the least say "at least"...
I wasn't sure that I was even going to meet them.
Yesterday at 3pm I was waiting at a Bangkok skytrain exit for T&A. They're from the US, now living and working in Thailand. One of their projects focuses on children and families living on the streets of Bangkok. T&A have discovered, however, that some of the people they meet don't speak much Thai. It's not surprising. Almost half of the kids on the streets in Bangkok are Cambodian. With this in mind, a mutual friend put us in touch and I'd arranged by email to meet them and to try to find a Cambodian family they have been visiting. I called several times yesterday and left text messages to try to confirm out meeting. No replies. So I stood, wearing jeans and an Angkor Wat T-shirt for easy identification, feeling like and idiot for wasting a day... Reality check: even if A did show, we were looking for one woman and her kids in a city of 9 million people. Great.
Just at that moment, A introduced herself.
A minute later, we were walking down the steps of the skytrain exit and saw a little girl curled up on the bottom step, sleeping in the sunshine with a begging cup in front of her. A said, "oh, here's the daughter..." Just a couple of meters ahead, mum sat on her rubber flip flops with a baby in her arms and another begging cup in front of them. We crouched on the footpath and started talking. The simplest questions couldn't help but be met with painful replies. Where do you stay these days? At the park or under the bridge. How long have you been here? More than 2 years. Did you get rained on in the storm last night? Yes.
Why is B living in the park with her 8-year-old son, her 5-year-old daughter and baby girl? Because in Cambodia she's landless, homeless and when she tries to beg her children starve. B said at least when she begs in Bangkok her children can eat. She lives for the "at least". When she's robbed "at least" she has a chance to earn back some coin. When her daughter was kidnapped "at least" she was found again.
I had coffee with A and learned more about B's story. B often prays to Jesus to protect her children. One time she'd given up home and planned to kill herself. But Jesus came to her in a dream and said, "Don't do it. Your children need you." B listened to the voice and has persevered ever since. (Why should it surprise me that Jesus seems to so easily converse with the poor, visit them in their desperation, give them a word of strength?)
I'd like for Jesus to speak again, "Go back to Cambodia. Let one of the thousands of NGOs there give you shelter. Let you kids have a chance to go to school." But I'm not the one setting the agenda here...I doubted we were even going to see these guys. But yesterday we nearly stepped over child number two on the steps of the train station. Weird. Still, even though I'm not the one in control, my prayer is that B and her children will find something better than their vulnerable, fearful, tear-soaked "at least" living. I will let you know.
Yesterday at 3pm I was waiting at a Bangkok skytrain exit for T&A. They're from the US, now living and working in Thailand. One of their projects focuses on children and families living on the streets of Bangkok. T&A have discovered, however, that some of the people they meet don't speak much Thai. It's not surprising. Almost half of the kids on the streets in Bangkok are Cambodian. With this in mind, a mutual friend put us in touch and I'd arranged by email to meet them and to try to find a Cambodian family they have been visiting. I called several times yesterday and left text messages to try to confirm out meeting. No replies. So I stood, wearing jeans and an Angkor Wat T-shirt for easy identification, feeling like and idiot for wasting a day... Reality check: even if A did show, we were looking for one woman and her kids in a city of 9 million people. Great.
Just at that moment, A introduced herself.
A minute later, we were walking down the steps of the skytrain exit and saw a little girl curled up on the bottom step, sleeping in the sunshine with a begging cup in front of her. A said, "oh, here's the daughter..." Just a couple of meters ahead, mum sat on her rubber flip flops with a baby in her arms and another begging cup in front of them. We crouched on the footpath and started talking. The simplest questions couldn't help but be met with painful replies. Where do you stay these days? At the park or under the bridge. How long have you been here? More than 2 years. Did you get rained on in the storm last night? Yes.
Why is B living in the park with her 8-year-old son, her 5-year-old daughter and baby girl? Because in Cambodia she's landless, homeless and when she tries to beg her children starve. B said at least when she begs in Bangkok her children can eat. She lives for the "at least". When she's robbed "at least" she has a chance to earn back some coin. When her daughter was kidnapped "at least" she was found again.
I had coffee with A and learned more about B's story. B often prays to Jesus to protect her children. One time she'd given up home and planned to kill herself. But Jesus came to her in a dream and said, "Don't do it. Your children need you." B listened to the voice and has persevered ever since. (Why should it surprise me that Jesus seems to so easily converse with the poor, visit them in their desperation, give them a word of strength?)
I'd like for Jesus to speak again, "Go back to Cambodia. Let one of the thousands of NGOs there give you shelter. Let you kids have a chance to go to school." But I'm not the one setting the agenda here...I doubted we were even going to see these guys. But yesterday we nearly stepped over child number two on the steps of the train station. Weird. Still, even though I'm not the one in control, my prayer is that B and her children will find something better than their vulnerable, fearful, tear-soaked "at least" living. I will let you know.
posted by pip @ 9:08 am
1 Comments:
At 6:43 am ,
Anonymous said...
Pip, I read your article, it really touched me, thats such a miracle, I just wanted to let you know that you are prayed over,loved on, and I often think about you, I keep reading your news, thanks for sharing, a picture of me will arrive, its just that I dont have a picture of me on holidays, at the moment, but I'll make it,
love and blessings, Bao.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home