Hi everyone! We are Lisa, Marco, Linda, Martino, Giulia, Maddalena, Arianna, Eliana and Anna. We are a group of volunteers from Parma (Italy) who decided to take up the missionary adventure in Thailand for three weeks. We arrived in Bangkok on the 31st of July, full of excitement and wondering about what we were going to see and experience once we arrive at the Xavier House in Khlong Toei. We were welcomed by the wonderful community of Father Edgar and soon after, the activities of the day started. Divided into small groups, we had the chance to visit the slums of Khlong Toei together with other volunteers. It was very impactful and beautiful because we found ourselves entering the homes of the people of the slums and spending time with them. We felt like strangers in that world, but just a smile changed everything and soon we found ourselves playing with the children and trying to communicate with the people thanks to the volunteers who can speak the Thai language.
Our visit in the slums lasted three days, because we had to travel to the northern part of Thailand called the "Km 48", where Father Mattias lives.
Our trip continued until we arrived in Umphang, where we were welcomed by Father Alessio and his 35 children. We spent only one week with them, however, we had the opportunity to.do many things and encounter many people. We lived with the children of the house and noticed that they could teach us far more than what we could teach them. The kindness and joy they showed everyday left a sign in us from the beginning. We ate, played, cleaned, sung, learned, and prayed with them. We got to know them all, one by one, each with their personal story and background. We found that they all had one thing in common: being grateful to live with Father Alessio. During the week Father Alessio and we were going to the villages to teach in the schools and to visit the needy families. What we saw was a poor and simple community, but the people were full of life and hospitality. We played with the kids and helped the elderly with health problems by doing physiotherapy. By doing this we tried to understand the reality of the villages near the border of Myanmar. We felt both the fear of the conflict and the gratitude of the people who managed to settle down in Thailand. At the end of the week we sadly had to say goodbye to the kids and to Father Alessio, because we were headed to the Km 48. There we spent three days before coming back to Bangkok. With Father Mattias, we did some activities with the children of the parish and had the chance to be part of the mass.
In our last three days in Bangkok, we visited two schools, where we had lessons with the students and played with them. We spent the meals and the mass with Father Edgar and the community of Khlong Toei, until it was time for us to go back to Italy.
We felt extremely grateful for all the possibilities we have had and for all the people we have met in the three weeks of our journey. We left Thailand with the hope of coming back and with a feeling of warmth inside of us.
