February 2024 Update

the chuenchums in thailand

February 2024 &

SPRITE & KRISTEN CHUENCHUM SERVING FAMILIES ACROSS THAILAND WITH

dear friends & family,

10 years ago, when we were opening libraries and coaching soccer teams in slum communities in Bangkok, we would have never been able to guess how God would lead us to where we are today. Now, we are working with communities all over the country of Thailand. We are helping to build the capacity of helpers and practitioners and social workers who have a heart to serve families in risky contexts but don’t know how. We’ve helped write curriculum and a handbook that people actually want to read (still amazes us!) and which they feel helps them in the work they’re doing. None of this could we have dreamt up on our own Yet here we are, and we are finding God prepared us well for the task at hand Our experiences in the slums continue to shape and form the way we talk, the way we coach, and the way we teach others. Our commitment remains steadfast – to see the poor and marginalized of society reach their God-given potential.

As we reflected on the beginning of 2024, we did so with such gratitude. It remains a privilege and an honor to get to come alongside people here who are doing all they can to support children and their families.

Read on to see how your impact is expanding and growing across Thailand – and into some of the most vulnerable parts of the country. YOU are a major part of families being strengthened here and we are so excited to have you along for the ride.

love, the chuenchums

For those of you looking for more ways to get involved in this work for children & families here in Thailand, we invite you to join us as a monthly financial partner* START GIVING

mae sot

Mae Sot is a town in western Thailand that shares a border with Burma (Myanmar). It is a fascinatingly diverse city that has been overwhelmed by migrants flooding into the country seeking asylum and a better life. As many of you have read in the news, there has been a war going on in Myanmar since 2021. The Myanmar military has taken over and waged war on its own citizens for years. The crimes committed are nothing short of heinous and it has spiraled the country into a very dangerous and chaotic situation. Many have fled and migrated to Thailand, ending up in the border town of Mae Sot.

Mae Sot is also the place we conducted our first Family Strengthening Handbook training of 2024. We were invited to co-train with our partners, Global Child Advocates, who attended our TOT last Sot for many years and were one of the book We were thrilled to get to work with

GCA and its partners work in a very unique context. We doubt there is another like it in the world! Because of the diversity of the migrants fleeing Burma and the desperation that comes from people feeling war, GCA and its partners are working with some of the most vulnerable populations in the country of Thailand. Mae Sot is also susceptible to some of the largest trafficking scams in the country. People from all over Asia have flocked to Mae Sot to take advantage of the vulnerable populations seeking shelter there and trafficked them into slave and sexual labor. Casinos are legal in Mae Sot and many people are trafficked to work in the local casino.

You can imagine that strengthening families fleeing the traumas of war and persecution only to face the vulnerabilities of poverty, marginalization, discrimination, and risk of exploitation could seem impossible.

Sprite co-trained with Chalee and Joy from GCA. Sprite and Chalee taught from the Family Strengthening Handbook in Thai and Joy translated everything into Burmese. The language barriers alone have made so many of these practitioners feel isolated and overlooked in the work they do with families. Many expressed their sincere gratitude to the trainers for their patience making sure everyone in the room understood every single word being taught.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that matter. It’s the little things like getting language right that mean the most It’s the little things like leveling with each individual trying to help their community that makes them feel empowered to go another day fighting the injustices their community faces.

The training was a hit! So many of these workers and practitioners expressed how they feel hopeful after this training because they now have a tool to help them help families.

Praise God!

meet our friends!

It was an awesome experience working with our partners and colaborers for this training, Global Child Advocates. If you want to learn more about what they do check out their website here:

HTTP://GLOBALCHILDADVOCATES.ORG

GCAalsorunsajewelrybusinessto employwomenintheirprograms. TheirproductsareGORGEOUSand makeagreatgiftifyoueverwantto giveagiftthatsupportsagreat cause.

Checkthemouthere:

fathers like bo

Chalee, Sprite’s co-trainer from GCA, shared the case of one family who reached out to GCA for help. We wanted to share this with you to give you an idea of the kinds of families that will receive family strengthening help because of GCA and the Family Strengthening Handbook.

A Burmese father (we’ll call him Bo) residing in a construction camp with his family in Mae Sot contacted GCA for help Construction camps are typically squatter-type communities set up by the construction company for their employees to live while they work on the construction project. They are temporary. Bo has two daughters – one who is 5 years old, one who is 3 years old. His wife is an alcoholic who beats him and her children and has left Bo for another man. Bo takes care of his children, but he is very sick with a kidney disease and cannot work anymore. He is facing eviction from the construction camp and doesn’t know what to do. He tried to build a tent for shelter in the construction camp, but the employer has recently kicked him off. He doesn’t have proper documents, nor does he have family in the country who can help him and his little girls. He must beg for money to feed his children. He loves his daughters so much but doesn’t know what to do. Because they were born in a tent near the community, they don’t have the proper legal identification either and he worries about their schooling and their future. He is scared to go to the hospital to get treatment because he doesn’t have the legal documentation.

Bo’s story is the story of so many fathers, mothers, aunties, uncles, grandmas and grandpas living in Mae Sot. They love their children, but they are desperate and vulnerable.

Chalee and his team and the rest of the 36 participants who attended the Family Strengthening Training were given a tool for how to strengthen families like Bo’s. Through the three-day training they worked through cases and came up with creative solutions that can help families like Bo’s get access to the resources they need to survive – and raise their children. Maybe it’s temporary housing or temporary access to food. It could include connecting him to some health care. And getting him some legal documentation so he can get a job or find a way to make an income for himself and his children in the future.

All hope is not lost. Strengthening is possible.

If you want to read more about how we believe families can be strengthened, the Family Strengthening Handbook has been uploaded to the Step Ahead and ACT websites and you can download it here:

in one training

alone...

Because of your generous support we are able to come alongside organizations like GCA to offer this Family Strengthening Handbook training to them and their partners.

36 professionals were trained in how to use the family strengthening handbook in mae sot in february

from 15 different organizations

541 families these professionals are serving around

1,114 children and around

Each one of these incredible professionals is doing everything they can to help families like Bo’s, help children like Bo’s daughters. It is an honor and complete privilege to know them and help support them with this tool and training.

Please know that YOU are part of this work. YOU are helping trainings like this happen. YOU are empowering local leaders in communities like Mae Sot to better strengthen families so they can raise their children in a safe and nurturing home.

THANK YOU for supporting families and communities all over Thailand by helping us build the capacity of the local leaders who serve them.

praise God with us...

For the opportunity and the outcome of this 3-day Family Strengthening Handbook training! We are thrilled that those in attendance felt it was beneficial and worthwhile. We are humbled and give God all the glory that so many children and families will hopefully benefit from this one training alone.

For GCA and the work they’re doing on the Thai-Myanmar border! We’ve always really admired the work they do and we are so impressed that they gathered so many people from their network in Mae Sot to join this training.

Sprite was invited to a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) training with our partner, Sahathai, this month. TBRI is a method of working with children and families that works at helping to heal trauma in the context of a safe relationship. Sprite said it was hugely helpful and can’t wait to incorporate it in some of our work. Understanding trauma has been very important when working with vulnerable families in Thailand

you could say asher captures the hearts of every thai auntie he meets here he is picking daddy up from his TBRI training but not leaving until he got a few auntie cuddles in!

pray with us...

For GCA and the other 15 organizations we trained in Mae Sot to feel confident and empowered to strengthen families facing the most difficult circumstances.

For the connections that were reinforced during the 3-day training. Many said this was one of the most helpful parts – working with others who work in this context and understand the intricacies of it. Pray that these connections turn into life-long support and a strong network in Mae Sot that advocates for families to be strengthened.

For Myanmar. We know the news is already full of reports on war in Ukraine and Gaza. Some days it can feel like the world is on fire. Rarely, however, are reports making news of what is happening in Myanmar – and yet a war wages and families and children face violence or the threat of violence every day. Please pray for peace.

As we look ahead we’d love your prayers for God’s direction. We’re so excited that this tool we’ve created has been so well received. Please pray for God’s wisdom as we make some decisions about where we bring it next.

On a personal note, we’d love your prayers for us as a family as we continue to settle in our new house and community in Rayong, Thailand. We are specifically in need of a new church community. Would you pray God would lead us to a church family?

“Build a longer table, not a higher wall, feeding those who hunger, making room for all. Feasting together, stranger turns to friend, Christ breaks walls to pieces; false divisions end.

Build a safer refuge, not a larger jail; where the weak find shelter, mercy will not fail.

For any place where justice is denied, Christ will breach the jail wall, freeing all inside.

Build a broader doorway, not a longer fence. Love protects all people, sparing no expense. When we embrace compassion more than fear, Christ tears down our fences: all are welcome here.

When we lived as exiles, refugees abroad, Christ became our doorway to the reign of God. So must our tables welcome those who roam. None can be excluded; all must find a home.”

- Hymn by David Bjorlin