The Sponsorship Experience

Wara

It's not the same for everyone, this sponsorship thing.

But I'll get to that in a minute.

There are twenty-five right now.

Twenty-five at risk and orphan children who are no longer either of those things, and who no longer need be defined in such a way...

Thim

because of Sponsors.

From the beginning of our connection with Pastors Suradet and Yupa and the then eleven children they so courageously welcomed into their home in and about 2007, the Sponsors have been "our part" of what makes it happen.  

Suradet and Yupa and the staff at New Family Foundation carry the weight and joy of the every day.  They are caring for the needs of eighteen on-site kids, plus six older students studying at university or specialized prep schools.  That's feeding, clothing, nurturing, parent-teachering, and loving, all with the logistics of twenty-five sets of needs.  Yes, that's the much bigger thing.

And the Sponsors come alongside, love and befriend, and support financially and relationally, their one child.  It's a very personalized deal.  All Sponsors send over packets filled with tangible evidence of their care.  Some Sponsors actually are able to go and visit and meet their child in person.  All the children know their Sponsors by name, and pray for us every single day.  

And we get to see them grow and graduate and launch into their adult lives, just like we hoped would happen when they first came to us.

Entorn is working of a Masters of Theology.

Miki has her engineering degree and is now married with a baby girl.

Somechai has his own small engine repair business and is now married with a son.

Two is now a mahoot (elephant trainer) at a rescue camp, married with a baby girl.

Wara is just graduating from Bible school and will be looking for a church to pastor.

Eak is pressing into his last years at a prep school that will bridge him into a university degree in architecture.

Thim is now a teacher in a remote mountain village school, providing the kind of education that was not available to her when she was growing up.

Eak then

None of these children would have had these opportunities without their Sponsors.  And we are so proud of all of them.

That's what we live for!

Sometimes it hurts though.

Love like you won't get hurt, but you do.

Because we are not legal guardians of these children, but rather custodians whose living relatives have entrusted their children into our care.  Rightly so, Thai law gives final say to the legal guardians and parents of all children.  This is especially necessary in a country where many organizations such as ours undertake the mission to help break the cycle of life crushing poverty.  

So parents sometimes call their children back.

Lots of reasons.

Sometimes, and this is great, a parent's life situation changes and they are now able to provide for their own child's well-being and education.  We rejoice, even if we're sad when we say good-bye.

Eak now

One time, during COVID, a grandmother who was the legal guardian, firmly believed the the virus would not reach them up in the mountain, and was terrified to allow her grandson to return to begin the new school year, living so close to Chiang Mai.  

Sometimes, often enough to make it so hard on all of us, parents or family members of girls do not feel it is necessary for them to continue their education past grade 8 or even grade 6.  We don't agree.  But we have no legal recourse.  

In every case, especially when the Sponsor has done the investment emotionally, we grieve.

But it's still worth it.

And I describe this as honestly as I can because right now we have had no less than eight new children join our family.

Four of them have Sponsors already.  Thank you!

Four do not.

And I resist here the temptation to post their pictures and names, even though I'm pretty sure I think I may have done so in the past.  But by now the last thing I want to do is to randomize a Sponsor-Child pairing process that has become so much more prayerful and spiritual as we have grown as an organization over the years.

I let you know here so you can know, and respond if that's where this is leading you.

And if you're interested please contact me at rabreithaupt@hcckw.ca.

I can send along all the information and expectations.

And some pictures :).

Sponsors, past and present.

We are so deeply grateful for all you have given to us from your hearts!!!!

 

Healing Hospitality

Baby bananas, if you're wondering.

That's what the picture is.  From under the petals of this gigantic purple bloom emerge the first bits of what will be afternoon snack in a few days from now.

They say a fun hello to welcome me each morning as I walk back and forth from the house to the gate on my mini fitness routine while at Hot Springs last November.  I imagine their voices to be small and chirpy, (like Alvin and his friends, for those who would get the reference).  They amuse me, even just being there.  Because no where at home do I walk past a banana tree.  And well, just look at them!

Beyond the novelty and cuteness, though, there is a picture of a deeper invitation.  As if the slow spreading of the purple petals drawing me in is a picture of the sweet healing of this place.

I felt it first in 2008, my second only trip to Thailand, but the first time I actually stayed here.  I was still reeling from one of my life's worst nightmares, just five months out, and still de-numbing from it. I had no sweet clue as to how much I would need the healing.  Certainly didn't expect to receive it.  

I was, after all, here to serve, right?  I was here to represent the support and love Highview had so recently offered in this new-then adventure of partnering with Suradet and Yupa to raise up a gathered family.  I was the bringer, the one with the goods, the one they needed.

Right?

At this point in telling our story I always must stop.  

Father, thank You for Your forgiveness, mercy and grace that somehow saw through my arrogance and held it up for me to view, in all its ugliness.  Jesus, thank You for offering Yourself freely on the cross to pay for my sin of superiority.  Spirit, thank You for Your patient, intimate interactions with my soul as I continue to be shaped more and more into Your humility.  Triune God, please don't stop this work in me.

There.

Healing.  

If ever a spiritual gift was needed in ministry to children traumatized by poverty, it's the gift of hospitality.  And both Suradet and Yupa have it in spades.  And we feel it when we are here.  We all do.  The welcome of it, the comfort of it, the belonging of it. 

The healing of it.

I once had a team member say that they felt more loved at Hot Springs than they did among their friends at home.  That they 'belonged' here better.  And without getting into a bigger analysis of it, I would say that in some ways, for different reasons, in a different home context, I knew what they meant.

Two takeaways.

One is that if you're serving kids who desperately need the love and security of home, healing hospitality is the way to go.  It's what's needed first.  More of a priority, even, than good education and expanded opportunities, which is still part of what we seek to provide, of course.  So for our kids at New Family Foundation, that we know and experience this ourselves is a good reassurance.  Yes.  

And two.  It makes me want to do this better myself.  To be a place of healing hospitality, just in my personhood.  Maybe that includes offering a meal or a cup of tea.  Maybe it includes my physical space of home.

But more importantly, I want this to be just part of what people experience when they are in my presence.  A sense of being welcomed into the space of presence.  That they have my undivided attention.  That they are heard and seen, understood and validated.

I can describe this so well because of the people who have done this so well for me.  Suradet and Yupa.  And others.  And I am so grateful.  I need them.  Badly.

Phot cred:  Dave Driver