We have a neighbour who we travel closely with. He is great fun and always gives us a laugh. He is someone who experiences the deepest communion with God, more than anyone I have ever known. He will hear God speaking to him and sees God next to him in many situations.

His background is completely different to a common ‘Christian’ upbringing and so has never heard of the way of life that a follower of Jesus would live. For him it is new to forgive others, to choose options of conflict resolution other than violence, to respect women, to honour his body by abstaining from drugs that damage him.

He is on a beautiful and humble journey learning to see things differently, and it is all starting with him learning that he can be forgiven. Sometimes, if he has done something violent, he doesn’t know why he feels so bad about it because in his life it would have been perfectly justified, he just knows that he doesn’t like what he has done and God himself sits with him and helps him to know that it will be ok. He learns from God himself that he wants to change. All that we do is sit with him and are there to talk about these new changes.

He out of all the Christians I know is seriously wanting to take up his cross, follow Jesus and live unashamedly for Christ (Luke 9:23-27). What a privilege to be on this journey with him.

On a personal note, we are excitedly looking forward to the coming of our baby at the beginning of July! The pregnancy has been going well so far and the baby is very active- kicking and rolling around constantly- which is very encouraging. Please pray with us for our baby, his health and us as we learn what it means to welcome another person into our life.

Prayer-

We would also value your prayers as we continue to immerse ourselves into life her in Central Mt Druitt. We are really seeking who else God would have us walk alongside in a way that truly empowers our community.

We are looking to begin engaging with the Asylum seeker community in Sydney. Please pray for us as we explore how we can get involved.

Praise-

We thank God for the neighbours who have been so welcoming, loving and generous to us, especially the Sudanese and Somalian families.

Thanks so much for your continued interest, prayers and support! Please send us your updates too when you get a chance, we love knowing how you’re going too!

Love,

Matt, Katie and our little bub to be

Hi friends,

We are so grateful for your solidarity with Urban Neighbours Of Hope. Could you stop to pray and connect with the latest developments of what God is doing through us? We hope you will be even more inspired, informed and involved in seeing God’s Good News transform lives because of your prayerful reading of these ‘UNOH Updates’. We certainly need all the prayer we can get!

Thanks again for your love and support.

God bless,
Ash Barker,
UNOH Director

PS Hope to see you together with all our UNOH workers at our annual Commissioning Service (UNOH Centre for Urban Mission, 2/6-12 Airlie Avenue Dandenong, 6pm, July 31, 2011)

UNOH Funding Focus

To pray for and donate to UNOH workers who you know, trust and believe in, is one of the best ways to support UNOH’s work among the urban poor. Its gives workers the support they need to give their best time and energy to their neighbours, reproduce themselves as workers and speak into the life of the broader church. Please click here to support a worker and receive a tax-deductible receipt.

Update from the ‘Hoods’

Please pray for our nine UNOH teams in five cities. In this ‘UNOH Update’ we have recent news from:

Ø  Mae Sot (Thai-Burma border): Rod Sheard and Pete ‘Murray’ Taylor have established their new home in a neighbourhood right near the river, which is the border. Prayer is especially sought for the growing connections with neighbours, teaching roles and Church of Christ in Thailand leaders. Here is Rod’s latest prayer letter.

Ø  South Auckland (NZ): The Tims family have hit the ground running with their new neighbours in Manurewa. Praise God for them joining a resident action group, starting a neighbourhood newsletter and supporting youth work. Pray also for Heather Oulton who prepares to move from UNOH Bidwill to return to her native NZ  to join the Tims there. Here is the Tims latest prayer letter.

Ø  Lock 3-6 (Klong Toey, Bangkok): The needs in this section of Klong Toey slum are constantly overwhelming, yet God works through us in weakness. The Barker family are enjoying their tenth year in Klong Toey as Alisha Faulkner has started her first so well. Here is Anji’s latest adventures.

Ø  Rom Gow (Klong Toey, Bangkok): The MacCartney family have had a tough year, but it’s amazing to see how God uses them, especially through Second Chance Bangkok and the house church.  Adam and Kellie Cross have joined the Rom Gow team this year and are hard at work already. Read more from the Maccas on the UNOH blog shortly.

Ø  Springvale (Melbourne): Work with Burmese refugees has gone to another level in Springvale this year. The Dekker family see the ‘Free Burma Cafe’ shaping up well with a pre-launch catering service going mad. This year they are joined by the Schneeberger family and Laura Florisson, who have started really well. Read the Dekker’s latest news on the UNOH blog shortly.

Ø  Noble Park (Melbourne): Work with Rainbow, Sudanese, children and young people have been especially exciting this year. The Hingley family, Coath family, Jono Bailey, Jane Morton, Steph Litteral and newbie Steph Miller make an amazing team. Read their latest insights and prayer needs here.

Ø  Dandenong (Melbourne): The Blair family moved from Noble Park to Dandenong and love seeing the Rainbow and Sudanese work expanding, and opportunities to serve, including at a local Primary school, taken up. Ashleigh Newnham has joined the team from UNOH Bangkok and Vikki Home and Sharon O’Brien have started well too. Sharm shares her latest prayer e-mail here

Ø  Bidwill (Sydney): Lisa Paxton, Heather Oulton, Adam Booth and the Owen family have had a really challenging year, but God keeps working through them in remarkable ways. Community meals, jail ministry and a Sunday school are all connecting neighbours together. A UNOH Seminar in Bidwill with Shane Claiborne attracted over 100 participants. Here are Jon’s latest reflections.

Ø  Mt Druitt Central (Sydney): Matt and Katie Godfrey moved from Bidwill to Mt Druitt to follow up work with refugees. Katie is due to have a baby next month! Joining them will be Jesse and Chelsea Size, who  started well with Owens in Bidwell, but are now moving to Mt Druitt Central as reinforcements for the Godreys! Read more from Matt on the UNOH blog shortly.  There’s also an update from Heather Oulton.

Updates from UNOH Training

With Sub-merge in full swing and two amazing seminars in Sydney and Bangkok already completed, don’t miss more upcoming UNOH Training. There are two more UNOH Seminars this year in Melbourne July 27 (with Mick Duncan and Anji Barker) and October 13-14  (with Tony Campolo)., plus Open Nights, Missio Dei and Mission Exposure courses with UNOH. If you want to join UNOH next year please contact Jim Reiher ASAP to get your place as a Sub-merge intern. See Jim’s latest news for details here.

‘Out and About’

With all UNOH workers returning to Melbourne for our now bi-annual International UNOH retreat, our special annual commissioning service will be held. Please join us to celebrate what God is doing through us all (UNOH Centre, 6pm July31). Mick Duncan and Jon Owen will speaking. Many UNOH workers will also be speaking in churches around Australia in June and July; not least is Anji and the ‘Cooking with Poo’ cookbook tour in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. They will also be seen on Sunrise TV show.

Updates from UNOH Publishing

Jon Owen’s first book Muddy Spirituality: Bringing it all back down to earth was launched in Melbourne at Surrender and in Sydney at Tinsley annual lectures. Please buy this book and other UNOH books which are now on special for just $15 (plus postage). Why not go to www.unoh.org/unoh-publishing and help inspire and inform your friends with a copy of one of our titles.

The Newsletter of Heather, UNOH Mt Druitt Sydney

Jazmin doing her thing

“You say I took the name in vain.
I don’t even know the name…
There’s a blaze of light in every word,
It doesn’t matter which you’ve heard:
The holy or the broken hallelujah.”

I sat as still and quietly as I possibly could as I watched teenager Jazmin and UNOH worker Adam pour their hearts into the recording studio’s microphones. I’d heard them sing Leonard Cohen’s ‘hallelujah’ many times before, but this occasion was special: a friend of UNOH had offered to help them record the track in their recording studio. “Don’t cry, you egg!” Jazmin laughed at me as we heard the first playback in the editing booth. I couldn’t help it; it was so beautiful.

Though she’s had to face some hard stuff (for example, at 17 she’s lost both parents), Jazmin’s life breathes a hard-won ‘hallelujah.’ As in the Cohen verse above, this is a hallelujah that blazes with light: despite all odds, Jazmin’s is a life full of laughter, courage, determination and care for others. (Email me if you’d like the song file; heather@unoh.org!)

Ours is a beautiful God, who honours both the holy and the broken hallelujahs, allowing His light to blaze through each. As a UNOH team in Mt Druitt I know our hallelujahs are often broken, and we reflect God’s love and light poorly – but somehow He still manages to shine through us. Whether we tell them or not, our neighbours seem to know that we are Christians, and that we choose to live somewhat differently from the prevailing norms around us. I was recently at UNOH worker Adam’s house where a meal was being shared by a large and rowdy bunch of people. I overheard a mother threatening one of her children in the corridor, but then heard the father reminding his partner that “this is a non-violence house! This is a very non-violence house!” I’ve never heard Adam (or anyone else) use that phrase, but somehow this family knew who we are and what we stand for. But we are by no means the only ones to be mumbling hallelujahs, broken or otherwise. Many people in the Mt Druitt community wouldn’t necessarily ‘know the name’ – they couldn’t talk theology with you and they might not fit well in a mainstream church congregation – but they clearly exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, and their broken hallelujahs still blaze with light. And the ‘holy’ hallelujahs of the church speak loud and clear with beauty, too.

The Finished Product

In fact, in this vocation I often get to hear the hum of hallelujahs everywhere! I see my neighbour ‘Claire’ getting a card to send to another neighbour in rehab, and taking it round the community for everyone to sign. I see my neighbour ‘Gary’ helping my house-mate Pax with her car. I see Jazmin taking care of me when I’m sick. I see teenager ‘Hannah’ making a birthday cake for Adam. I see local men pitching in to clean up a single mum’s yard. I see good Christian people offering their homes to us and our community members. I see the Owens being incredibly generous with the little they have. I see my own friends – in a different country – giving generously of their resources to support the work here. I see churches embracing our (sometimes difficult) community members. I think I see glimpses of the Kingdom of God! What an incredible privilege. Thank you, so much, for your part in making this all possible.

As a quick update, I’ll be moving to Manurewa mid-August and would love you to join me for a story-telling/photo-sharing/plan-updating lunch around that time – tentative plans are for Sunday 28th August but watch this space.
Can’t wait to see you then!

xx..Heather

Please Pray…
Praise for the start of a worshipping community in Mount Druitt – kicked off with an Easter service/celebration shared with neighbours.
Praise for the wonderful start made by the Tims in Manurewa, including starting a community newspaper & a youth leadership program. I’m excited about joining them in this work soon!
For teenagers being bullied at school, struggling with assessment demands, and generally grappling with tough circumstances.
For a few more supporters to stand with me both financially and in prayer.
Thanking you, Heather

The Newsletter of Gabriel and Catherine Hingley, June 2011

It was a joyous moment of celebration. About forty adults and children were gathered under a large tree in a park, throwing streamers, cracking coloured eggs, laughing and singing. But it wasn’t someone’s birthday – we were celebrating the fact that Jesus had risen!  Afterwards we shared in some delicious food, jumped in sack races and searched for chocolate eggs under the trees. The joy was tangible everyone could feel it.

This year Easter Sunday seemed all the more meaningful for our Rainbow Church community. I believe this was partly because the Noble Park and Dandenong Teams chose to offer people the opportunity to really live the Easter story out in a tangible way. So on Maundy Thursday we shared a meal together and re-enacted the Last Supper, learning about the significance of the Passover meal for the Jewish people. On Good Friday we walked through Noble Park carrying a large wooden cross and reflected on the story of Christ’s Passion, entering into the suffering of Jesus as he carried the cross as well as the grief and despair of his disciples. In the local railway tunnel we watched as some of our neighbours acted out the story of Peter’s denial. Finally we entered the darkness of the tomb as we all gathered in our friends garage in the dark.

The power of living out the gospel narratives through drama and symbolism is that it helps people access these stories without needing any prior theological, historical or biblical knowledge. In our gathering there were some who had never heard the stories before, a number of whom came from different faiths. There were others who could not read, and others who do not have the intellectual capacity to grasp the stories with their minds. But the beauty of the Easter story is that we can all be drawn into the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection through symbols and creative story-telling, no matter what background we come from.

I believe it was because we as a community explored the hard moments of Jesus’ pain and crucifixion and the disciples’ grief, that we could celebrate His Resurrection all the more joyfully. It’s as though we felt the risen Lord together. Catherine and I praise God that He regularly gives us opportunities to share in the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection with people on the margins of society.

“Spirituality of the Activist”, July 27th with Mick Duncan in Melbourne.

Mick Duncan is a great friend of UNOH and many who are reading this will have heard him speak before. Mick is a New Zealander who has had decades of ministry both overseas, and locally. He is a radical disciple for Christ, who will challenge, provoke, ruffle, and inspire you. UNOH re-published his “Costly Mission” in 2007, as well as “Who Stands Fast?” and “Wild Ones”.
Cost:      $60 (unaccredited) or $40 for those on health care cards

• Melbourne: Wednesday July 27 – one day only. At the UNOH building: factory 2/6-12 Airlie Ave, Dandenong. Booking person: jim- jim@unoh.org; (Stay around for the evening as well: an “Open night” with Mick at the same location.)

Other presenters: Anji Barker (UNOH  Klong Toey) and Steve Turner (Forge, Qld). Anji is one of the founders of UNOH and leads the UNOH Klong Toey team. She is a trained social worker who has over two decades of experience in Melbourne and Klong Toey. Steve leads FORGE Australia with decades of experience with YFC and church planting in Queensland.

Mick will also be speaking on the same evening – also at the UNOH building in Dandenong – starting at 7.30 pm. Our monthly Open Night will have Mick as our guest who will do a presentation and lead a conversation and question time. Worth coming for!

UNOH commissioning night

Sunday night the 31st July. Come along to the UNOH building (factory 2/6-12 Airlie Ave, Dandenong) on Sunday night at 6.00 pm for the annual commissioning night! On this evening, UNOH will pray for all the UNOH workers including the Sub-merge interns (some will have just become apprentices, others may have become Companions of Hope and others might decide that at the end of the year they will be finishing up with UNOH). We reaffim our covenent and commission for what lies ahead. We are also launching “Companions of Hope” and some others may be prayed for and commissioned on that same night. Mick Duncan and Jon Owen are speaking at the event and it will be a wonderful time of catching up, celebrating, and prayer together. It will be the last time all UNOH workers will be together in one place for two years.

Time to think about Submerge 2012

You might be thinking about the possibility of joining with UNOH and jumping in to do the Sub-merge training year. If you are considering it: let us know what you are thinking! Contact Jim Reiher jim@unoh.org; and begin a conversation with us. We are taking up to a dozen students for 2012, and will spread them around the different UNOH locations. How can you get involved? Being by telling us about where you are at, and what you are thinking about. We want you to be connected to UNOH – friends with us already – so make sure you connect! We will ask you where you would prefer to work (Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, or Thailand), and we can explain the different emphases of the different locations, as well as the way to be accepted by your preferred team. Don’t leave it any longer! Make that initial contact now!

G’day friends,

Here in no-man’s land between Burma and Thailand are literally the margins of society. We’re a few kilometres west of the most western town in Thailand. On the other side of us just one kilometre east is the waist deep, River Meuy, that separates Thailand and the frontier Burmese town Myawaddy. Rushpast Port is a translation for this place from Thai after the Meuy River that flows past on it’s long journey to the Gulf of Burma. Although this place is technically governed by Thailand it’s populated by Burmese and located on the “wrong” side of the Thai police checkpoints. When we asked in MaeSot where’s the worst place to live around here they warned us not to go to Rushpast Port. There’s a certain greyness in the law on the border. It’s easier for our neighbours to go to a market in Burma from this neighbourhood than to run the checkpoints and go to the MaeSot market in town.

The edges of society are so difficult and complicated to govern that often they’re forgotten and unsupported. Rushpast Port is no exception but it’s also where hope can be found. Unhindered by society’s rules hope can flourish just like the weeds sprouting out of the cracked pavement. Perhaps even like a kingdom described as a mustard bush

Rangoon Institute of Technology was a base for many students fighting with words via speeches at the rallies in 1988 just before the massacre. RIT has been closed down for the last 20 years by the government afraid of student activists. In fact Rangoon universities have all been dispersed in an attempt to prevent students joining together to demand for democracy. The once sought out Burmese education system is now barely functioning. Some of those idealistic tech students found their way to MaeSot years later as teachers.

a brighter future for Sun

It’s today’s youth in Burma who suffer from a lack of opportunity. Sun is from a poor rural farming community and at 20 can barely read and write. He’s not academic but he’s passionate about being a mechanic. On the farm he experienced the unpredictability of nature and the Burmese army. He’s keen to make a livelihood fixing and using machines which he understands more easily. He’s one of the 27 students that joined the Science and Technology Training Centre this week for the start of term. Even though he barely scored any points on the “entrance exam” both the head teacher and I after his interview were keen to have him join. It’s guys like this that just need a break to realise their potential in a practical learning environment.

explaining Mcpherson strut vs torsion bar suspension

At the moment most of my time is spent teaching Mechanics to these tech students each morning in an open air classroom. If we’re not gathered around my ute or motorbike we’ll be sitting down in a circle as I pull apart something mechanical and show them how it works. During one 2 hour class I pulled apart the clutch on my motorbike even though it had been slipping badly since a mechanic had replaced a part. In my class I held up a component, the one-way bearing, which fell apart in my hands. Not remembering which way it went back together I assembled it according to a parts diagram from the internet. As I rode away after class I realised the clutch wasn’t slipping any more. I had accidentally fixed the clutch during the class. The “mechanic” had put the one-way bearing in back-to-front. Although I was a mechanical engineer 10 years ago it doesn’t mean I know how to fix stuff. We were taught more about how stuff should work and how to design it. So for both the students and I we’re on a learning journey. Usually I’m looking up resources on the internet the day before class trying to keep one step ahead of the students.

female mechanics for a free burma

Through this Tech School these Burmese students also get a chance to access the Thai education system. In a fortnight we’ll be attending the MaeSot Technical Vocation College. Each evening for 3 hours we’ll be in their workshop learning motorcycle maintenance. I’ll be translating from Thai into English and the headteacher from English to Burmese for those who aren’t strong in English. At the end these students receive a Thai certificate which gives them qualifications to apprentice at one of the motorcycle mechanics around town. The Thai teachers love teaching these students despite the language barrier, as they’re so keen to take hold of any opportunity to learn. Coming from education starved Burma this Tech School on Burma’s doorstep is a source of hope that they can make a livelihood. Perhaps one day they’ll return and take part in developing the industry of a free Burma.

outdoor classroom around my bike

It’s been a joy to get to know this new neighbourhood and to find a role in it like working on motorbikes which I’m passionate about. I’m looking forward to journeying with these students as they complete this 2 year course and the many opportunities to sit around talking about life and bikes. Hopefully I’ll also find a rhythm that works for learning Burmese soon too to help chatting with these guys and neighbours. Thanks too for your support in prayer and finances that helps me to be here in MaeSot trying to be a neighbour of hope. I look forward to seeing many of you soon as I visit Melbourne in the last two weeks of July. I’ll be in touch soon about opportunities to catch up.

Love from your bro in Christ,

Rod.

metal workship prac and income generation

DON'T turn on the ignition!

A newsletter from Jon and Lisa Owen

Above: Jon with Nathan Reid (Global Interaction) and Michael Frost (Morling College) at Tinsley Lecture and “Muddy Spirituality” launch Below: Our current household including Jazmin (17) and Jesse and Chelsea Size (submerge students)

Mark 4:35-41: On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

This story about Jesus and the disciples is a perfect analogy for Lisa and I as it relates to our own discipleship journey here in Mt

Druitt. Jesus invites us on the journey, and soon we find ourselves deep in the storm with no option of turning around. Yet, he is still with us in the places that we fear, both in our lives and those of our neighbours. Far too often we forget that and find ourselves trying to navigate the storm alone. We fail to recall that he is with us, all we need to do is call out to him, for he can calm the storm – both around us and within us. Truth be told, it is only he who can.

Only he can provide the quiet place of peace and stillness that we all yearn for.

We celebrated Easter with a service in our neighbourhood. The weekend was hauntingly and poignantly framed by the discovery of missing girl Kiesha Abrahams’ body, hastily buried in a shallow grave a few kilometers behind our suburb in bushland. The subsequent news of the arrest of her mother and step-father was met with a lot of anger, yet, as we have come to learn, anger is largely unprocessed sadness, which wears like a heavy cloak around the shoulders of many of our friends.

Easter Sunday

This garment was worn into the Easter Service and it was no surprise that there was conflict between neighbours. It was stormy, and if we tried to fix it, it would have been without success. Instead of trying to “talk the women around” Lisa chose instead to “wake up Jesus” and ask him to solve it. Lisa chose to continue to pursue a relationship with each of the parties involved in the conflict and God performed a miracle. There was an apology followed by restoration of relationships. There is calm after the storm. I feel like the next task of discipleship now is to point to Jesus at work so that our neighbours are aware of the part he has played in calming the storm and the power he has to heal the hurts that rules over their hurting lives.

The task of sharing in God’s work in this world is one that continually draws us to praise and gratitude. We thank God for sending you into our lives to equip, support and encourage the extension of God’s healing, calming presence into the storm of our neighbours’ lives.

Please join us in thanking the Lord:

* For the opportunity to celebrate Easter with 23 adults and 33 children

* For the pampering of the Mums on Mother’s Day

* That the Tinsley lecture and Muddy Spirituality have been well received

* For the provision of a new office space

Please Pray:

* For Jazmin as she studies year 12 and grieves the loss of her mother late last year

* For wisdom as to when to have more intentional worship gatherings

* For discernment as to whether Chelsea and Jesse Size move to join the “Mt Druitt Central” team

* For families with DOCS (children’s services) involvement

From Jon, Lisa, Kshama and Keirra Owen

Easter: a time of hot cross buns, chocolate and hyperactive kids. Is that all? Well, for the mainstream of society that would seem

Child with Easter Egg=Dangerous!

to be it. We felt challenged as a team this year to make it more meaningful to the people who we do time with in our communities, people that have really struggled to make sense of their lives, let alone what they believe in. We share life with those on the bottom rung of society who are used to begging and getting what they can from the welfare system. But how could we make them realise that they are worth immeasurably more than what that same system makes them to be? How could we communicate to them that they are worth so much more in God’s eyes? Enough that he would send His son on the cross to die? There is no easy answer to this question, how can we find the words? So we decided that the best way was to show them.

Our teams in Noble Park and Dandenong got our heads together this year to find creative ways for people to engage in the Easter story in a 3-part event beginning with Maundy Thursday, the night Jesus broke bread with his disciples in celebration of Passover. This was the day that our team in Dandenong was responsible for. Our team was charged with the responsibility of holding a feast incorporating elements of the Passover tradition for the people we’ve come to know over the years. It was a mammoth task!

Our office was re-arranged to accommodate around 75-80 people. Large quantities of Lamb was roasted with vegetables, salads made, and desserts baked. Sharm prepared a brief talk on the elements of Passover that are celebrated by Jews from Jesus’ time to today. The office was decorated with several stations around the place prepared by the Noble Park team that depicted aspects of the story of Jesus’ death on the

Sharm doing a 3-legged race with friend

cross. It was a solemn and meaningful time for all of us.

But the highlight of the Easter celebrations was Resurrection Sunday in the park. Once again our neighbours and friends from

Singing 'Who Will Roll Away the Stone' in the park

Foodbank were all part of the celebrations. And once again, the focus was on helping our neighbours and friends to experience the joy that comes from a lived encounter with Jesus. Just as the disciples’ encounter with Jesus brought them immense joy and hope, the celebrations on that Sunday were a time of real joy, for our neighbours and us. Seeing the smiles on people’s faces that day (even an neighbour who has difficulty walking doing the hula hoop!) was a powerful ministry to us. Hope comes from experiences such as these.

God bless,

Pete, Sharm, Divya and Ashlyn Blair

Dear friends and supporters,

While it truly is God who sustains and empowers us in our work in Klong Toey, without your faithful support we could not be here. In the last few months we have been more and more aware of the incredible privilege we have being supported encouraged and upheld in prayer by so many great people. Some of you have journeyed with us for the whole 21 years of this crazy adventure,- others we have had the pleasure of meeting along the way; all of should know that you have been part of bringing about Gods Kingdom here on earth to some of the poor, forgotten and ignored , people of this world.

Parent teacher meeting with Aiden and Film

In the last 6 months the ministries and programs here in Klong Toey have continued to grow and expand at an exhausting rate. We don’t really plan to start new things they just seem to emerge and it feels like a tide that we can’t seem to hold back. In these exciting and scary moments we rest in the amazing knowledge that there is a large group of Christians standing with us, who believe in, and fight for the same hope, love and justice that we long to see. Almost everything we do starts without a budget and God then seems to stir the hearts of people like you to become part of this.

A recent example is that of 2 special needs children that seem to have just been handed to us – Nong Bart and Nong Foam, both four years old. These beautiful heart-melting little boys have been quietly locked away in the middle of the slum, hidden to save face from a community that sees disability as something a person deserves, and as a result they don’t want to mix with lest it catch onto them.

Bart is Autistic, and was having twice daily seizures. When we found him he was like a wild animal just running from place to place unable to sit for a second, unable to play or connect with anyone. His 74 year old great grandma is his full-time carer, while his mum works 12 hour shifts at a supermarket to support them. Like most families there is no father on the scene, as mum is the minor wife and the husband has a few families from what we can tell. Grandma, out of love for her grandson and desperate to stop him hurting himself was forced to tie him up during the day.

Not far from our slum is a fantastic school for special needs children. We took Bart there and they advised we seek treatment for his seizures before he could attend the school. This started a 6 month haul of twice weekly visits to a great hospital (not cheap but the only real option.  Thanks to all who have donated towards our medical fund.) While waiting for the doctor both Bart’s mother and I would work up a sweat as we chased him around the large waiting room area.  This was mums only day off each week. What a way to spend it!

The fantastic news is that Bart was eventually able to start school just before Christmas and thanks to the generosity of some of you, we have his school fees for 1 year. The other good news is that his seizures have reduced to between 1-3 per month instead of 2 or 3 a day. (Although these last 2 weeks he has had some big seizures and we are back to trying to make adjustments to his medication.) The other news is that he can now walk better thanks to the physio regime he receives at school, and he is starting to speak and can call me by name and make eye contact. He is still very active and each hospital visit remains a vigorous workout for his mum and me!

Nong Foam has dystonia, (It looks a little like Cerebral Palsy), He cannot control his muscles and they constantly spasm and then stiffen. This effects his whole body even his face and neck muscles. He cannot sit, stand or use his hands, and has to be carried all the time. We have been trying to get a special wheelchair for him but without much success. Sadly for this gorgeous, yet tragic little boy, his brain is not affected and he gets very frustrated and bored just lying in front of TV all day locked in the house.  A group of Swedish families have been sponsoring him to the same school as Nong Bart, but they leave Thailand next month and we will need to find next years’ school fees.

Both of these boys needed transport to get to school as the usual mode of transport from the slum- motorbikes is not an option. I have been able to pay one of Ash’s soccer coaches a salary to drive our car as a school bus each day – another of the many unfunded programs that your generous support has gone towards. Ort’s monthly salary is $280 and he helps me out during the middle of the day with emergency and ongoing medical cases. In the evening he coaches one of the junior soccer teams with Ash.

Nong Foam’s father, Gann, is now employed fulltime with the Helping Hands Fresh food delivery service.  www.hhdelivery.com This is a project we started last year to employ young men.  (Thank you to Entrust and others of you who contributed funds to the start up of this project.) We have an online shop and expats in Bangkok place fresh fruit/veggie and meat orders online. Gann goes to the local Klong Toey Market at 5am buys the produce and then delivers it to the customers, getting paid $5 per delivery. While it has been going well – we have 146 customers registered and three guys fulltime- it does still need some salary support as some days there are only 1 or 2 deliveries so it is not yet self sustaining. The hope in the future is that it will sustain itself as a successful business and these young men will continue to be role models to all the other men who attend the community centre daily. The struggle for us has been to encourage men to work and contribute to caring for their children as women seem to bear so much of the burden here.

Helping Hands Thai Cooking School that many of you will know about is exploding and has become quite famous in Bangkok and among tourist groups. We are now rated Number 2 out of 199 attractions in Bangkok on Trip Advisor. The cooking room is now too small and we had 137 customers last month but had to turn 47 customers away.  We have just finished fixing up the old room Ash and I lived in for 8 years and it is ready to be the new cooking school. (Again we have no real budget for this and while some of this comes from Poo’s profits we still have to find money to pay for the metal locking doors and glass sliding doors.) We are about to launch Poo’s cook book “Cooking With Poo” in Bangkok this month, and then we will be touring 3 states in Australia with  Poo and her staff and family (See the website dates (www.cookingwithpoo.com)

It is so exciting to see what God is doing in and through Poo and her team. As I write this she is preparing a banquet for our house church tonight. She feels that she is doing well and wants to bless the rest of us with a beautiful meal tonight. She continues to mentor other young men and women and inspires all who meet her. God has gifted Poo as a peacemaker, and in a community full of conflict and violence this is a coveted yet burdensome gift.  Poo’s influence in the expat and tourist community has also resulted in some great contacts for the Klong Toey Community Centre school, and our soccer program.

Ash has taken the soccer competition to a whole new level – we now have 7 teams competing in 3 leagues across Bangkok- you need a physics degree to work out the programs each week- yet some how Ash and his team of coaches who we now also employ, are able to get 80-90 kids to all the correct places. Again we don’t really have a budget for the transport we rent each week so we rely on whatever we can get – sometimes the trucks have bits falling off them – but so far no kids – so that is good.

Orr with his cast

Most recently one of our favourite little cheeky boys, Orr, whom some of you who visit would have met, fell from the top of the swing set at our school and broke his femur in half. Sadly a fall like that should not have caused a normally strong femur to break – but Orr has malnutrition. He is 7 years old and is cared for by his 9 year old brother, Emm. Their mother who has AIDS has sniffed glue for so long that she is now brain damaged and cannot recognize or remember Emm at all. She roams around the community causing havoc- sometimes naked, sometimes stealing etc. She is in and out of jail, and as I write this today she is chained to the fridge in the small shack she shares with the boys and grandma.

Orr has a half body cast which involves special care and he and his brother spent the  the first 4 weeks living with the either us, or the MacCartney’s  fulltime.  Orr is indeed gorgeous but very demanding and we have spent many a sleepless night sitting scratching under his plaster with a knitting needle!  Again without our medical fund, Orr would be permanently disabled as the free government hospital would not have set the overlapped bones straight and they wouldn’t even have given him pain killers. The combination of our medical fund, a very sympathetic doctor, and a lovely English friend of mine, has meant that Orr had the bones straightened in the operating theatre without pain, and is receiving care in one of the best hospitals in Thailand. We may need a budget for back care for the UNOH team as lifting him in and out of the wheelchair is killing all our backs as his plaster weighs ton! He will be in the caste for at least another month.

In the midst of all this, Aiden was run over by a car at the front of the Community Centre and for 1 week we had 2 little 7 year olds in plaster. Of course it just meant the neighbours now all believe it is bad luck to help a kid with a broken leg as then it means your own kids will suffer the same fate. Thankfully Aiden’s leg is now fine and we are all feeling much better because Granny is here to look after us.

It does make me frustrated with God sometimes – I know accidents have to happen but the timing was just so unfortunate, as I feel it really undermined what we have been trying to teach about Christ to our neighbours. I know God always has a higher purpose and I am so grateful Aiden only had a fractured foot and bruised knee it could have been so much worse!

Film and Focus

In the midst of all this chaos, Ash and I were asked to take on the care of a little boy called Film. He is 6 years old and has been in our pre-school and kids club for the last few years. Rod Sheard one of our UNOH Bangkok team members spent a few years trying to support Film’s dad and help him get off drugs but to no avail. He is now in Jail for the next year. Grandma who cares for Film and his younger sister (Focus,3 years), has sold their mother into prostitution.  Film himself has already been sent to the border to live with strangers once before, while his mother worked off her debt to the brothel. Film has tried to look after himself and his little sister, coming over for food and water regularly. The grandma then also asked us to take the little girl but when we went to get her, we found she had packed her things and gone, and we are unsure if we will ever see her again. We pray for little Focus that she won’t suffer the same fate as her mother, and we will take her in if grandma shows up at anytime.

In the meantime, Amy and Aiden are getting used to having a pretty needy little brother around and Alisha (UNOH Bangkok member) shares the mothering with me. Film is so used to being lied to and abandoned that he keeps checking if we are still here, and is very jealous and possessive when we care for Orr and his brother Emm. We hope over time he will settle and understand that we really love him and that he is precious to God.

There are so many sad abandoned little boys in the slum – “The lost boys of Klong Toey” I call them. The needs are huge and we are always overwhelmed. There are no quick fixes there is only the long slow struggle to see the light of Christ emerge in the darkness – the Hope of Christ who calls the little ones to Himself and threatens Millstones to those who hurt these precious ones.  Today I sit and watch as another  little 8 year old boy, plays like he has not a care in the world, the massive bruise on his cheek that I witnessed his drunk mother make as she slammed his head into the wall last night – stark evidence that all is not well. There is so much to be done!

Ash and I apologize that it takes us so long to thank you for your support. We hope you never feel that we take your generosity for granted. You are very much in our hearts and we cannot thank you enough for choosing to be part of this crazy struggle, for being mad enough like us to believe that we have a responsibility to seek justice for those with no voice of their own. Thanks for being part of the fight – may we never give up while there is breath in our bodies.

Love and thanks

Anji and Ash Amy Aiden and Film and all the precious Klong Toey folk that you share your resources with!

Dear friends

With the Surrender:11 Conference coming up at Belgrave Heights Convention Centre from March 25 -27, and a number of the keynote speakers in town for that, UNOH is taking the opportunity to run a couple of events that may be of interest.

UNOH’s first Open Night on March 23rd 2011 will feature our director, Ash Barker as guest speaker. We are also having a special dinner before the Open Night catered by the Free Burma Cafe in Springvale (the group the Dekkers and the rest of the Springvale team are involved with). The dinner is FREE for people with a full weekend SURRENDER registration – but you will need to book in as numbers are limited. So, ring UNOH to register on (03) 9701 7114. Bookings will close on March 21, or when all places are taken. Those without a full weekend SURRENDER pass are also welcome, at a cost of $12 per head.

6.00 pm start for the dinner and 7.30pm for the Open Night. (If you wish to just come for the open night, that is fine). UNOH Open Nights are free, though we do pass around a bucket for an offering. Location: UNOH Centre for Urban Mission, Factory 2/6-12 Airlie Ave, Dandenong (parallel to Gladstone Road.)

“An Economy of Love and Justice” Intensive Seminar – to be held Sydney on March 30-31, featuring Shane Claiborne, Ash Barker and Darryl Gardiner.  Cost is $100 ($70 concession). Bookings can be made through Lisa Paxton (lisapaxo@unoh.org).

The New Testament over the Year is a weekly Bible Study led by Jim Reiher, and held on Wednesdays evenings between 7.00pm and 9.30pm – covering one book of the NT each week. We are two weeks into the course, but feel free to join at any time. Contact Jim (jim@unoh.org) for details. There is no cost – an offering is collected each night.

Our friends at Ringwood Church of Christ are  putting on a concert called Soul Celebration on Friday March 18th (7.30pm) and Saturday March 19th (2pm) to raise awareness and funds for UNOH. Amy Nettelbeck and Ashleigh Newnham, who were SubMerge students in Bangkok during 2010 (and members at Ringwood) will be sharing their experiences of living in the Klong Toey Slum. They would love to see many UNOH supporters come to these concerts if they are able. For more details go to the church website, and under Events there is information about the concert. The website is www.ringwoodchurch.org.au

The March 2011 edition of Finding Life was mailed (and emailed) out last week. If you have not seen a copy, it is available on line – just follow this link.

Best wishes from all at UNOH.