Northern Thailand and Development
A hilltribe school, only primary students...
Northern Thailand is uniquely untouched. Hill tribe people, from one of six main tribes, live in small, primitive villages scattered throughout the mountains and nestled away from modern cities. In effort to maintain their traditional way of life, many hill tribe people choose not to integrate into Thai society, and thus, face many challenges and vulnerabilities.
Stateless Persons
With political turmoil, disputed borders and refugee situations, groups of overlooked or unwanted people can become stateless, with no citizenship to any country. In Thailand, stateless persons have proven to be a large-scale predicament. They "are not eligible to receive government-provided education, health services, or employment. These marginalized populations face a variety of other serious problems like becoming involved in the trafficking of drugs, illicit goods and people." (Not For Sale) Since they are not censused, it is impossible to know the number of stateless people, but estimates range up to 2 million in the hill tribes alone. Many of those people have migrated from Myanmar to escape genocide.
Visit the UN's website for more information.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e489646&submit=GO
Lack of Education
If any education is available to hill tribe children it is basic and primary. Many children use only their obscure native languages and never even learn Thai, the national language. The greatest challenge facing the development of an education system within the hill tribe villages is that most tribes are very isolated. Small groups of people often live far into the hills, sometimes only accessible by foot. As well, trained teachers in the native languages are non-existent, poverty doesn't always allow children time to study, teens are sometimes the leaders of their families and an ignorance of the importance of education is passed down through generations.
Poverty
Many people in the hill tribes are living very impoverished. This is often related to a lack of family planning. Many families have far more children than they have the resources to provide for. Divorce is rampant and it is common for a man to go to the cities in search of work and to remarry. Addictions to alcohol and drugs often use any money that the villagers can make.
Human Trafficking
Poverty, combined with a lack of education, and statelessness all contribute to making the hill tribe people vulnerable to human traffickers. Parents can sell their children, thinking it is for the better for their child, or just desperate for money to feed their other children. Since they legally do not exist, nobody goes looking when entire villages die out because all of the young people are trafficked away. To make matters worse, Thailand is home to an estimated 150 000 to 200 000 prostitutes who cater to men who travel from all over the world. People from South-East Asia are also trafficked into China and other parts of the world.
Stateless Persons
With political turmoil, disputed borders and refugee situations, groups of overlooked or unwanted people can become stateless, with no citizenship to any country. In Thailand, stateless persons have proven to be a large-scale predicament. They "are not eligible to receive government-provided education, health services, or employment. These marginalized populations face a variety of other serious problems like becoming involved in the trafficking of drugs, illicit goods and people." (Not For Sale) Since they are not censused, it is impossible to know the number of stateless people, but estimates range up to 2 million in the hill tribes alone. Many of those people have migrated from Myanmar to escape genocide.
Visit the UN's website for more information.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e489646&submit=GO
Lack of Education
If any education is available to hill tribe children it is basic and primary. Many children use only their obscure native languages and never even learn Thai, the national language. The greatest challenge facing the development of an education system within the hill tribe villages is that most tribes are very isolated. Small groups of people often live far into the hills, sometimes only accessible by foot. As well, trained teachers in the native languages are non-existent, poverty doesn't always allow children time to study, teens are sometimes the leaders of their families and an ignorance of the importance of education is passed down through generations.
Poverty
Many people in the hill tribes are living very impoverished. This is often related to a lack of family planning. Many families have far more children than they have the resources to provide for. Divorce is rampant and it is common for a man to go to the cities in search of work and to remarry. Addictions to alcohol and drugs often use any money that the villagers can make.
Human Trafficking
Poverty, combined with a lack of education, and statelessness all contribute to making the hill tribe people vulnerable to human traffickers. Parents can sell their children, thinking it is for the better for their child, or just desperate for money to feed their other children. Since they legally do not exist, nobody goes looking when entire villages die out because all of the young people are trafficked away. To make matters worse, Thailand is home to an estimated 150 000 to 200 000 prostitutes who cater to men who travel from all over the world. People from South-East Asia are also trafficked into China and other parts of the world.
Sila Home from a Development Perspective
Despite the challenges it's people face, Northern Thailand is a beautiful place with abundant natural resources and lively, culturally rich people. A very small percentage of the people here are Christians, as Thai culture is deeply intertwined with Buddist beliefs and values. Many hill tribes practice animism and spirit-worship. Every home and many stores have small statues at the front for worshipping local spirits and appeasing ghosts. However, there are many churches sprouting up that are filled with passionate Christians and revival is in sight!
Sila Home is incredible because not only are children safe, educated and out of poverty, they are also exposed to what true relationships with the Lord looks like. Each day the kids spend a significant amount of time in worship, in prayer and reading, or listening to, the Bible. Many of the children who live at Sila Home came from Buddhist or spirit-worship families but have now seen the truth. Sila Home is raising well-disciplined, well-tempered kids, ya, but they are also raising kids to be missionaries and pastors. A good portion of the ids are hoping to go to Bible school when they graduate from high school to become pastors, counsellors and missionaries. They will be the ones to IMPACT their villages and their cities!
While it is obviously a beneficial ministry to benefit the Kingdom of God, and therefore, shoudl commence, it is responsible to consider the effectivity of this ministry compared to other feasible ministries that adress the same general issues. Let's zoom out for a minute and look at one of the large-scale problems facing hill tribes in Northern Thailand: vulnerability to become victims of human trafficking.
-human tracficking ultimately happens because there is a market for it and people are greedy/desperate enough for money that they will be deceptive and inhumane enough to meet the supply demand
-this greed and desperation potentially stems from a lack of God and a global inequality that leaves many people poor
-human trafficking could be reduced if the number of vulnerable people were significantly reduced, since the supply of people to be trafficked would be limited
-this could be combatted by measures such as educating the vulnerable, ensuring that they are accounted for nationaly and by reducing poverty levels through sustainable developments within the hilltribes or by integration into Thai society
-human trafficking could be reduced by an increase in the number of busts made on current traffickers and (within the sex trafficking industry) current brothels, as well as improvements to current legal systems that moniter the industry
-the situation can be improved for many women who have been trapped in prostitution by proving a way for them to get out of their job/bondage and by offering oppurtunities to gain job and life skills so that another means of wok can be pursued
Within this chain it is obvious that effective ministries could exist along any step in many ways. Check out great ministries like
The Mighty Oak Tree Foundation (who address education issues in the hilltribes)
YWAM Thailand
Not For Sale (also have GREAT information on human trafficking in Thailand!)
who address challenged facing the hill tribes in different ways. Sila Home is definitely a preventitive measure in terms of human trafficking, as it addresses the first two points directly. It is also a a part of breaking the cycles of poverty and lack of education. In this way, Sila Home, and similar ministries, while certainly not the only solution, are an excellent way to promote a positive transition for the hilltribe people of Northern Thailand.