January 14, 2009

CHILDREN'S HOME IN THAILAND


Chad Harris

Producer/JMM Broadcast

As we approached the grounds today of the Bethel Children’s Home (sponsored by the partners of JMM), our team could hear the sounds of laughing children and their cheers of delight. The children were enjoying soccer, basketball, ping pong and volleyball games. Some children were fishing in the pond that provides fresh fish for the orphanage.  Some were working in the vegetable garden that furnishes fresh vegetables. Children everywhere were smiling. It looked very much like a playground in America where parents take their children on a warm Sunday afternoon. Without knowing the back-story nothing would seem out of the ordinary, but the truth is, these children have been rescued by the partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Every one of these children was left to fend for themselves because their parents had been involved with drugs or alcohol or had been affected by AIDS.

I type this blog as I overlook the beautiful, well manicured grounds of the Bethel Children’s Home in Chaing Rai. I am watching 30 children of various ages play a game of “duck duck goose”. The smell of Thai food fills the air.  Inside, children are sitting on their comfortable bunk beds doing their homework. I met with two children yesterday, Tun and Nut, whose parents both died of AIDS several years ago. Their grandfather tried to care for them but couldn’t. For the past four years they have lived here and now they are thriving. They attend Christian school, they eat well every day, they have comfortable beds and in their own words, they have a “huge, wonderful family with many brothers and sisters.” God cares for these children. Thank you JMM partners for helping to make all of this possible!

For more information, visit Hand of Hope.