Patient House Outreach
Another outreach us and you (partners) were heavily apart of this past Christmas was to the Burmese Patient House in Chiang Mai.
We’d received word about this place through a friend and contacted them. We were asked to meet with a lady named Kanchana who started the patient house upon seeing the overflow need of Mae Tao Clinic.
Mae Tao Clinic is a large clinic which started in Mae Sot, Thailand (a border town along the Burma border) by a Burmese lady who wanted to help provide medical treatment for those seeking medical care from Burma. Kanchana started her organization known as “The Burma Children Medical Fund” which is dedicated to raising money for children (as well as adults) from Burma with serious medical problems who are disadvantaged as a result of the political turmoil there. The amazing thing is everything she does to help these people is based off of sponsorships. She takes on the more serious cases that Mae Tao Clinic can’t perform and would otherwise turn away. None of these people have money, and sadly their surgeries and treatments are beyond what free medicare can provide. So she started the Patient/Sick House which runs solely on individual support.
“If I can just get people to help me pay for their transportation from Burma to here and back, I can do the surgeries for free,” she told us.
The total cost for such a trip with includes 18 people, is 7,000 baht. That’s just $241 for a truck of 18 people to get here including the cost for food as well. If we brake it down further, that’s only $13 a person..
After hearing about all of this, we met with the team to decide the best way we could help. The patients still had homes in Burma no matter how bad those homes may be, so they weren’t refugees, but people from Burma who needed our help. We decided to pull all of our money together, along with what people gave, and get as much extra cash as we could to sponsor a trip.
We came up with around 9,000 baht. We put 7,000 of it aside to fund a trip, and bought toiletries, snacks, toys, and food with the rest.
They were all ready for us when we came. 14 patients in all. The house manager shared each of their individual stories with us.
Some had cancer, others shrapnel wounds, limbs that were gone, blinded eyes, legs that were deeply wounded, brain cancer…on and on. Truly the Gospel of good news was needed here. We put on a smile as we greeted them, and determined to help bring some joy into their lives for as long as we were there. Nick & James played Christmas tunes and we sang along. Ashley, Darlene, Dustan, and Mandy handed out the gifts.
We put on a fun skit to make them laugh called “Don’t Touch,” aka “Sin Chair Skit.” Where anyone who touches the chair gets stuck and can’t get free.
Everyone that comes along tries to help, but ends up getting stuck also. Finally a Christian comes along and shares how they can pray and believe in Jesus to get free. In the end everyone does get free and skips away rejoicing. The meaning of the chair? Sin.
Dustan along with our translator who Praise God is a Burmese Pastor in Chiang Mai, shared boldly the message of Christ and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus.
In the end about 5-7 people received Christ into their lives! Praise God! We found out that the house manager there was a born again believer along with a few of the workers and patients as well. It was awesome to see God at work in the place! The team then went to each individual patient and prayed over them. With the one lady who had cancer in her brain we felt the power of God touch her in such a strong tangible way.
Ashley prayed for a lady who was blind. She was a believer, and agreed with Ashley that she was healed. She told her, “I believe. I believe God can heal me.”
We served them the meal we’d brought. It consisted of the best chicken we’ve found in Chiang Mai along with sticky rice and spicy sauces.
We sang, played games with the kids. Tried learning how to hula hoop. Had a good time with each of them. It was hard to say goodbye, but we knew this wasn’t a one time thing…
We’d be coming back.
