In Thailand going from one place to another is done by motorcycle. That is a law of nature from which you don’t deviate or it could be detrimental to your health. So if your motorcycle is broken or a motorcycle is not available to you for whatever reason, you are really bound hands and feet. Last Sunday this crystal clear truth became very clear to me.

We were going to visit a lady with the three of us, Wongduan, Mali and me. Since a couple of weeks both Wongduan and Mali are totally immobilized because neither one of them has a motorcycle at the moment. Now they cannot go any place, life is very tiresome and inconvenient. Unfortunately, (more…)

We are living in a house without windows. Well, at least partially: our kitchen and home and living room do not have walls. So we are always outside. We don’t see walls, we see the world. We enjoy the nature around us. Birds and insects fly through our house. We see the woodpecker in the tree at the other side of the road and hear its pecking. The scent of jasmine is everywhere. (more…)

“I do not remember my father. Not long after I was born, he left the family. My mother tried to take care of me as good as possible. She had some land, that she sold bit by bit. But her debts kept growing.

Much of her debt was with one lady in the village. In that family they needed someone to help in the house and in the shop. My mother took me to her to pay her debt. She told me: “She will make sure you have enough to eat. (more…)

Thai people have beautiful names. Only they are seldomly used. They are written in documents and said at official occasions. But in everyday life, only the nickname is used.

To outsiders, the nicknames can have a funny ring. ‘Bird’ is the most common name, followed by ‘Small one’. From a western perspective, that is quite accurate to describe most Thai, yet something doesn’t seem quite all right when a sturdy guy with a beer belly is called ‘Small one’. Yet it is as common as hearing a teeny-weeny woman being addressed as ‘Fatty’. (more…)

There has been a time that I wanted nothing else but pack my suitcases and hop on a plane back to the Netherlands. That was when we were still living in Bangkok. I hated everything there, from the oppressive weather to the narrow (more…)

Do you still remember our friend the Tailor?

This group (pii Faay and friends) started to get more body and more and more children were coming to listen to the bible stories and do a craft. They really liked it and were always full (more…)

Waaniet is a joyful man who lives in a small village just outside our little bit bigger village. His wife is a Christian and I think he is as well. I study the chronological bible study with him. He understands lost of things in is own simple way.

Last week we talked about the snake who told Eva to eat the fruit. After the lesson he explained to me that that was the problem of today as well. He said it feels like Satan is constantly talking in my ear and that of the people in the world. But when he has this feeling he prays to God that he can do his will.

I went back home and this time I was the one that learned a lesson!

Would you ever have thought it would be possible for a cow to drown in a drum? Neither would I. But it happened. Outside the stable at the farm of a friend’s are a few drums with water for the cows. A young cow enthusiastically put both her  forelegs and her head in the drum- and never got them out again! She drowned while her entire body was out of the water.

So what happened? (more…)