Chiangmai

Our local partners are a Karen married couple, who have two young children. They used to live in a village up in the hills about two hours drive from Chiangmai city. They had for several years ran a children hostel that takes in children of about age 5 to 12 from the nearby area.

Since early 2009, our partners have relocated to be nearer the city, in order to continue to care for the children from the village who have to leave to attend High School in the city. A new premise to house these children was built in time to accommodate the intake of students in the current school year. It has the capacity for up to 20 children. Interestingly, the building was constructed with future plans in mind to host a church plant as one of our partners is undergoing theological training to be a pastor.

Almost all of the families of the students currently cared for by our partners cannot afford the full expense of school fees, related expenses and the coast of living away from their village. Nonetheless, the families contribute what they can by way of cash and produce like rice. The couple supplement this with sundry income which comes from weaving, and are growing some food in the garden.
Kingdom Inroads is starting to introduce eco-tourism to the couple to provide an additional source of income.

A simple plan of the couple for the hostel to become sustainable in the long run is for the students that have completed High School and perhaps University, to return and sponsor a fresh lot of children from the village to go through High School. Furthermore, when their hostel becomes more established, it is envisaged that they shall take in a number of full fees paying students from more well-to-do families.