close to a war zone.  Sometimes that can be easier to forget, but recently, it seems to be more apparent.  I’ve been more and more aware of the danger that so many around us operate in. I’ve been more and more of the suffering, the fear, and the pain.  I’m more aware of the darkness.

And still among that, I’m more aware of the faith. I think of Pastor Peacefully, telling us on Saturday for the umpteenth time, that he will close his migrant school/home for just three reasons: 1) they are kicked off the land 2) they run out of money for rice and 3) if this government really is free and they can all go home. His home used to be limited to 100 students, but he now has about 97 girls and 98 boys as the situation has worsened on the border. And he doesn’t yet know where he’s going to find enough caregivers or enough rice. For this month. So he’s praying.

Or take this amazing couple in Umphang, who used to have a home for twelve children.  They allowed them to live with them and attend school in Thailand for safety.  In February, they increased to fifty children as the need arose. And now this month, they are at one hundred children. In their home. Their daughter works with Partners, and she asked for prayer for her parents. They are considering starting a migrant school. As she told me about it, she said, “My dad, he sees that they need a migrant school. So he thinks now maybe he will start one.”

This song has been mulling around in my head for the past few days.  I’m really aching for this: that God would truly create us to be sanctuaries. I can honestly, and in pure understatement, say that this has been a hard transition to Thailand. But I can also say that I’m praying this time is purifying us, making us more like Christ, and creating hearts of thanksgiving in us–so that we can be a sanctuary here. So that our lives, like the lives of Pastor Peacefully and this couple in Umphang, will be a sanctuary for those around us. That in Christ we can become “a place of refuge or safety, a holy place.”

And then, I might ache even more for the next part: that we could somehow learn to stop the fighting.

vacate.

by Filed Under: kelli 6 Comments

We’re in the middle of three weeks and three weekends worked straight through. Thus, when we were with the team the other day, this question was posed:

If you could go anywhere, leaving right now, and stay for one week, where would you go?

My answer: Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We’d go stay at Stephen’s grandparents house up in the mountains. I’d bring a couple books, sweaters, Goldfish, graham crackers, and pretzels (all good snack food that we can’t find in Mae Sot!). I’d alternate my days, spending some out on the porch reading and others out hiking. And every night would be a movie, maybe one in a movie theater! 🙂

Stephen’s answer: Somewhere cold. Really cold. Maybe Nepal.

Yep, that’s what I’ve been thinking about this week. The mountains, the cold, good snacks, reading, and hiking.

Anyone else?

surprise!

by Filed Under: kelli 8 Comments

Remember how we’re learning that things change, and then they change again?

Well, surprise! Our first team, due to arrive 15 June, arrived early into our care!  We’re now leading our first team–five college students from Malibu, California–and will be until 21 June.

They are actually on a two-month mission trip here in Thailand, planned to work with a number of organizations in the area. Our time with them was scheduled for 15 June through 21 June.  They went through Mae Sot last week on their way to a village.  They had called and asked us to hold some of their luggage at the office so they didn’t have to cart it all with them. Easy for us, so we got that arranged, and then heard from them on Saturday about picking up their luggage again.

It was at this point we discovered their trip wasn’t going quite as planned. They had faced a few bumps along the road and were getting quite discouraged. We offered to get them their luggage and meet them for dinner on Sunday night.

And at dinner we realized just how many of their plans had fallen through, including the next ten days until they’d be officially volunteering with us.

It was one of those times we felt that if we were going to start each day praying that we’d have eyes to see the opportunities God put before us, we should probably jump at those opportunities when they arise.  With a group of five willing to do anything to serve, our week plans quickly changed.

And thus, our first volunteer team is here! This week will be full of packing hygiene packs for the children’s homes Partners supports, helping to weed at the Partners development farm, sorting clothing donations to go inside, and play with the local children in our neighborhood.   We’ll then head out next Wednesday to visit a refugee camp about five hours south and spend time with the students in two of Partners children’s homes there.

That said, prayers appreciated. Stephen & I just officially took over our job at a meeting on Saturday, at which point we acquired a lengthy to-do list.  We’re also still sitting in the middle of children’s project responsibilities with a side dish of language learning. We’d love your prayers for energy, patience, and kindness; and for us to be open to whatever surprises for ministry come our way!

something like community.

by Filed Under: kelli, photos 2 Comments

We tried again with the community garden this Saturday, and again we got quite a good response from the local children.  Unfortunately, they were more interested in us than the work, and most of the morning looked like this:
img_5648.jpgWe had lots of observers, umbrella-shade-holders, and curious huggers who wanted to feel my sopping wet shirt.  They did enjoy watering the plants.

It was something like community.

But, can you see the plants sprouting up in the background?! (In the black bags by the house, not the jungle of weeds we’re still trying to tackle.)  Nearly everything has sprouted–all 19 varieties planted.

So, despite a very hot Saturday with just the two of us working amidst chaos, we’re hopeful.

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives growth.”  1 Corinthians 3:5-7

perspectives.

by Filed Under: kelli 1 Comment

We visited another refugee camp this week called Mae Ra Moe. It’s about seven hours north of Mae Sot.

It prompted thoughts.

Upon first look, a refugee camp doesn’t seem so bad. That sounds horrible at first, I know, but it’s true.  You can look at a refugee camp and look at surrounding villages, and it doesn’t seem so different. They have homes, made out of bamboo and similar to what they’d have within their own country. They have food, they have schools, they have community.  And for our western minds, it even looks a little dreamy.  There’s an adventure appeal to the bamboo huts with leaved roofs set against a breathtaking backdrop. There’s even a beautiful simplicity to a life where you can walk to gather vegetables or visit a local market. You start your own fire to cook rice and bathe in a nearby river. It’s simple. It’s natural. And to our “developed”, concrete-filled, use-your-car-everyday lives, it’s refreshing.

But if you look deeper, it’s actually horrifying. It is simplicity, but by force. It’s being unable to move forward.  It’s being unable to work and earn a living. It’s being unable to leave–to visit family, to move, to see other places. It’s life within a few square kilometers. It’s not making choices, but taking what you’ve been handed forcefully.

As we walked around this refugee camp this week, I saw a sign hanging throughout the camp, posted by the TBBC who provide all of the basic needs to all the camps along the Thai-Burma border (food, bamboo, leaves, clothes, etc.). It reads, in three languages (English, Karen, Burmese):

Please be reminded that unless your name is on the authorized exemption list with the Section Leader,all persons 18 years old and above are required to present yourself at the distribution point with your ration book and UN registration in order to receive your rations. People without UN registration must be verified by TBBC staff with official TBBC photos inside the ration book.  No attendance = no rations.

For some reason, this sign brought it all home. I think it’s the word “rations.”

Suddenly, this refugee camp becomes a prison.