It was my privilege recently to visit the Lua people in northern Thailand. The land is steep and mountainous. In the wet season it rains heavily most days. The vistas are spectacular but the people are poor. The Lua, who live on both sides of the Thai/Lao border, have long been itinerant, partly because of […]
High in the mountains, close to the Thai/Laos border in Northern Thailand, on the thatched floor of their one roomed house, sit Boon, his wife Chum, their daughters and granddaughter, together with Lua evangelist Neng. 72-year-old Boon has been the village witch doctor for 22 years. The people in this Lua village, came to Boon […]
Gem and Tui live in northern Thailand, in the village of Ban Huay Pong. Married for 27 years, they are softly spoken and can be found spending their days in their garden and with their neighbours. People believed Tui had a powerful spirit. People living in the village believed that if they planted rice fields, […]
Dr Rova, a Malagasy Lutheran Church (MLC) missionary in the Nan province of Thailand, coordinates the Mother and Child Healthcare program in the remote and impoverished Lua communities. Many of the locals are immigrants and refugees from Laos and Myanmar and none of the local villages have hospitals or clinics. People face many problems with […]
I had previously been a Youth Counsellor for SHWALLY for many years including two trips to Malaysia with the assistance of LCA International Mission. After having a couple of years’ break from doing anything major for the church, I was at my desk at work one day thinking that it was time to get out […]
In the last week of February I spent a week with some first generation Christians in the Nan Province of Thailand – mostly people from the “Lua” ethnic group. I went with Erin Kerber (a project officer with LCA International Mission) and Chris Sumner (a member from the Springhead congregation.) Our “mission” was to “look, […]
Ouan was the last remaining doctor spirit in the village of Ban Huay Tong, in Thailand’s Nan Province. Spirits exist in many forms in Nan and the common element they share is the possibility that they will become evil if they are not properly appeased. Therefore the placating of offending spirits plays an important role […]
In the warm shadow of the overhead Bangkok highway, alongside the railway tracks slicing through the slum structures, in an area full of sights and smells most people go out of their way to avoid – lives Kainui. Kainui already wears his environment like outer clothes. Although 6 years of age, he has the size […]
The sense of evil and fear is hair-raisingly palpable as a spirit doctor approaches, uttering threats to villagers in northern Thailand’s mountainous Nan province. Spirit doctors have long reigned over the marginalised and impoverished Lua people with fear, demanding sacrifices and rituals to appease the spirits. But you are helping to change the lives of […]
My name is Hanna and I volunteered in Thailand with LCA International Mission. Before I had really looked into volunteering internationally, I thought that mission looked like building houses for people. I asked God how he could possibly think it is a good idea to send me to help someone in need. I spent a […]