Impact team member, Leanne Whitfield has written about her experience of spending two weeks in Thailand in April.

"Going on the Impact trip to Thailand was the fulfilment of a long-term dream of mine. As a wife and mother of four, I found that leaving my family to embark on this adventure was challenging. Therefore, with a mixture of fear and excitement I flew out to Thailand with seven other teammates. 

Our first week was spent in the Klong Toey slum in Bangkok where we ran a holiday program for 40 children from a community centre in the middle of the slum. We did a range of activities from photography to music, hip-hop and craft. I was involved in craft. What first struck me as I began the class was how open the children were to us. We could not speak their language but we did speak a language that was universal, love. These kids were desperate for love, the appropriate type of love that is so deeply neglected in this place.

It is hard to comprehend how these children survive. The conditions of the slum are appalling to say the least. A couple of days into the trip I found myself wanting to run away. I desired to get back to my clean, nice smelling house and away from the stench of hopelessness that was so evident.  But then I was reminded of a song written by Brooke Fraser called Albertine. The line of the song that came to mind was “now that I have seen, I am responsible” I do not think it is possible to see these things and then go back to a normal life and pretend this situation doesn't exist.

I was also excited to visit Rahab, an organisation helping women get out of prostitution in the heart of Bangkok. We took gifts from the women at Riverview and it was special to see these gifts travel from Perth to Thailand and into the hands of these precious women.

The classes were crazy, the heat and humidity was overwhelming but we all loved the opportunity to inspire and ‘love on’ these children that are so neglected.  The way things are done in Thailand was certainly a challenge, for instance one day a group of us took the littlies aged 4-11 to a water theme park. Sounds great doesn’t it?  However, thirty kids who can't swim, at a water theme park, on top of an eight storey building with no safety rail, is quite an experience.  Nevertheless, they all survived and a great day was had by all!

Our second week was quite different. We travelled to northern Thailand to Chaing Rai. As it turns out the timing was great as things were really starting to heat up in Bangkok with the red shirts protests. In Chaing Rai, we met up with Doug Higgins the director for Capacity in Thailand.  On Sunday, we helped run a church service.  The passion of the Thai people worshipping was truly inspirational.   In the afternoon, we had a remarkable opportunity to visit a remote village where the people had never seen foreigners before. We ended up on top of a hill in their little church conducting another service. These people were so welcoming of us and we got the pleasure of praying for some of their people who were sick.  This was a truly incredible experience to be able to minister to these people and to have them receive us so warmly. 

Another highlight for me was to be able to spend time with Dim and Jim. These women run the Akha Safehouse for at-risk girls that the Foundation has been supporting for several years. They are going through a very difficult time at the moment and although we could not fix things for them, we could encourage them. 

Although a lot of our time was very intense, we did have a lot of fun and laughs. We went elephant riding and travelled on a long boat. Some ate frogs and other strange things and the rest of us laughed along. There is much more I could say about this trip because it was so action packed.  Now that I'm back home there has been a lot to process.  The faces of the people I have met and the faces of the children are frequently in my mind. I will never forget this experience and feel truly privileged to have been a part of what the Foundation is supporting overseas".

Leanne Whitfield