HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT WAS PAINTING AUCTION BY Thanachai Ujjin (Pod Moderndog).
Date: June 29th, 2019
Time: 16:00 - 18:00
Venue: Escape, Ekkamai 12
YOUNG BEATS IS AN EVENT TO PROMOTE YOUNG TALENTS. SPECIAL GUEST OF THE EVENT WAS Thanachai Ujjin (Pod Moderndog)
Date: Oct 14th, 2018
Time: 12:00-18:00
Venue: 3rd Floor, Airport Link Makkasan Station.
Naw Gyi Lay is a 19 years girl living in one of our HelpLive communities. We celebrate her beautiful story because she is not only part of the community that we support but she is now one of our sponsored teachers in the community. Her journey reflects our vision of not only providing needs to children, but also to invest in their future and raising local leaders like her.
The Bethany Centre Story
Bethany Manna Centre is a home for 13 children from the northeaster part of India.
This home is our first partner where we are providing scholarships for all 13 children that are part of the center. They are between the ages of 7-13 years old. Partnering with Bethany Manna Centre is a huge opportunity for HelpLive and partners to impact the lives of all these children by providing children with a better education. This is the beginning of a journey of taking care of at risk children in India.
Akokla Story
We covered all her schooling and boarding expenses. She worked hard with immense commitment and graduated from high school scoring star marks in three subjects. At this time, she is in college and her dream is to one day become a doctor.
The day after Thanksgiving, my husband Myles and I boarded a plane bound for Calcutta with our friends and fellow HelpLive USA board members, Chris and Maria. In Calcutta, we met up with our teammates: John, president of HelpLive USA; Esther, founder of a ministry mentoring at-risk youth in Kenya; and Paul, a missionary living in Thailand. We then flew to Dimapur in the northeast state of Nagaland, where Kilang served as our native guide as we learned about Naga culture, history and politics. Kilang's sister is the founding member of HelpLive India, and our team got to hear firsthand her ideas for developing a sustainable ministry to serve at-risk youth in Nagaland.
Our trip was a great experience for learning about Naga culture and politics so we could better understand the context of HelpLive India’s ministry. Kilang’s parents graciously hosted us for dinner each night with Naga-style hospitality. A member of Kilang’s family or community cooked for us each night, with the exception of one night where we tried to throw together American barbeque food (burgers and s’mores) for the community using locally available groceries. We were treated to a Naga-style picnic by the Chathe River, in which Kilang’s friends and family actually prepared and cooked the food next to the river and served it on banana leaves. We visited the Hornbill Festival in Kohima, where we watched tribal dances and learned about Kohima’s role as a strategic Allied outpost during World War II.
During our trip, we met with local leaders who shared about challenges HelpLive India might face culturally and politically. We also had the privilege of interacting with several teachers and got to learn about their personal challenges such as delays receiving their monthly salaries and the logistical difficulties schools face to help children. Our first induction into the hardships endured by the people of Nagaland was the road we took from the airport to our hotel. Whatever pavement had once existed had long worn away, leaving behind a seemingly endless minefield of deep potholes and a cloud of dust pervading the air. What should have been a quick 5-minute car ride would often take three times as long. We tend to take paved roads for granted here in the States. In Dimapur, we were faced with the impacts of inadequate pavement every time we went outside. I couldn’t help but wonder how much school instruction time, productivity and possibly even lives were lost due to the poor condition of the roads.
In addition to our Naga cultural experiences, we visited some plots of land in the surrounding villages which HelpLive India was considering purchasing to establish a school campus and develop agricultural businesses to help sustain their operations. We also visited some potential locations for another business opportunity in downtown Dimapur. Seeing the land and storefronts helped us better envision what the school and businesses could look like. It made us excited for the vision, which in turn allowed us to encourage Kilang and his sister in their goals.
Kilang escorted us to a girls’ home, where we shared a meal with the kids and Esther taught the kids a worship song in Swahili. The director shared her powerful testimony about how she came to establish the home in the aftermath of a traumatic experience. She started with little more than a few rupees, but God has continued to bless her ministry by meeting the girls’ every need. The home is now expanding to a larger facility so that the number of girls being served can grow. Her testimony and continued success in ministry was truly a story of God turning brokenness into beauty.
Myles and I had no idea what to expect when we embarked on this trip. Honestly, we didn’t really even understand why HelpLive India was being established in the first place. Yet God met us by breaking our hearts for Nagaland so that He could mold us to reflect His heart for the Naga people. We now understand the need for the school Kilang and his sister are trying to start. We see the bigger picture and the ways God is calling Kilang’s family to shape the next generation into men and women of integrity. That alone was worth the trip.
In August of 2016, seven people from all over California met in Thailand to join HelpLive in serving children at risk. John Lee, Jorge, Linda, Alicia, Jen, Rebekah, and John Kim were led by Kilang Pongen, the founder of HelpLive, and traveled to Northern Thailand to provide activities, meals, and lessons to displaced children of the Karen people of Myanmar. The team played endlessly with the children and also helped to build a garden at a school.
The blessings and lessons during those ten days are too numerous to count and any attempt could not truly capture the beauty and depth of the experience. Our time in Thailand was short, as if we stepped into and out of another life. Still the Holy Spirit urges his people to remember his deeds, for God is and has always been moving.
On the first day, after a long van ride through the jungle, the team had every reason to desire rest before jumping in. We were hot from the humidity and adjusting to the dirt and rain, but immediately we began to dance and play with the children. Despite sickness, tiredness, and frustrations, each day forward the team was ready to jump in and make the most of their time in this new environment. Although the team deserves credit for their resiliency and flexibility, God’s kindness and love was already seen in the children. He had already been growing the village and school and providing for the communities. There is more work to be done, but the team was privileged to witness the life and love in the communities.
The children live with an innocence, joy, and love for others that we would have difficulty finding in anyone in our own society. You could see it in the way the older children served the younger children food first, and how the children would not relent until we allowed them to serve us by carrying our heavy bags as we trekked through the jungle. Despite the team’s preparation and readiness to work, the children were the ones to teach us what it meant to serve one another and live life with joy. As we try to understand the mystery of the way God works, we remember that we are no more than jars of clay, filled with surpassing power that belongs to God, not us.
On our final days at both communities, the children sang a worship song in their native language for the team as a farewell. These children, with their tattered shirts, bare feet, cuts and sores on their body, sang a song so full of life that we were left in awe and tears.
It’s easy for us to think these children, living in wall-less huts in the middle of a jungle in a corner of the world nobody knows about, are completely without hope. And though their needs are great, we learned that there is a hope that is better than anything this world could offer, for God remembers these children and he knows their names.
- John Kim
15 years old Alemyanger is studying in Class VII in Dimapur, Nagaland. Two years back his dad severely injured both his legs in two consecutive accidents thus, it has been the responsibility of the mother to take care of the family financially. She supports the family by selling vegetables in the local bazaar. A normal day for her starts at around 4:30 am and the rest of the day is spent in the bazaar selling vegetables with a small profit. Since their mother is away the whole day Alemyanger and his elder sister Sentinaro are mostly left on their own to manage the housework as well as their studies.
The mother’s meager earnings are hardly enough to support them and to make ends meet leaving her no option but to borrow money at the end of most months to pay the children’s school fees. Despite this domestic hardship Alemyanger has been doing well in his studies all on his own. When most kids his age rely on tutors outside of school he has been able to get good grades through his own hard work and dedication. He is a bright kid who is keen on his studies and very disciplined and friendly in nature.
Alemyanger is the first child that Help Live is sponsoring in India and we would like to offer our gratitude to all our partners for making this possible.
"Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself". ~John Dewey
The year has almost come to an end and as the festive season commences most of you are undoubtedly making plans to join your loved ones for the Celebrations. Here at HelpLive Thailand the children are also eagerly looking forward to celebrate Christmas and it is hard to miss the happy smiles on their faces as the day gets closer.
As part of a Christmas fund raising we have started an initiative where you can make a donation of 300THB ($10) which will be utilized to provide warm clothes and blankets for the children this winter. It maybe a small donation from your part but it will definitely help keep a child warm.
If you wish to make a donation click on the 'Online Donations' post on our homepage. For more information you can write to us at helplivethailand@gmail.com.
"It is not how much we give but how much love we put into giving." ~ Mother Teresa
Charity Concert
A FUNDRAISER PARTY FEATURING THE FAMOUS STAMP APIWAT, VINTAGERS AND JAZKY &THE SOULSTERS
ON Saturday, June 27