GHNI TCD Water Project, Indonesia

As we've been meeting with people we've often shared a story about a village in Indonesia that lacked enough clean water through the dry season. Josh visited the village last year and we recently found this video about the water project in that village. It shows some of the locals and how they worked together to build a cistern at each house in the village so now they all have clean water year round. GHNI continues to work on other projects in the village. Additionally, some of the villagers are now teaching people in the neighboring village how to build the same cisterns at their homes. Enjoy!







We now have 93% of our monthly support pledged and 99% of our one time support. We are so excited to get back to southeast Asia to be a part of more projects like this one.

A Glimpse into our Role with GHNI

As of late, we have not talked much on the blog about our new role with Global Hope Network International. There are a few reasons for this, but to put it most simply I feel confused about what I can say about our work with this organization.

I wrote a couple blog posts, to which Josh promptly said "you can't say that" or "you need to say that differently." I deleted them roughly 5 minutes after posting them. I felt so flustered and confused about what I was allowed to say that I decided to say pretty much nothing at all and keep the blog mostly personal. I know that this blog is the only way some people hear from us though so I feel bad about that. 

That being said, I still haven't exactly figured out what is appropriate to share on this oh-so-public blog. So if you read this, and are thinking, "wow it's weird that they don't talk much about their work with GHNI, I wonder what they are actually doing." then please e-mail me. Our private newsletters contain much more of the exciting information. And if you really want to know the gritty details we could also meet up, which is what we have been doing with a lot of people. 

A few things I can share here: we will be living in Chiang Mai, Thailand and working full-time for Global Hope Network International. You can read all about certain aspects of the work on their website (link on the right side of the page).

We are really excited about this work. Over the past eight years we have traveled to more than 35 countries (I have lost count) and been to many remote locations working with people in need. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to do that work but were sad to leave villages behind in dire conditions. In some cases, the chief of the village would actually give us a tour and tell us what some of their physical needs were- usually along the lines of "we need a doctor, or a medical facility", or "we don't have enough clean water." Children wore tattered clothes or no clothes at all and were visibly malnourished or sick in many cases. Even though we know we brought one good thing to their village (purposefully vague here), it was hard, especially after I became a mother, to leave a village behind knowing that their children were still dying of preventable diseases. 

We have just been visitors in their villages, but we got a little taste of what life is like for them. We have mastered the art of the "bucket bath". We've made the choice in some cases between whether flushing the toilet or taking a bath was more critical that day. We've eaten via candlelight under a mosquito net....not by choice, more than once.  We've had rats bigger than Josh's tennis shoe in our hotel room. We've eaten monkeys, snakes, camels, rats, pigeons, horse intestines, and some food that we may never know what it was. We are familiar with all the major anti-malarial medications because we had to be. We've had dengue fever, intestinal parasites, and severe food poisoning. We've received threats and been told we have to stop the work we are doing, and continued anyways. We've been robbed, cheated, and begged upon. And I am not complaining. It has been a privilege to serve in this way (though I don't always have that attitude in the moment). But I'm thankful that most of these are not everyday realities for us. We have lived comfortable lives- both in Illinois, Florida, and Thailand. 

The people we visit on the other hand....they have no other choice in many cases. They live in remote areas, and are uncared for by the governments and majority groups in their own countries. These are the people we want to help. These are the people Global Hope Network International is helping. Their slogan is "bringing help and HOPE to the hidden and hurting." And they mean it. We're so excited to work alongside the amazing people we have met so far. Transformational Community Development is all about empowering the people in impoverished remote villages, to lift themselves out of poverty through sustainable means.  Yes it is possible and not as hard as you might think...or maybe much harder than you might think! But it is happening, lives and communities are changing! 

And we're so thankful for the people partnering with us and investing in this work. We have 69% of our monthly support pledged at this point (keep checking back as I've been keeping the sidebar updated). We're still hopeful that we might return to Chiang Mai January 15, but it's looking less likely. When we think about it realistically, February 15 is looking to be more feasible from a human perspective. Still we know anything is possible. 

So far our experience with Global Hope Network is limited to a couple of trips but here is a picture of some of the amazing people we get to work alongside of. 

Below is what public transport looks like in a village Josh went to last year for a GHNI training. 

And here are some of the community members who went through GHNI's training program in that village with their trainers. 

Life as a Bystander in a Country in Turmoil

We are on the eve of a controversial election here in Thailand.  If you have been following the political scene in this country for the last decade (or perhaps century) you know that this is nothing new.  Nineteen coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy.  For most Americans, the idea of a coup is quite foreign.  A U.S. President has never been forcefully removed from office (assassination aside...) and replaced by another, un-elected official.  Here, it happens once or twice every ten years.  The last iteration was in 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra was removed from office by the military, and charged with corruption.  He is still living in exile, but his sister is now the current Prime Minister.

The current crisis still revolves around the class feud that led to the 2006 coup.  Thaksin built his political machine around policies that beneftted rural areas, gaining him large amounts of support among the poorer regions of the country.  The middle class and urban elite in Bangkok resented his policies, as they bore the brunt of the financial burden.   He also represented a threatening shift in the traditional power base.  I'm not going to go into more detail regarding the past seven years.  There is plenty of information out there about the aftermath of the coup, and the events that have brought us to the current standoff.  The recent protests were sparked by an attempted amnesty bill, which would have forgiven criminal charges against every politician in the last eight years, Thaksin included.  It was a seemingly blatant attempt to allow Thaksin's return, and his political opponents were infuriated, sparking months of protests in the streets.  The opposition party resigned, crippling the government and effectively forcing the current Prime Minister to resign or call new elections.

So here we are...the election is tomorrow and the two sides are growing increasingly violent.  The anti-government protesters are blockading polling sites in an attempt to sabotage the election.  If they can prevent enough people from voting, there may not be the quorum of elected officials needed to form a new government.  The pro-government forces wish to exercise their right to vote, and keep the current government in power.  Gun skirmishes and bombings are being reported in Bangkok regularly.

As foreigners, we obviously have no vote.  We are also legally barred from participating in any political activity.  I can sympathize with both sides to a limited extent.  The protesters feel that the current government is ruining their country by spending billions of borrowed baht on policies they feel exist only to cement their grasp on power.  They also feel powerless to stop the political machine that has seemingly "purchased" millions of votes with government funds.  On the other side, if we were in the United States I could not imagine supporting a group that was trying to sabotage a democratic election.  Mostly though, it seems that this is a power struggle at the highest levels and in the end, none of the players really care about the people that are affected.

Today we celebrated Hailey's 1st birthday with many of our close friends here.  It was a lot of fun, even if baby birthday parties are short lived.  One by one, we watched as parents made their exodus with wailing children as the sugar overload and skipped naps took their toll.  Later, after our children graciously napped, we went to mall where we found a huge Hot Wheels track, live ponies walking around in an indoor pen, and an empty stage with blaring music for Colby to dance on.  It was a really fun day.  Near the end of our time at the mall, I wondered what tomorrow would bring.  I never had thoughts like that before we moved here.  Most of the time, back home, it is easy to take normalcy for granted.  Things certainly do change, but it tends to happen at a slower pace.  We really don't know if this current crisis will be resolved peacefully.  We have heard talk of moving the government to Chiang Mai, splitting the country in two.  Some journalists have hinted at the prospect of civil war, but I think it is mostly fear-mongering.  It seems that a vast majority of the population wants nothing to do with the violence.  At the same time, reconciliation seems a long ways off.

There are many more things I want to say here, but I feel they are best left unsaid.  What it all boils down to, for me, is the human condition.  The Bible says that we are all fallen, and without the redeeming work of Christ in our hearts, we will remain this way.  Our fallen nature manifests itself in various ways, and to me, that is the center of the current struggle here.  Greed, corruption, pride, and fear...driving a country to the brink for what reason?  No good ones come to mind.

All that to say, please join us in lifting up Thailand.

Snapshots of the last Week

1. Remembered dehydration is bad at 2 a.m. one night when I had painful Braxton hicks contractions every 3 minutes for several hours. Packed my hospital bag the next day just to be safe.

2. Took Colby to Myanmar to renew our visas, and took a boat to Laos just for fun. Colby learned to say "boat" and has been obsessed with boats ever since.

3. Dr. Weissbluth (author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) saved us again with his advice for Colby's sleep issues: "When returning a child to his crib, be silent and unemotional. Don't talk to or look at the child's face. Appear mechanical and uninterested". Sometimes I don't realize that any attention is viewed as a reward/positive reinforcement in Colby's eyes. This worked on the first try! Update....it worked yesterday but not today....still trying to get to the bottom of this.

4. Visited the Hall of Opium (or should I say "chased Colby through the Hall of Opium?")

5. Made a LOT of cookies- 90 peanut butter blossoms, 60 sugar cookies, and dipped over 100 pretzels in chocolate.

6. Discovered a great kid's toy website and ordered Colby a sandbox with Christmas money from his grandparents. It arrived today- only two days after ordering it and on a Sunday!

7. Skipped a staff Christmas party as one of the host's kids had whooping cough- which is pretty deadly for newborns. We decided it was not worth the risk.

8. Attended my first cookie exchange and even won Best Tasting Cookie (who doesn't love peanut butter blossoms?)

9. Attended another fun Christmas party. In the gift exchange I took home a small Christmas tree and Josh got stuck with SPAM. Awesome.

10. Slept HORRIBLY for 4 out of 7 nights.....from a combination of restless legs, braxton hicks, colby screaming, and possibly a christmas cookie sugar buzz

How to Move a Dog from Thailand to the USA

During our first year living in Thailand we acquired for ourselves a wonderful mutt named Bella. When we adopted her, we knew there was a chance we might move back to the US and need to take her with us. We researched in advance to make sure this was possible. As soon as we found out it was, we brought her home with us. A year later, I was pregnant and our visas were about to expire. We needed to leave Thailand a little sooner than originally planned. I wanted to write out the process we went through to move Bella since it was a little bit complicated and there isn’t that much information out there.

The condensed version is that all you really need is:

• Airline approved crate (window ventilation on all 4 sides)
• Rabies vaccination certificate stating rabies vaccine was more than 30 days and less than 1 year ago
• Health Certificate from veterinarian
• Export license from Chiang Mai Animal Quarantine Office obtained within 10 days of trip
• Flight that allows pets in the cargo hold

Here’s the long version of the process we went through:

For starters I should mention that we lived in Chiang Mai so that was our  exporting destination. The first thing I needed to do was find a flight itinerary that looked manageable for a dog. I knew she would be locked in a crate in the cargo hold for the duration of our journey so I didn’t want one of those 36 hours itineraries where you have to go through Bangkok. Instead we found a 22 hour itinerary with Korean Air. Much more manageable amount of time for our pooch to be locked in a cage. Our travel agent booked the flight for us but I called the airline to confirm that we would be traveling with a dog and give them all the necessary information about our dog. They wanted to know her weight and size as well as the weight and size of the crate she would be traveling in. One thing we discovered was they have a 32 kilogram limit for the combined weight of the crate and the dog. Bella, our german shepherd/husky, thai mutt mix weighed about 20 kilos and our crate weighed 13! She was just over. So I had to search for a lighter crate that was still big enough. Not easy to find in Chiang Mai, but I did find one at the pet store on the Superhighway (just past Carrefour, now called Big C). Now their combined weight was exactly 32 kilos. Yikes, we put Bella on a diet to be sure she didn’t go over the weight limit. If you have a larger dog, there is no way they can travel with Korean Air. If you have a smaller dog, you will not have a problem. It should be noted that some planes don’t have air in the cargo and they won’t let you take a pet, so you always have to check before making definite plans.  

We prayed that Bella and the crate would be light enough on the day of travel. We still needed to put food and water bowls inside attached to the door and knew that would add a little weight. We were planning on begging for mercy and hoping they’d look the other way about an extra kilo or two.

Now that our flight and crate arrangements were made, it was time to think about the export license. The most important thing is to make sure your dog is healthy and vaccinated leading up to the flights. The only vaccination absolutely required is the Rabies vaccination. You need your dog to get this at least 30 days before their flight. Then you need to have a vaccination book or certificate stating that your dog has received it. This should be signed by your veterinarian. Also ask for a health certificate from your veterinarian stating that the dog is healthy and ready to travel.

Within 10 days of your flight, you will go to Chiangmai animal quarantine station which is over near the Chiangmai zoo and next to the police station. Bring your itinerary, vaccine records, health certificate and the passport of the person traveling with the pet. There is a form there you fill out. We were told to bring our dog, but they looked at us kind of funny when we showed up with Bella so I am not sure it was actually necessary. I figure it can't hurt though. Anyways make copies of all your papers beforehand because they will want to hang on to a copy. After you fill out the form and give them the vet records they will probably tell you to go home and come back a few days later to pick up your export certificate.

The day of your flight you are usually told you need to show up about 4 hours before your scheduled departure. We showed up at the Chiang Mai Airport 4 hours early and they looked at us like we were crazy. Once they finally let us get checked in, they weighed Bella’s crate and asked for its dimensions. Then they told us we could hang onto the dog until about an hour before the flight.

They did ask to look at all of our papers- the export license, Health Certificate, and vaccination record. Eventually they wheeled her away from us. Poor Bella’s whole body was shaking and I was crying thinking about how scared she was.

Then a little while later we boarded our flight to Seoul, South Korea. When we got to Seoul, we stopped by a Korean Air ticket counter and asked if someone could check on our dog. They did and told us she was doing fine. Again when we boarded our flight, I asked a flight attendant if she could confirm that our dog had been loaded on board before take-off and she went and confirmed this and let us know. J

Finally in Chicago, we waited in line at immigration and I eagerly peered past the immigration counters and I could see our crate sitting on a luggage cart next to baggage claim with an attendant waiting next to it. We waved at the guy and he saw us and waved back. We had taped a picture of ourselves and Bella to the outside of the crate so people would know she was a well-loved family dog and be nice to her.

We went through immigration and were so excited to get to her, but we knew we couldn’t let her out of her crate until we got outside because she would surely be dying to pee. We tried to wheel her right through customs but they told us we needed to stop by the CDC (center for disease control) first and the pointed to it in the corner. We went over, rang a bell, someone came out, glanced at our rabies vaccination record, scribbled something down and sent us on our way. That was all there was to it! 

If you have any questions feel free to comment and I will answer to the best of my knowledge. I know a great travel agent in Chiang Mai who helped us with some of the arrangements too. :-)