Hoay Maw

We made our Christmas visit on the 28th December. The team consisted of four families and Jenny's friend Agnes and her children Marissa and Ben from Singapore.

"Walking Tall"

Agnes had brought some nice quality bed quilts which we gave as presents for the staff as well as other small gifts such as coffee (Pastor Joseph's favourite) and toiletries. There was food for a special meal which we had the privilege of sharing with the children.

The Norwegian charity, Open Hands, had supplied money for warm jumpers for each of the children and staff. Marit and Karine organised a craft activity. Snorre and the guys organised outdoor games. They took up various sports equipment and had made some stilts and skis! Agnes had helped organise some party games including a tombola.

Skiing in Thailand!

Wise men still seek Him

We also did a drama workshop where we taught the children “The Grumpy Innkeeper”. A group of younger children did it with costumes. An older group used puppets. It worked really well using the pre-recorded sound track.

Mary & Joseph

Saying "I Love You Lord"

We had prepared “Blessings in a Bag” for the children which contained hygiene supplies, school supplies, snack and treats and a T-shirt. After giving out the bags, each of the children were prayed for. We had a short time of worship and God's presence was powerfully there. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making Christmas special for the children and staff at Hoay Maw.

Day 1 - Learning - Mandarin video MP2 format - 164MB

Day 2 - Living - Mandarin video MP2 format - 174MB

Day 3 - Working - Mandarin video MP2 format - 173MB

Christmas is Coming!

As in previous years, we want to help to bring some blessings to the children and staff at the Hoay Maw children's home as they celebrate Christmas this year.

Warm Jumpers

The Norwegian charity Open Hands will be providing warm jumpers for each of the children which will be a great blessing as the weather gets quite cold up in the mountains. There can even be frost and if you have no windows in your bedroom (they only have screens and shutters) that is very cold.

Blessings in a Bag

We would like to bless each of the children with a bag of goodies (like a Christmas stocking), this will include: School supplies e.g. exercise books, pencils, coloured pencils. Hygiene items e.g. soap, shampoo, talc. Some treats e.g. candy and cookies. An age appropriate gift.

A New Outfit

Last year we were able to give each of the children a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. We would like to do this again as it has been lovely to see the children wearing their own new clothes during the year. As we will be providing the new storage for the children's clothes through the Spring Harvest offering, it will be especially nice that they have some new clothes to keep nicely.

Let's Party

We plan to visit at Christmas time and do some games, craft and activities with the children and also to provide a special meal.

Sports Equipment

We would like to be able to provide some sports equipment for the children to use at the home. This could include equipment for table tennis, volleyball, badminton, football and basketball.

Vehicle Fund

At present, the only vehicle available for use by the home is Pastor Joseph's own truck. This is not always available when he is travelling and so it is difficult for Paul and Rattanaporn to collect food from the market or take goods to the market to sell. A vehicle would also make it more feasible to take groups of children out of the environment of the home (which rarely happens). Paul and Rattaporn feel that a vehicle would greatly help them in generating income from selling goods and that this would contribute significantly to the running costs. It would also be used to transport older children who will be graduating to high school next year. Any remaining money from Christmas donations will be allocated to the vehicle fund.

You Can Help!

We would like to invite friends of Hoay Maw to join us to help provide Christmas Blessings for the children. Payment Details here... You can also make a donation in lieu of a gift to a friend or relative. After making your donation: Download gift certificate here...

We received an amazing £8,075 from the Spring Harvest Charitable Trust and the money is already making a difference in the lives of the children at Hoay Maw.

Approximately £3,000 has already been used for the following covering the months May - Oct 2009:

Learning:

£800 Annual school registration fee for all the children (£10 per child) securing the children's continued education for the school year.

Living:

£1250 Supplement nutrition, e.g. cooking oil, protein, vegetables, needed in addition to the food that is grown and raised themselves. This works out at ~8p per child per day and ensures that the children get a healthy diet. £220 Hygiene supplies e.g. soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sanitary products and cleaning products for the home. £160 Home items e.g. stainless steel spoons and forks (the children also have new cups and plates), new large rice cooking pot (old one had hole in), large spoon and cooking slice. The broken plates have also been replaced.

The children help to cook

Working:

Mushroom farm

£360 Repair of mushroom shed, small trial of shitake mushrooms and then fully stock with 1,500 shitake mushroom gro-bags. £250 Supplement chicken food during low season of egg production enabling the children to eat fresh eggs every day. £30 Seeds for new vegetable crops.

Planned areas for remaining £5,000 (Nov - Apr)

Learning:

School uniform including PE kit, underwear and shoes.

Living:

Storage for children's clothes. Improve décor of bedrooms. Sports equipment, e.g. for table tennis, volleybal, badminton, football. Continue supplement children's nutrition. Continue supplement for health and hygiene supplies. Large metal bowls for washing clothes Medical assessment of children. Medical training for staff.

Working:

Egg farm

Continue supplement chicken farm. Evaluate and develop new self-sufficiency project ideas e.g. chicken meat or ducks.

The Hoay Maw videos were presented to about 6,000 children at Spring Harvest 2009. At the event itself, over £6,000 was raised by children aged up to 11yrs. The Spring Harvest Charitable Trust continued to keep the offering account open up until July to allow further donations. During our visit to the UK, we were delighted and amazed to hear that the final total of the offering came to £8,075. We feel that the gifts of these young children are like the loaves and fishes given by a small boy to Jesus. In Jesus' hands, these gifts can be multiplied to make a big impact! The Hoay Maw Children's Home has never had any such significant resource, indeed they struggle from month to month to be able to afford basic food supplies. This money gives us the opportunity to make investments that will help provide more secure foundations for the future.

The areas that we plan to develop include: Self-sufficiency initiatives Home improvements Staff training Improved nutrition Safe drinking water Health and hygiene Education We will keep this web-site updated as progress is made.

We have been asked by Spring Harvest to produce a further follow-up video that will show the improvements made possible by the children's offering.

We are so grateful:

• To Father God for His faithful provision
• To the Spring Harvest Charitable Trust for selecting the Hoay Maw Children's Home as the offering focus for 2009
• To every child who has prayed, given and supported in any way

On behalf of the children and staff at Hoay Maw
Thank you Spring Harvest, God bless you!

Norwegian Vidoes

Day 1 - Learning - Norwegian video MP2 format - 160MB

Day 2 - Living - Norwegian video MP2 format - 170MB

Day 3 - Working - Norwegian video MP2 format - 170MB

DVD ISO Image - burn as DVD - 1120MB

Nation Shaker Videos

Day 1 - Learning - Nation Shaker video MP2 format - 160MB

Day 2 - Living - Nation Shaker video MP2 format - 170MB

Day 3 - Working - Nation Shaker video MP2 format - 170MB

Combined Nation Shaker video MP2 format - 380MB

DVD ISO Image - burn as DVD - 1.04GB

Translation of the Hoay Maw Videos into Norwegian The Hoay Maw videos are now being translated into Norwegian with the help of 10 yr old Adelaine. Adelaine and her family from Norway have been based in Chiang Mai for over 7 years. Adelaine attends the English speaking Grace International School for children of missionaries, aka MKs (Missionary Kids). It is important for Adelaine to keep up her Norwegian language skills and so this was an ideal project for her.

First of all, Adelaine translated each of the three Hoay Maw videos from English into Norwegian. Her Mum and Dad helped her check the script. Then we recorded the narration which Adelaine managed to do very efficiently and with excellent expression.

Adelaine's Family Introduced us to Hoay Maw

When we first visited Thailand on an Easter holiday 2005, it was Adelaine's parents who first introduced us to the Hoay Maw Children's Home where they had been involved for some time. That visit made a lasting impression on us and on our return to the UK, we felt moved to continue praying for Hoay Maw and to involve the children at our home church, Arun Community Church, to also pray and raise support to help them.

A leader who oversees mission advised us that it would be difficult to bring about long-term change without having someone "on the ground". We wondered who that "someone" might be!?

The following Easter (2006) we visited Thailand again and it was then that we felt God calling us to move out to help the children at Hoay Maw more effectively. At that time, Adelaine's family were about to return to Norway for one school year and so their furnished house would be available. In August 2006, our family came out to Thailand. We stayed in Adelaine's house and continued the role that her family had been playing at Hoay Maw. Our original intention had been to stay in Thailand for one school year but three years on we are still here!

After the first year, Adelaine's family returned and we rented another house. We continue to work closely together with Adelaine's parents.

Another important connection is with the Norwegian charity Open Hands who have been significant regular supporters of Hoay Maw.

The Norwegian version of the Hoay Maw videos soon be available and we hope this will help Open Hands promote their work with existing and new supporters.

On March 25th, we took a trip to Hoay Maw in order to show thechildren and staff the Spring Harvest Videos. They were really excited to see themselves and most of them appeared in the video. They giggled when they saw themselves and Oranuk, the girl who shows Jessica around the home, was really shy and covered her face. They enjoyed seeing the videos and were amazed that about 6,000 children were going to be shown the videos about life at Hoay Maw.

When we asked the children what they thought of the videos they said that they felt sorry that they looked poor but that they were pleased that they had the opportunity to represent their life to people in another country.

We encouraged them that although they may not be rich in material things, that they are rich in God and in the way that they live their lives.

We also showed the film Prince of Egypt in Thai which they loved. By borrowing a video projector and hanging a sheet over a big white board frame, we are able to set up a movie zone in the church. The children wouldn't have the chance to go out to see a movie and so we take the movie to them.

Support A Child Afterwards, we photographed and interviewed two boys and two girls with the hope of encouraging people to support the living costs of a child. More Details ...