Responding With Hope
Updated May 28, 2020
Providing nutrition support has opened many doors to build trust within new communities in our region. Our teams have also identified the most vulnerable families in these communities who are struggling to stay together. Soon we will return to each of these communities to provide Child Protection Training, which means we can now prevent orphanhood and trafficking for children we had not reached prior to COVID-19.
Photos from community response throughout lockdown:
March 30, 2020
In light of this COVID season, when children are unable to attend school, the years we’ve spent equipping families, communities, and churches in child protection is more relevant than ever. We have moms, dads, and grandmas in communities who are able to advocate for the children around them and call our crisis line for response. Our primary concern right now are the children currently in abusive situations and our team is working with the police for these children.
We’ve been asked to help new children and families after an expat was arrested in Mae Sot for abusing 6 children in 'his children's home’. Because our team speaks a total of 12 different languages, combined with our social work capacity, we serve as a vital resource for Thailand’s Child Welfare Department when handling these situations with children and families from Myanmar.
While fear is widespread, Daniel’s words remain grounded in love, “When the police call on us, we are there. We won’t say no because it is a privilege.” Our teams are following the recommended safety protocols as we seek to stand with children, families, and the government.
We are also working hard to reach all of our friends who will be impacted by COVID-19 the most; those in slum communities where social distancing is impossible, and all the day workers who have lost the daily pay their families survive on.
Face masks ran out long-before COVID-19 cases were confirmed so we have groups sewing 1,000 face masks, which cost $0.20-0.35 cents to make. Crisis Nutrition Support is part of our response for families who are at-risk of being torn apart. With day workers losing the daily pay they survive on, the number of families at-risk has increased exponentially. Our team has identified 82 additional families that are at dire risk of tearing apart without food support.
Fortunately, it only costs $50 to provide enough food for a family of 5 for an entire month.
In the midst of everything, we are holding fast to hope and we’d love to encourage you to do the same because we serve a fierce God. We know that all of our love, compassion, and even our outrage at child exploitation is the tiniest glimpse of His heart. While we cannot see the outcome, we know He is always working.
Isaiah 42 says this about our Jesus:
Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold, My elect in Whom My soul delights!
I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice and right and reveal truth to the nations… He will not fail or become weak or be crushed and discouraged until HE has established justice on the earth.
Take heart that in the midst of fear and panic and injustice, that our God is relentless. Everything that keeps you awake tonight is on His mind. Every name, every face, every injustice and awful violation. Every abuse, every pain. He knows them. And because our Jesus saw fit to put on human flesh and become one of us, to the point of bearing all evil done to us or by us, He will overcome.
Let this be the hour we do not lose heart.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched nor will the flame kindle upon you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior (Isaiah 43:2-3).
