A timely visit to a village

The past few weeks have been something of a miracle. As a result of our new found focus, we decided it would be crucial to look at problems in the hill tribes and migrant worker communities, observe villages, talk to the villagers, asses their needs, and with them create a sustainable project that would fulfill that need. Justin and I felt especially encouraged to work fast; our time is ticking here in Thailand! We worked hard with our team to talk to people without needing a translator, ask the right questions, and proactively look for ways to visit a community. This is a lot easier said than done, as many of these migrant workers are immigrants who, because of fears of persecution and deportation, are very closed off to outside help.

There really aren't words to describe how perfectly the past few weeks have gone. We knew a local group here had a volunteer base where a member from each community would step up as the net-worker for each individual village, so when we asked when the next meeting was for those net-workers we were shocked to hear, "tonight!" We dropped all our other plans to meet with the group, listen to experiences, and ask A LOT of questions. Justin was able to talk with one net-worker in particular who was willing to answer questions and eventually said yes when Justin asked if we could come and visit the village. We felt honored and blessed to be given this opportunity, and we really feel that Heavenly Father's hand has been in it, guiding us along. The timing has been too perfect for it to be anything else!

We had an amazing meeting on a bright, sunny Saturday, and discussed the community, their needs, and how we as HELP International could help. We talked about a lot of issues, but finally settled on two issues that we could work with them to solve.

The first problem is water. Many communities in this area get their water for drinking, bathing, washing clothes, and doing dishes from wells. The water from the wells is often contaminated with pesticides, dirt, sticks, parasite larvae, fertilizer--and that's just what you can see. They don't drink it when it's especially dirty or stinky, but when it's at its worst they don't have any other option.

Prepare to be humbled..

One of the wells in the community

Water from one of the wells. It looks especially bad so this one won't be used for drinking. At least for now!

Here's a shower used by several households. The blue pipe on the left is filled from about 10 feet away near the well. One person will dump some water from the well into the pipe, which runs down into the basin, and is used by another person. Those walls made out of tarps and rice bags offer at least a little privacy.

The rice gets bigger every day! Appreciate the reflection of the clouds in the rice paddy water.

Another shower. This one is positioned over a ditch so the water used in the shower goes conveniently back to the environment.

We adore this view. Have you noticed?

After visiting with this community we were taken to a community who utilizes natural materials to filter their water. They use buckets of sand and some cotton material to make the water safer for drinking. While it does filter out sticks, bug larvae (ew), and some dirt, it still can't get rid of the fertilizer or the stinky smell. But hey, it's better than nothing!

Using this experience as a starting point, we want to find other migrant worker communities who are successfully using nature to filter their water, observe their methods, and have them teach these communities how to successfully do it.  We had heard of one that some villagers used that involved a layer of rocks, charcoal, and cotton balls.  After a little research, Justin found out this actually works! Like the carbon flakes in a Brita water filter, the charcoal actually filters out contaminants.  This project is great because it will be relatively low cost, will bring solutions from one community to those who need it, and will be completely sustainable once we leave. Nothing beats that! As always, there are barriers involved, such as finding a village who is utilizing these methods who would be willing to instruct others on how to do it, determining the effectiveness of the water filter, and time. Oh we are so short on time! As much as Justin and I would love, love, looove to be apart of this project, we don't have enough weekends left to make the Saturday trip out to investigate this. It will be an excellent project for next year, if nothing else. Clean water is so important!!

The other project we were hoping to complete with them is a library/community center. It's main purpose would be to serve as a gathering place for the community, but also as a library, tutoring center, and a common room to have a place where people could meet and belong. We had nearly acquired the funds for this when we learned our community didn't have rights for the land. Drat. We're still looking for a way to make this work!

What an amazing day. We really did feel humbled, trusted, empowered, and hopeful afterwards. There is much work to be done and we have seen the reality of that here. It's sad to be leaving so soon but I know we are leaving a solid foundation for next year, which is comforting.

Oh, and the bamboo classroom is finished :) The hard-working team effort these communities put forth is so inspiring. Now the students can stay dry during night classes!

The design for this classroom is so simple, but it says a lot about the people we're serving.  They don't expect or need a lot, they're grateful for anything they can get, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to better their situation- like learning to read under a bamboo roof after a long day on the rice fields.  Working with these people has been a life-changing experience!