Our Thailand Children’s Home is OPEN!
Our Thai partners, Banya and Rapee, have been dreaming of this day for almost 30 years. Our American partners The Wards (who live and work in Thailand), have been dreaming of this day for 12 years. Together, we have been dreaming of this day and working towards this day for over 2 years… and now, our dreams have finally come true!
The Promised Land Children’s Home (our very first Children’s Home in Thailand) is finally OPEN and we could not be more THRILLED!
We first told you about this dream in early 2011, when we moved to Thailand to start a new partnership there. Then, we updated you that the dream was becoming a reality when we bought the home in October of 2011. In December of 2011, we got our first glimpse of the home and we took you on a video tour. Since then, our partners have been working hard to renovate and prepare the home to bring in at-risk little girls. They remodeled the kitchen and updated the bathrooms. They added new flooring and refinished all the wood inside and outside the house. They added better exterior walls, painted the house inside and out, and furnished it. Pretty soon the house went from a run-down piece of property…
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… to a BEAUTIFUL new home!
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Then, it took several months to file the necessary paperwork for the home to be in good standing with the government. Once that was finished, Banya and Rapee began searching in Northern Thailand for children in need. They cannot have children of their own, so they have been passionate about starting a Children’s Home for a long time. Because they have worked in many impoverished villages, they understand the poverty and desperation that is often a reality for village children. So they went to work visiting remote villages, interviewing families, and profiling children to be sure the most vulnerable children were chosen for this home.
In Thailand, vulnerable little girls can often be kidnapped or sold into slavery or prostitution. We have heard stories of little girls being sold to buy a bag of rice… a motorbike… or even medicine for a sick family member. According to Thailand’s Health System Research Institute, over 40% of the prostitutes in Thailand are children. So it was important to our partners that they rescue vulnerable little girls.
At the end of their search, they found 7 precious little girls who desperately needed a home and a family. And this April, those 7 beautiful girls were welcomed with open arms into our new Children’s Home!
Their stories will break your heart. These little girls have all come from extreme poverty. Most of them have lost one, or both parents. One of these little girls lost her mother to cancer, and her father to suicide the same week. Another little girl was completely orphaned and living on her own since she was three years old. Their little lives have been so full of pain, and their stories seem so hopeless. But now, they have HOPE!
Now, these little girls are no longer at risk of being abused, kidnapped, or sold. Now, these 7 little girls have a safe, stable home. Now, they no longer have to worry about where their next meal will come from, or where they will live. Now, they do not have to take care of themselves… they have a loving “Mom and Dad” to care for them!
Now, these 7 girls will be able to get an education, and learn important life skills. Now they will get the mental and emotional care they so desperately need! Now, these little girls have a place to grow and thrive! And it would not have been possible without the support of our incredible donors!
Our partners sent us this video of the girls playing outside on their first day in their new home. We were so moved to see that these little girls – once vulnerable and impoverished – now have the freedom to laugh and play! Listen to them giggle. Their laughter is the sound of hope!
As we celebrate this wonderful news, we are also asking you to get involved! We are very grateful to the donor who generously gave all the start-up costs and the first month’s cost of running this home, but now we are looking for monthly donors!
If you would like to invest in the lives of these precious little girls, you can DONATE TODAY and ensure that this home keeps going. Your donation will help provide food, clothing, electricity, clean water, school fees, school uniforms, transportation, and medical care for these precious girls. DONATE NOW and simply type “Thailand” into the designation box. We need $1,680 a month to support these girls, so every little bit helps! Give your gift now, and give a child HOPE!
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Casey in Thailand
I can not even begin to describe what a joy it has been to meet these beautiful girls! I have personally seen the light, hope and joy on their faces as they realize that they are now part of a new family at The Promised Land Children’s Home. I pray that one day soon the Jacksons can come laugh and giggle with these precious girls. Thank you so much for the sacrifices you are making to help these daughters have Hope!
jory
Amazing