2019 trip blog

Monday, June 3 – Bangkok, Thailand

After arriving in Thailand during the previous day, we finally assembled for breakfast at the Bangkok Christian Guest House. During the next sixteen days, eighteen Hesston College students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends of the college are being ably led by President Joe Manickam, faculty member Kyle Miller-Hesed, and staff member Tony Brown. We are learning about Thailand – culture, language, challenges, and peace building in the Thai context.

Our morning was spent with the Imam of the oldest mosque in the city, founded over two hundred years ago. Imam Ahhad Thanarat has been active in inter-faith dialogue and peace building and willingly shared about his congregation, faith, and showed us the mosque. They served us a delicious meal, even though they are still fasting through the end of Ramadan, ending in two days. Their hospitality was amazing.

In the afternoon, we visited the office of The Border Consortium (TBC), a humanitarian organization founded in 1984 to work with displaced persons and refugees along the Thai and Burma/Myanmar border. Between 1996 and 2011 alone, more than one million persons have been displaced in this region. This gave us good background into what we will be seeing first-hand in the coming days.

We then went to the train station to catch the overnight train to Chiang Mai. More stories to follow!

Submitted by Ken Rodgers