(This house is hope because of Jesus)

back to my bangkok days... when i was talking to ruby (my trip companion) on what was the most inspiring moment, we both thought it was the walk in Klong Toey, the biggest slum in bangkok. before arriving i didn't know what to expect. 'slum' this word never really got into my brain. all i thought was the children.... little did i know what was to come.

well, we started off in a place called tesco lotus far off city centre which was a huge supermarket massive like those i saw in america, where Damaris (my friend who works for the people in the slum) met us. it didn't click how drastically different yet close the slum would be from this upmarket store.... minutes later we ended up in dusty streets and eating food cooked in an outdoor foodstall (yes, we were worried about getting diarrhoea, but thank God our tummies were blessed!!) then we entered an old building where the entrance read "This is the house of hope because of Jesus". Though the place felt so foreign, it felt homely, if you know what i mean!


(Brother and sister)

Then we were taken by our new friend Or to have a walk inside the slums, treading along the paths where children play with their barefeet, not having the chance to go to school. 2 little boys came to walk with us (photo will come tomorrow) and we learned that their mother was just released from jail last week, and they were reunited to their parents from orphanage... just last week) it was an experience just walk through that place. squeezed in the narrow paths were people deep frying food, sitting and doing nothing, looking over children, where babies crawl around stark naked, where houses did not have windows. no chairs inside, odd washing machines at the most peculiar corners of the paths...

I didn't want to take out the camera to take photos at first, didn't want to cause trouble. but i finally took it out, the children were so curious about it! they loved photos to be taken for them, their smiles so BIG and BRIGHT! i never knew i could make them happy too!!! but as Damaris said to me on my way back to the city... "Ask God what it is... there must be something that you can do more, even as a doctor and having a steady job... you can do so much more..."

tbc...