I can barely handle her cuteness.
Yesterday she was thrown off the back of the truck by the bigger kids.
She dusted herself off, and got back up to play.
Cant hold a tough girl down.
We’re currently in Mae Sot, Thailand. Mae Sot is right at the Thai/Burma border, and due to Burma’s current situation, houses thousands of displaced peoples (some with refugee status, even more with no status at all).
Just as Mae Sai is a hot spot for sex trafficking, Mae Sot houses an enormous amount of factories. If you’d like to know where your ‘knock-off’ Louis Vuitton came from, There is a good chance it came from a place like Mae Sot where though the sunsets are absolutely beautiful, the working conditions are not.
Here in town, there are a good number of street children. Some of these children cross illegally from Burma every morning, others have found refuge somewhere on the Thai side of the border. Many of them have parents, or at least a guardian, though this is not always to their advantage.
These children are for the most part forced to beg, or recycle plastic and glass in order to make an income. If they come home without meeting the monetary standard that has been put out before them, things do not go well.
They are often beaten. Burned. Cast aside.
Compasio has established relationships with many of these kids, and even with some of their families. Five days a week, they bring food to a drop in center where these sweet kids can get a hot meal, take a break, and simply be kids.
Some of you have asked why I keep going back to Thailand, especially after being so sick after this last year (thank you, whichever bug found it’s way to my stomach and made a semi-permanent home there).
Well, here’s the thing. Once you travel here, once you spend even just a few hours with these kids, you begin to understand that they are of very little valuable to the Thai community in Mae Sot. They are Burmese. They are dirty. They sometimes steal. They cause a ruckus.
But you also begin to understand that these children have a LOT of resilience. A lot of personality. A lot of life.
Compasio is doing some amazing work here. They are giving these children not only a second, but a third, and fourth and sometimes a fifth chance. They are showing love in very practical ways. They love on kids who sometimes don’t appreciate the way they are being served. They hug children that are dirty. The comb the hair of lice infected heads. They eat with these children. They play with these children. And the thing that gets me the most: they offer hope.
Many of these kids don’t know the Lord. A lot of them are from a Muslim background (yes, there is a strong Islamic community in Mae Sot). But in the midst of all of that, they know that when they see Compasio, they are safe. If only for a few moments each day, they are able to be children. They are shown Jesus, in the most tangible ways.
When I dream about these kids futures, I envision an army of them (not a literal army, that might defeat the purpose). I see a whole bunch of kids who were once very lost, but have received love so that they might give it away again. I envision them as leaders who care for their community, and for the freedom of their country. Maybe some of them will own restaurants. Maybe some of them will work to combat the labor violations. Some might choose to care for other children who have been cast aside, remembering the pit from which they were themselves rescued from.
For some of these kids, this seems like a distant hope at best. They have no citizenship, and most of them have had so much freedom that school is no longer appealing. Some of them have never seen the inside of a grocery store, much less could they have the discipline to work at one!
But we serve a God of second, third, fourth, and fifth chances. He is a God who remains a Father to the fatherless, a defender among widows. He heals the brokenhearted, and he binds up their wounds. Psalm 147 says that “The Lord’s understanding is infinite”, “He makes peace in your (their) borders”, and that he “satisfies you (them) with the finest of the wheat”.
It is a joy for me to serve with Compasio this week in Mae Sot. And if after this you’re still wondering why it is I return to this place… well, maybe you should come with me sometime.
