Where smiles meet brokenness: reaching the urban middle

Article written by Tohru Inoue, sim.org

Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. People are warm, welcoming and hospitable. It makes you naturally want to smile back. But a smile doesn’t necessarily equate to a heart at peace or full of joy. Under some of those same welcoming smiles, there is sometimes deep brokenness. B and his team have seen this.

B and his family are committed to sharing good news where Christ was least known. Originally, he thought this might be in the remote interior of Thailand, but it’s not true. Many romanticise the idea of unreached people groups residing in remote villages deep in the jungle or high in the mountains.

It was a revelation and challenge for B and his family when they considered where to serve with SIM. So, he moved to a bustling Ayutthaya with his wife and two young daughters. The country is dominated by Buddhism and only a tiny fraction of the population is Christian. And after doing a bit of research, B realized that among the urban population, the middle class, in particular, had no witness.

With their skill sets, they decided to open an after-school language enrichment centre for children. That’s how the Joyful Heart Bilingual House started. The name is inspired by the hospitable nature of the Thai people. “Always smiling,” B says, but he wants people to also have true joy in their hearts.

The centre is tuition-based that intended to attract middle and upper-class families. They offered quality English and Mandarin language classes for children aged 4–9 years old. With today’s globalized world, many who can afford it want their children to learn a second language. It’s a way parents hope to ensure their children have the best chance at good employment in the future. It increases their children’s eventual access to work in the capital or in an international corporation.

Since the opening of the school, business owners and government officials in the city have started enrolling their children.

It's in interacting with both children and parents that B has come to see the brokenness. As December approached, the Joyful Heart’s team prepared a Christmas program and invited the students and their families to attend. Some of the children performed songs they had learned in their new language. A pastor of a nearby church has been invited to share the meaning of Christmas; the message that Jesus came to a broken world and offers his peace. He is God with us.

B was telling the children that their dads and moms will be so happy to see them perform at the program. Then, a boy spoke up saying, “I don’t have a father.”

“Oh, it’s OK. Your mom will be very happy.”, B replied.

Many children are growing up in broken homes. It’s prevalent and it doesn’t seem to discriminate between poor or rich families. The reasons are as varied as the circumstances.

The staff spend time with the parents who sit and wait while their child attend class. It’s an opportunity to strike up a conversation and say a few words of encouragement.

There was a time a mother came in with a heavy heart. While waiting for her child, she talked with the team and started tearing up. The team listened, offered words of comfort and prayed for her. These are the kinds of conversations where B and his team are sowing seeds. Opportunities to share about God who loves us and cares for our families.

We hope these children succeed in life. We hope that an additional language might help them in life. But, more than that, we hope that the seeds planted and watered here will give them that true joy even with whatever life throws their way.

Though brokenness may not easily be mended, seeds are being sown so that the Land of Smiles may also be accompanied by joyful hearts.