Hope In Between

We spend much of our lives in “in between” times.  We dream of a certain career, family life, or goal, and if we’re privileged enough to pursue them, we take steps to actualize our hopes.  The journey is not linear, nor is it short.  We get knocked off course, we pick up travel companions on the way, and sometimes the destination changes altogether.  If life were a movie, the in between would be a montage.  We’d be tempted to speed past it if we could because the inbetween can be uncomfortable, painful, or boring.  

Mina has a gift for walking alongside families who are caught in between places.  Thailand is full of refugees. With its proximity to at-risk countries and relatively accessible entry visa process, people flee from global poverty, persecution, and conflict to pursue safety.  Refugees enter Thailand hoping to ultimately land in a country that will accept them.  The wait for one’s refugee status to be accepted is long, complicated, expensive, and not guaranteed. It’s a risk. But as one of CLF’s taglines states, “Hope Takes Risks”.  

Mina’s work provides support to refugee families who find themselves in this sort of purgatory. Overtime refugees’ visas run out which may result in them becoming undocumented and vulnerable to being held in detention centers.  It’s dangerous to befriend others or draw attention to oneself because one’s status might be reported.  Word of mouth has spread amongst refugees that Mina is someone you can trust.  

CLF currently sponsors 43 families. One such family came to Thailand from Sri Lanka.  Mina met a single mother of 3 young children at church. They soon entered CLF’s refugee program. The foundation’s services are tailored to each family because they are rooted in relationship. Through their friendship, Mina learned how bright the three children were. She began to provide them with education materials.  Over time the children grew in both their Thai and English skills and were able to help their mother overcome language barriers. When the children could not attend school, CLF was able to hire a tutor for a small fee who came to the family to help them with their studies. One of the children had severe asthma and no access to healthcare.  Mina brought the family to the hospital and helped with costs and translating the doctors’ instructions. When food was scarce, they were provided with rice, flour, oil, and lentils. 

This in between time was full of risk but full of hope, too. Because of Creative Life Foundation, the children had access to health care, education, and emergency food supplies. In a period that is prone to isolation, they celebrated birthdays, holidays, and everyday meals with Mina and other CLF friends.  

Support for this family has shifted over the years. They now have monthly video calls with Mina from their new home… in Canada.  Because of CLF, the children walked into their new school prepared to learn. They had a layer of care during a vulnerable time in their lives. They are thriving because they were not alone during their time in between.

Each of us has been a stranger at some point in our lives. Without support in our vulnerable moments, we would be lost.  When you support CLF you are walking alongside some of the worlds’ most at-risk people.  You enable them to not just survive, but to thrive.