Concordia students serve mission in Thailand

While in Thailand the Concordia mission group visited an
elephant farm where they learned how to ride elephants.

While most Concordia students bundled up to face the below-zero Midwest weather this January, some students spent their J-term across the globe, in the heat of a Thailand summer. Lead by Deaconess Betsy Karkan who serves as a mission trip coordinator for Concordia, a group of 14 students travelled to the country to learn about Thai culture while serving as short-term missionaries to the Hmong, a native hill tribe in Thailand.

Preparing for an Adventure

Though the group was eager to begin their work with the people of Thailand, in the months leading up to the trip, the students were required to attend regular meetings instructing them in Thai culture, customs, and song. During this training, students learned the things to do, such as the wai (the Thai greeting) and also the things not to do.

“Thailand has rules for things that you wouldn’t expect. For example, you couldn’t use your feet for things because that is supposedly the nasty part of your body,” senior Sarah Burr said. “The first day I was there, something was blowing away and, not thinking about it, I stomped on it. After I realized what I had done, I was like oh my gosh, I already broke a rule!”

In addition to using feet to touch things, touching others’ heads, believed to be the most holy part of the body, was also not allowed.

Identifying a Need

The Concordia students worked with the organization CWEFT,
tConcordia Welfare Education Foundation in Thailand, a
program founded by the LCMS.

Upon arrival in Thailand, the group made the eight hour trip to the northern Thai city of Chaing Mai, where their mission for the next week would be to help the organization CWEFT (Concordia Welfare Education Foundation in Thailand). CWEFT is a Non-Government Organization started by the LCMS in 1988 in Thailand to provide human care and education support to people living in poverty throughout the country. Though the organization carries out many different projects all over Thailand, the students helped with the organization’s current project, the Concordia Learning Center.

In Thailand there are several ethnic minority groups, including several hill tribe groups. These groups, who each have their own unique culture, language, history and style of clothing often live in remote areas of Thailand where access to free education is difficult. According to Karkan, living so far from free education forces families to make difficult decisions. A family must decide whether to let their child move to the city on their own to receive an education, or if Buddhist, let their boys become novice monks and receive their educations in that manner. However, these options pose as problems for the children of the hill tribe groups who would like to remain close to their families and are mainly Christian. CWEFT seeks to provide quality education and a safe place for children to stay and be taken care of during their studies.

“Many Christian organizations have established youth hostels for the students to stay in where they can be fed, taken care of and be nurtured in a Christian environment,” Karkan said. “This is the purpose of the Concordia Learning Center (CLC). Students live at this center and are responsible for cooking their meals, maintaining the property and eventually will grow their own food to make the project self-sustaining, all while getting an education- something that most people in their villages won’t have.”

Making a Difference

Students painted and wired electricity through newly
constructed buildings that will serve as a type of dormitory
for the Hmong students attending the CLC.

The students from Concordia spent five days in Chaing Mai helping to paint and add electricity to two new permanent housing buildings for the CLC students. Also, the group began building an adobe house, which would serve as guest housing for future visitors to the school. In addition, the students from Concordia had the opportunity to spend time in fellowship with the Hmong students in their village, playing games and talking with them, as well as, celebrating Children’s Day and the Hmong New Year with the students and their families.

The Hmong children play during their Children's Day festival.

“During the five days that we spent doing work on the houses and stuff we didn’t really hang out with the kids. But that Wednesday night and then Saturday, all day, we spent with the kids just playing music and hanging out with them,” senior Scotty Illich said. “Even though we were only able to help out for five days, and most of the time it was spent working not directly with people, they were still so appreciative. It was just really cool to see how much they appreciated the little bit that we did.”

Fun in the Sun

The entire group of Concordia gather together with their
Thailand leaders from CWEFT in front of LCMS Mission building.

Although serving the people of Thailand was their main mission, the students also found some time for a little fun and adventure. While there, the students were able to ride elephants, pet tigers, explore Bangkok and even soak up some sun while relaxing on a Thai beach.

After just 18 days in Thailand, the group returned to Concordia with a lot to share. However, in a country where less than one percent of its population is Christian, there is still much more work to be done in Thailand.

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