Abundant Life Center

On Thursday Jung and Jon continued their Bible teaching with the Barefoot Doctor students. They have now been here for almost two months, and I’m sure they are getting a little tired of the classroom, but we want them to go home as prepared as possible for the ministry they will doing. It is sad to think that we may never see each other again in this life.

Mid-morning, I finally had the opportunity to visit the Abundant Life Center (ALC) which the mission has owned for several years now. Lopah and his wife manage this agricultural land where both crops and animals are raised in order to provide food for the functions at KLC. I learned we’ve been enjoying some of the meat from their hogs and eggs from their chickens. I know we have also had some vegetables from their gardens, but I have no idea what they are called. They are in the soups and recipes we eat along with our rice each meal.

Lopah and I had trouble communicating very well, but I was able to interact with the children at the ALC and give them some small gifts and candy. Some of the 23 children were at school, so the pictures only show about half of the children who live at ALC now. Included in that number are Lopah’s two children.

One of the teenage boys helped me know what the various buildings were around the 53 acre campus. There are two bamboo homes for the girls and two for the boys. House parents help take care of the children, and there is a resident “grandpa” and “grandma.”

I found the kitchen especially interesting! It has a concrete floor while the rest of the buildings have dirt floors. There is a modern but small refrigerator in the corner, but the stove is a very small cooking fire to one side. Dishes are washed in a concrete basin in the corner, then the dishes dry on shelves above that “sink.” This kitchen prepares meals for about 22 people every day!

In the afternoon, Jung and I tried to continue the Bible teaching but it was basically TOO HOT to make much progress. Everyone was wilting! So we took some time instead to discuss the medicines the students thought would be most helpful to them when they go home as Barefoot Doctors. We had a very lively discussion and eventually came up with a list of our Top Ten Medicines to purchase for them. Actually, we couldn’t stop at ten, so we ended up with our Top Twelve!

After that, we distributed some of the medical supplies a surgery center in America donated to the Barefoot Doctors ministry. Jon’s daughter, Jenna, works there and brought these donations to him all year long. You can see how excited the students were to receive simple things like latex gloves and bandages!

There is some medical equipment also needed, but we know we will be busting our budget on the medicines alone. At this point we have just $12,000 US to work with, but we are determined to make it stretch as far as possible. We have already purchased some dentistry modules that will be going back to Burma with them, too.

If you could make an extra donation to these needs at this time, we would really appreciate it! It would be most helpful if you can send it in immediately, since medicines will be purchased both in Thailand and Burma next week. The address for the FLC Treasurer is in the sidebar of this blog. Thank you very much!