Real Life

I’ve been struggling for a few weeks to think of a good topic for a blog post. Life has been pretty “normal” here, and there haven’t been any big events that warrant a post. Here are a few small events that have made it feel less like a vacation and more like our real life:

Last Saturday I drove our car for the first time! You may or may not know that in Thailand, drivers drive on the left-hand side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right-hand side of the car. Scott has been doing this flawlessly for weeks, but for me driving was a big deal. Granted, I only drove to the local grocery store next to our neighborhood, which required about 30 seconds of driving on the highway. Still, I had to park, back up, merge with traffic, etc, and no one died!

I also caught a pan on fire. We have a gas stove and oven outside our house in what is basically an enclosed porch. I had started to heat the oil and went back inside to grab something else from the kitchen. Big mistake! The oil caught fire and I had to put it out with some flour. Nothing was damaged and no one was hurt, but it definitely reminded me that this is our residence and if something goes wrong, we need to find a solution, not call on someone else to fix it.

Our outdoor kitchen

We had our first doctor visit last Sunday. E had a slight fever for a few days that just wouldn’t totally go away, so we took her to the hospital to make sure she hadn’t contracted some tropical disease. There aren’t really individual doctor’s offices here, everyone just goes to the hospital if they need to see a doctor. We were very impressed with how clean and efficient the hospital was, and how cheap it was to receive good medical care. Everyone we interacted with also spoke English, which was a relief since I didn’t know how to describe her symptoms in Thai. (Or describe anything, really, in Thai.) E just had a basic infection and is feeling much better now!

Waiting area in the pediatric clinic

This week we tried real street food for the first time. There is a market on select days at a plaza that we frequent and we bought food there for dinner. We weren’t super adventurous this time, but we do plan to go back and try some other things (i.e. fried insects) another time. The market has many individual tents and some tables behind the tents where you can sit and eat your food. We had all settled down with our individual food choices and were in the middle of eating when it started to sprinkle. This in itself is not a huge deal, but since it is rainy season we knew that it could quickly become a downpour. We scarfed as much of our food down as we could, then ran for shelter outside a nearby McDonalds. We were all pretty soaked by the time we got to our car, but we did get to see a beautiful rainbow while we waited for the downpour to let up. (Spoiler: it never did.)

Waiting out the rain at Meechok Plaza

These events and many others have helped us learn how to live like residents instead of tourists. We’re looking forward to acclimating more and more to Thai culture!

Deep Grief, Great Hope

The last week or so has been difficult for the IJM community. If you haven't heard, one of the lawyers on IJM Kenya's staff, along with his client and taxi driver, were abducted and killed following a court case at the end of June. The lawyer, Willie Kimani, was working a case of police corruption and brutality, areas which he had spent his whole legal career fighting. He was a dedicated lawyer, husband, and father, and will be dearly missed by all who knew him. The client, Josephat Mwenda, had been a victim of police abuse of power and was trying to receive justice. The taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri, was simply doing his job, which cost him his life.

The people of Kenya and the IJM community have been deeply grieving the lives of these men. This incident has sparked outrage in Nairobi over police abuse of power, which is unfortunately too common for many Kenyans. Thousands of people have come together to make sure that justice is done in this case, and that Willie, Josephat, and Joseph's deaths are not in vain. IJM is asking for people to sign a petition to ask the President of Kenya to take decisive action in this case and to remove the Deputy Inspector General of the Administration Police in Kenya, on behalf of every innocent person abused by his police force. If you haven't done so yet, please sign it here.

This case has affected me more than I anticipated. I did not know Willie personally, but I have identified with him in part because he and I are the same age and both have young children. I have been especially grieving for his wife this week as she embarks on a new life that she didn't expect, which will be significantly more difficult without her husband. The IJM family is committed to taking care of her and her children, but it will not be an easy road. There are many full-time staff, whom I do know, who, like Willie, do risky work on behalf of those who have no voice. This incident has been a chilling reminder of the reality of the threat of violence and the importance of IJM's work toward ending injustice against the poor.

Despite this great loss, IJM is not going away; they are committed to this fight because they believe that God desires justice for the world's poor and oppressed. He has called them to this fight, and they will continue in it until it is finished. They have hope that this incident will be a turning point in Kenya and that it will forever end police impunity in Nairobi.

Isaiah 61:3 says, "To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory." This verse really struck me this week as we prayed for IJM Kenya and the global IJM community. The LORD sees our grief, but He wants to give us hope because He intends for us to persevere. He has put us in this situation to bring Him glory. Pray for IJM Kenya; pray for the global IJM community. Pray for all those who are mourning, that they might receive God's joy and see Him glorified.

Settling In

We made it to Thailand!! We arrived last Wednesday and have been settling in to our new house and new job as best we can over the last few days. Many things about our house (and Thailand in general) are different than what we're used to in Indiana, but we are slowly figuring out how to best go about getting things done. We've had some conversations with the kids about using the word "different" instead of "weird" to describe things that are foreign to us, and it's been a good exercise for us all.

Over the last several days we've gotten cell phones, home internet, and a washing machine, and started the process of buying a car. We couldn't have done many of these things without a lot of help from co-workers who are teaching us to navigate Thai culture and translating on our behalf. We quickly realized that we're going to need to learn some Thai if we want to interact meaningfully with those outside of my workplace. We hope to get a tutor to teach us all some Thai soon!

Everyone we've met here has been really wonderful toward us, and we're looking forward to plugging into some community once we get some reliable transportation (hopefully this week!). We also should be able to do Skype/Facetime and email on a regular basis, so if you'd like to connect with us in those ways, just let us know! We miss you all and hope you have a great Independence Day!