28 november 2021

Development

                                                            First: 

       Have a blessed Advent and Christmas time 2021.

When the Covit-19 hit Ubon we could see everywhere this signboard. 


According to my observation:

  • The educated people in the city working in the Government, Banks, Hospitals, bigger shops, factories +++ did not stay at home. They continued: Business-as-usual. Some had hard time but ... they worked even harder.   
  • The Non-educated people, children and old people, specially i the villages obeyed and got very fearful. Many stopped working and had to take loans to have food on the table. Now to stop letting fear rule - is hard. 



On the 1st Nov 2021 we moved the Child Safe Centre from Soi 11 Chayakun Road near the Ubon Music Café and the Church. This is an upgrading and development of the work in many ways.

Teenagers and adults have help to move the Center and ,,, now the wall is painted so the whole community sees that children/teenagers need security. All this so that we may be better and better out in the midst of the people… in their world. The people we work with live in a terrible world, so they need all the support they can get, so as not to give up. The pressure now in the pandemic is harder than usual for children aged 14-16 to leave school, take bad jobs and support the family financially.

Now the schools are slowly opening up, but many younger students live in fear of becoming infected. A mother told me that her son goes to school but in his class of 40 students only 5 of them attends.

Older students aged 15-17 live in fear that they will now not pass the tests. A girl tried to take her own life. A boy has to go to the hospital because he had severe stress symptoms. Got medication for panic anxiety.















       

           

We are happy for our wonderful staff who do everything they can, from their hearts. On Monday (on their day off) several of them were out helping children/teenagers in crisis. One boy could not breathe and one of our staff quickly took him to 2 hospitals. Several factors caused his panic. Now he feels better.

I will put in some pictures.

Ingvar(Fred)












9 november 2021

Lockdown - Lockup

It is easy to ”Lock Down” a society. Just put fear into the people and they will stay home, full of fear.   

But to ”Lock Up” a society is hard. After 1½ year it is not easy to be free from fear. Many places of work including schools are now opening up here in Thailand and Laos, but .... it is hard to adjust to the new normal. Many fear-factors are still in the minds.

People are coming to the Church, the Music Café and to Child Safe and are full of fear. Some had to come back from south Thailand and Bangkok to Isaan with a new family, and how do they adjust with the old family? And after 18 months of hardship, with increased loans many feel hopeless.

Some see no other solution than that children stop studying and start working? 

People are now coming and asking for help from us and God. What can we do?  

        

Some teens and also adults now need a big position of

                                         You have value.

                                         You have a future.

                                        You can make it.

                                        DO NOT GIVE UP.

Lock Up is much harder han Lock Down. At least for the poor and uneducated people. Now many can start moving around, but with many more loans than before Covid-19 come.

Pray for Isaan and Laos

Ingvar(Fred)