To Confront Suffering
In Thailand, WMF Thailand is registered as the Creative Life Foundation (CLF). Our vision is to see people connected to resources. Our mission is to respond to issues of poverty and migration with education, small business and counseling services.
A local pastor and his family
Our programs formed organically as we met kids who didn’t have access to schools and families who couldn’t afford keeping their children enrolled. We knew people who had amazing skills but who needed an environment to create and dream. We met people who needed a safe place to resolve trauma and receive resources in order to return to their home countries with options.
Resources exist and are abundant — we just need to connect people to them.
At CLF, it’s our hope that by sharing resources and making connections people can grow into their full potential, dreams can be lived out and generational poverty can be broken. Making sure that all people have the same opportunity and chance in life is not only fair but just.
We don’t have to go very far to find people who are suffering. No matter where you live, whichever part of the world you’re from, no matter the city or village, wealthy or poor, suffering exists. Suffering is an invitation to confront pain, distress or hardship, whether our own or someone else’s. It’s easy to ignore or keep a far distance, but just because we can avoid it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Suffering must be confronted in order to be healed.
Naam Fon (Phalang Jai project leader) hanging out with kids in the neighborhood
What barriers prevent us from confronting suffering, whether it is our own or others? What prevents you? For me, one of the barriers is time. It’s easy for me to over-schedule or use every second of my day doing something. But when I fill my day to the max, where is the time to be still, examine and pray? Where is the time to be available for someone in need? Where is the time for the unexpected? Where is the time to allow for suffering to heal?
ABOUT TIM
Tim Hupe is WMF Thailand’s Field Director. Tim and his family have lived in Bangkok for almost 9 years. He finds pleasure zipping through Bangkok traffic on his bicycle, watching his daughters dance to their favorite songs and seeing movies at Lido (a slightly run-down movie complex).
CONNECT WITH TIM:
tim.hupe@wordmadeflesh.com