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June 2000
Dear Friends,
First, to business. The lives of Presbyterian mission co-workers
run in three-year cycles, and so it is time, again, for me to
return to the United States to share what is happening here in
Thailand. Last March/April, however, I was invited by the International
Health Ministries Office of the Worldwide Ministries Division
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to extend my time in the United
States by one year to serve as a missionary-in-residence in Louisville.
Upon accepting the position, I requested that I be allowed to
speak in churches for two months, come back here to follow through
with some projects, then return to work in Louisville for a year.
What that means is that I will be available to visit in churches
during September and October. I will return to Thailand at the
beginning of November. The work in Louisville will begin in February.
I do realize that this is not nearly the amount of time that I
have had to visit in the past and also that I am giving you very
short notice, as you are most likely already enjoying summer,
and for this I apologize. However, I am willing to do whatever
I can to make the most of those two months. So, if you would like
me to come visit, please get in touch.
In order to fit the greatest number of visits, I hope that you
will be able to be a little flexible regarding dates. If not,
please let me know that as well. I am looking forward to seeing
as many people as possible during those two months.
And what has been happening in these past few months? I can give
you more details when we see each other in September or October.
But, looking back, each month seems to have a few main highlights.
January saw the beginning of the second year of activities for
our child-centered projects, with a day’s outing and picnic
at the zoo for about 30 children, all of who have at least one
parent living with HIV/AIDS or having died of it. We had a great
time, and it was fun to get to know the children better. In January
we also said goodbye to the last child from the original group
of HIV-infected children who had inspired us to start dreaming
about the child-centered projects 18 months earlier. In fact his
funeral was the day after our outing to the zoo. Talk about highs
and lows….
February was a month for traveling. This included two trips to
Cambodia to look into the possibility of doing a malaria bed-net
project there. The second trip was with Dr. Dorothy Brewster-Lee,
director of WMD’s International Health Ministries. We had
a good time, but unfortunately, although malaria is a major problem
in Cambodia, the group that we had hoped to work with is working
in an area in which there are many health problems but malaria
is not one of them.
March was quieter, taken up with the more usual routines plus
meetings, but the middle of April was the traditional Thai New
Year celebration, so everything stopped for people to celebrate
for a week or so. The second half of March, April, and May are
the school holidays here. It is the hottest time of the year so
would be like the summer holidays in the United States. We were
invited to do the program for a camp for the young people from
about six churches before the holiday. After the break the CAM
staff got away for a few days to plan for the coming year. (Our
fiscal year starts in May.)
On May Day, 16 of the older young people (11–20 years old)
and four CAM staff took off to the beach for the camp of our lives!
The drive to get there took about 16 hours. On the way back we
stopped to sightsee so the kids could see a bit of both the present
capitol, Bangkok, and an ancient capital that they learn about
in school, Ayuthiya. The camp itself was, I believe, one of the
best we have had so far—partly because we got to go to the
beach but more because we got to know many of the young people
so much better. In the days we were away, we saw several coming
out of their shells, showing what charming people they are. We
were also privileged to get a peek at a lot of pain.
A week after getting back from camp a colleague (with another
organization) and I put on a workshop about working with children.
Around here, you do what you can and share what you know. I would
not consider myself an expert on kids by any means and putting
on such a workshop was a truly humbling experience. My own questions
become so much clearer. I do hope that I will be able to do a
little study on child counseling and working with children in
crisis while in the United States.
Which brings us up to the present. Yesterday, the beach-camp
kids came to the office, and we worked together on creating a
poster presentation on "Voices of the Children: Children
speak out about their own lives" for the 13th International
AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, in early July. I will
attend thanks to the support of the International Health Ministries
Office. I asked young people to help me so that they would have
an opportunity to put some of their thoughts and feelings into
words and pictures to share with others, a process that is very
difficult for them. But being together again was great fun.
After returning from Durban, there will be a flurry of activity
and then I will return to the United States the middle of August
to catch my breath and have some time with my family before heading
off to visit you in September and October.
Looking over what I have written, this has not turned out to
be very brief and yet there is so much more we could talk about.
It will have to wait until I see you, hopefully, later this year.
May the path you walk be warmed by the light of God’s joy.
Janet Guyer
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