After 5 years, which included moving, international and domestic, new jobs, changed relationships, chaplaincy training, 3 years volunteering at a penitentiary, the creation of a nonprofit organization, and a wholly changed me, I return to Thailand. I'm sitting at home, with monsoon rain and birds, wild fruits, luscious leaves, and wheat gluten (not wheat-free, not gluten-free) sesame meat taste in my mouth. I am surprised at how familiar everything is to me... and yet I have changed in these 5 years. It is a returning home, although usually it's the other way around.
The communities here that touched me the first time I lived here are what have brought me back in 2010. At that time, I saw the needs of different communities. I felt compelled, I wanted to do something, I felt deeply that change was possible. Whether it was to get a real library at an elementary school, or the garden they were asking for to provide healthy lunches to children, or access to education for those who were not able to afford it, or culturally and linguistically supportive and uplifting schools. For so many years, I thought that I couldn't do anything about these situations because I didn't have the backing of a big organization, or the funding. What I did have were the contacts, the passion, the drive, the cultural and linguistic proficiency...and the love. The love of Thai people. The love that would arise from being offered such generosity and kindness that it would stretch my heart open. These are the seeds of Awakened Connections.