History of Sila Home
In 1999, Paw Kiat and his family joined forced with a children's ministry where they served for seven years. In 2006, they decided to branch off, as God was calling them to start a ministry of their own. They set up a place for children to live inside of a church in Chaiprakarn, and invited 12 and then a total of 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) to live with them. After one year they had used all of their money, and relied on prayer for every penny. It came down to the wire financially. Would prayers be enough to feed and clothe these kids?
That prayer was answered big time when money came as a donation, and I kid you not, for $9000! The honor hadn't even ever been to Thailand or been in contact with Sila Home. They just heard about Sila Home from their son and God told them to give. God spoke to the Pastor (Paw Kiat) and told him that it was time to move away from the church, specifically that they should move 3km away from the church to an empty lot.
Obediently, pastor picked a direction and rode his motorcyle about 3km away. It wasn't obvious, but when he spotted a small unused portion of land he went to the owner and asked if it was for sale. It wasn't. Then Paw Kiat remembered a dream he had about buying a piece of land near an intersection years ago, so he sought out the intersection. He drove 3km in another direction, but didn't find anything, so he went back home to pray again. Finally, he drove the opposite direction, and at one point he felt like God was telling him to stop, something wasn't right. So he turned around and saw an interection 100 meters back. He took a turn to the right, and there it was - the empty lot. Paw Kiat got off his motorcycle and knocked on the door of the closest house. The door he knocked on housed the owner of the property who was eager to sell part of his land. They told the owner that they could purchase 3 acres of his land because that was all they could afford. They purchased the 3 acres and came with the children to start putting up a fence. While they were putting up the fence the owner came out to tell them that he believed in what they were doing so they could buy all seven acres availible and that they could pay him back for four of them whenever they had the money. They panicked when they measured the land the owner marked off for them and saw that it was nine acres instead of seven - how could they pay that back too? When they approached the owner he told them not to worry about paying for it but that they could count it as their land. They started to erect a building, but didn't have enough funds to finish it but the construction company saw that what they were doing was good and gave them all the supplies they needed interest free.
Four years later Sila Home is fully functional with space for 40 kids (although a couple spaces are left open for kids to stay short-term, coming from emergency situations). They are always thankful when someone offers them extra free food in the market or lets them pick the leftover vegetables on their farms. They do not receive any regular financial support, but they make due month by month. Continue on to future projects to read the continuation of this story.
That prayer was answered big time when money came as a donation, and I kid you not, for $9000! The honor hadn't even ever been to Thailand or been in contact with Sila Home. They just heard about Sila Home from their son and God told them to give. God spoke to the Pastor (Paw Kiat) and told him that it was time to move away from the church, specifically that they should move 3km away from the church to an empty lot.
Obediently, pastor picked a direction and rode his motorcyle about 3km away. It wasn't obvious, but when he spotted a small unused portion of land he went to the owner and asked if it was for sale. It wasn't. Then Paw Kiat remembered a dream he had about buying a piece of land near an intersection years ago, so he sought out the intersection. He drove 3km in another direction, but didn't find anything, so he went back home to pray again. Finally, he drove the opposite direction, and at one point he felt like God was telling him to stop, something wasn't right. So he turned around and saw an interection 100 meters back. He took a turn to the right, and there it was - the empty lot. Paw Kiat got off his motorcycle and knocked on the door of the closest house. The door he knocked on housed the owner of the property who was eager to sell part of his land. They told the owner that they could purchase 3 acres of his land because that was all they could afford. They purchased the 3 acres and came with the children to start putting up a fence. While they were putting up the fence the owner came out to tell them that he believed in what they were doing so they could buy all seven acres availible and that they could pay him back for four of them whenever they had the money. They panicked when they measured the land the owner marked off for them and saw that it was nine acres instead of seven - how could they pay that back too? When they approached the owner he told them not to worry about paying for it but that they could count it as their land. They started to erect a building, but didn't have enough funds to finish it but the construction company saw that what they were doing was good and gave them all the supplies they needed interest free.
Four years later Sila Home is fully functional with space for 40 kids (although a couple spaces are left open for kids to stay short-term, coming from emergency situations). They are always thankful when someone offers them extra free food in the market or lets them pick the leftover vegetables on their farms. They do not receive any regular financial support, but they make due month by month. Continue on to future projects to read the continuation of this story.