Tinagon, nicknamed 'Boy', in front of the Pakpingjai sign. Pictures: David Adams

22nd July, 2004

DAVID ADAMS

Tinagon was just eight years old when he first went into a state-run home in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand.

His future was bleak. His mother had abandoned his family and his father, an alcoholic, was in prison. His older sister, unable to care for him, had no choice but to place him in the first of several homes where he would spend the next few years of his life just trying to survive.

Then, four years ago, Tinagon came with a group to Pakpingjai, a home for boys in the small village of Ban Don, about 160 kilometres north-east of Chiang Mai.

After having a look around, he asked to stay. Tinagon, whose nickname is ‘boy’, will complete his school studies this year and may go to university next year as well as pursuing his talents in playing the guitar and drawing.

He's now one of the leadership team at Pakpingjai, entrusted with leading worship times at night and watching over the younger boys at the home.

“The kids in the state homes, nobody teaches,” he says. “But here I’m teaching them about the Bible and we worship God together.”

Opened in 1998, the vision for Pakpingjai Home Development Project (Pakpingjai meaning “a place to rest the heart”) began to emerge two years earlier when Samarn Marksuk, then a counsellor and social worker with Christian humanitarian agency Compassion International, was invited by pastors in the Chiang Rai area to visit people suffering from AIDS.

Providing those he visited with basic necessities including nutritional supplements, clothing and medicine, he began to pull together a team of volunteers to assist him while at the same time seeking donations of supplies and money to support what had become a growing ministry.

By 1998 - with an increasing number of requests for help including some from people living in the hilltribes surrounding Chiang Rai - the team decided to focus their efforts on children, particularly those with families affected by the HIV virus or AIDS or with an otherwise impoverished background.

Samarn Marksuk (rear left) and some of the boys and girls enjoying afternoon games at Pakpingjai. “I’ll love to see in the future them going on in their lives. We give a chance for them to have a better life. We train the boys and...we look forward to seeing something in their future...We hope that one day they accept Christ and they follow Jesus.” - Samarn Marksuk

With many of the children being supported living in Marksuk’s home village of Ban Don - a community of about 600 people - and the surrounding district of Banthom, it was decided to locate a base there.

With funds provided from Thai and overseas donors, land was purchased from the local church and an administrative centre and accommodation for Marksuk was built. A two-storey building providing accommodation for four students and visitors and a kitchen followed in mid-1999 along with outbuildings for raising chickens, ducks, geese and some pigs, a fish pond and a vegetable garden.

Jatee enjoying a meal at Pakpingjai.

The desire to provide permanent accommodation for children who lived too far away from schools lead to a decision to build a larger hostel in 2000. Grants from the Japanese Government, the United States-based Mustard Seed Program and other donors in Thailand, New Zealand and other countries led to the construction of a two-storey hostel, with meeting room and dormitories, late that year.

A new meeting hall and chapel is currently under construction and there are hopes a girls dormitory will be able to be constructed at some stage in the near future.

Alongside the accommodation, the project also provides the basic educational needs - school uniforms, books and lunches - for a further 200 children living in the surrounding area.

Of the 60 boys aged between seven and 17 who are now living at the home, around seven are orphans. Many others come from hilltribe families who live too far away for them to othewise attend school.

Jatee, now eight, is one of the youngest boys at the home. He came to Pakpingjai around 18 months ago after a Christian spotted him begging with his blind parents and approached Marksuk - who is now the home’s director - about the possibility of him staying at the home.

Jatee fitted in quickly, and despite knowing nothing of the Thai language when he first arrived (his family come from the Lahu hilltribe near Chiang Rai), he is now a fluent speaker.

Like the other children, Jatee - who remains in regular contact with his parents - is not only sent to school but is also taught a range of vocational skills he may be able to use later in life. Over the last few years these skills have included raising frogs for food and mushroom farming.

The children, many of whom are not Christians, are also exposed to the Christian way of life. While they’re not compelled to accept Jesus Christ into their lives, the children are presented with Christian teachings, worship and activities.

“We are Christian and we believe in God. We are teaching them how to love each other because God love’s us. I hope in the future they will know that and come to Him,” says Marksuk.

Marksuk himself became a Christian at a youth camp when he was just around 10 years old. He knew then that God had a destiny for him.

“Sometimes I think, how can I handle this ministry?” says Samarn Marksuk (above). “We are not a big organisation but we are helping a large group....Sometimes it’s too heavy but the hand of the Lord does not fall short.”

“I think God gave me something in my heart but at the time I don’t know why,” he says.

He went onto study at a Bible college and universities in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, completing a Bachelor of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in psychology.

Following the completion of his studies, Marksuk worked at World Vision in Bangkok for two years before moving to Compassion International and working out of their head office in Chiang Mai. It was while he was there that the vision for Pakpingjai was born.

One of the greatest challenges of the project is the ongoing need for funding. While the project has received very generous donations from individuals and organisations both in Thailand and overseas, they are still looking for long-term support.

“We can see that this is a challenge for the project,” says Marksuk. “We keep praying that some Christian people have a burden for the kids in Thailand so that we can provide more for their needs.”

Running the project can be overwhelming. “Sometimes I think, how can I handle this ministry?” says Marksuk. “We are not a big organisation but we are helping a large group....Sometimes it’s too heavy but the hand of the Lord does not fall short.”

Yet his vision for the project remains clear. “When people ask me, ‘Why Samarn do you do this thing?’ I can say that (it’s because) I love the people and I love to help,” he says.

“I’ll love to see in the future them going on in their lives. We give a chance for them to have a better life. We train the boys and...we look forward to seeing something in their future...We hope that one day they accept Christ and they follow Jesus.”

If you'd like to make a donation to Pakpingjai or are interesting in supporting the project, please send an email to us at Sight magazine, editor@sightmagazine.com.au, and we'll put you in touch.