The road to Mae Sariang

The following Thailand stories were gathered by freelance photojournalist Bruce Millar earlier this year.

MAE SARIANG, Thailand — The sun was hot as our car travelled up the hill to Mae Sariang, in northern Thailand. The smooth, well-maintained road traced the Chyen river up the thickly-forested mountains. On either side of the river the vegetation was lush and green while further away it became brown and dry. The picturesque scene made the thought of living and working amongst the tribal people of these mountains quite appealing.

Yet as we travelled, the unseen side of life in these mountains was explained to me. I learned of the flooding which the rains bring each year, cutting off communities in the north for days at a time. I also learned about the region’s missionary history, which is one of tragedy as well as adventure.

Adventure

For adventure, only 25 years ago one of the early missionaries swayed up the red dusty mountain trails on the back of an elephant. And as for tragedy, the personal cost the missionaries have paid was illustrated to me by the story of a missionary’s little daughter who accidentally drank poison. She was carried miles – on foot – to the nearest medical assistance, only to die in her father’s arms.

There are no monuments marking the sacrifices of the missionaries who have worked – and continue to work – here, nor did I hear them ask for any. Yet I saw the love and the pride in their eyes and their voices, as they spoke of the people they work with. The joy was evident, too, when I watched them listening to the joyous testimonies of the people they have come to serve.

It is missionaries like these who have worked on the translation of tribal languages, and whom the Thailand Bible Society works with to provide the Bible to the people of the hill country of Thailand. It is the people who support the UBS around the world who, in turn, make this work possible.

‘Home from home’

The Ngong Mala Bible school, just outside Mae Sariang, is a small community of houses, attractively laid out, and planted with trees, hedges and lawns. It was established by a missionary called Don Slater who came to the area some 25 years ago, and it has a comforting feeling of being a ‘home from home’ for its students.

In fact, the school is one of several Bible colleges training Christian leaders in the vicinity of Mae Sariang. There are others at Maelai and Phayao. At Ngong Mala and Maelai the school terms are flexible, allowing students to come at various times throughout the year when they are able to leave looking after their fields for a time. At Phayao terms are structured more along western collegiate lines.

One of the students at the Ngong Mala Bible School is Pim Laklilakana, a single 24-year-old Lawa woman from the village of Kawak, in northern Thailand.

When I asked her what had brought her there, she told me it was the feeling that although she believed the promises of God, she didn’t fully understand them.

“It was my desire for understanding that brought me here. And I have also learnt here that I need to depend on God for everything and not rest on my own strength.

Born again

“My family are not Christian but I had friends who were. I was like a stick floating with the current in the stream, until one time I went to church and heard what Jesus said about being ‘born again’. The story touched my heart and I realised that I had misunderstood the message. I asked an elder to explain it to me and from that time on I knew I was born again.”

‘I was like a stick floating with the current in the stream, until one time I went to church and heard what Jesus said about being ‘born again’. The story touched my heart’

Miss Laklilakana went back to her village and tried to tell her parents what had happened to her.

“They didn’t think I should make time to attend Bible school – or even to go to church. Yet I felt that I needed fellowship and I tried to explain this to them.”

After her first term at Ngong Mala, Miss Laklilakana again tried to explain to her puzzled parents the need she felt for fellowship and Bible study. She asked them if she could go for another term’s study. They said that if she could provide the money she could.

“I did not have the money – but I believed God would provide,” she says simply. “And here I am, studying in my third term.”

Although her parents remain “hard-hearted” and continue to worship spirits, Miss Laklilakana still hangs on to her goal of patiently telling them about Jesus and of winning them to him.

“The Scripture which emphasises this,” she says, “is Romans 5:8: ‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’”

In some tribal areas of Thailand, girls as young as 14 get married so I asked Pim, still single at 24, if there were many young Christian men in her village.

More diligent

“There are fewer young men that love the Lord than young women,” she replied. “And young women are more diligent in studying the Word than men. Even Christian men are not as willing to give time to studying the Word as the women.”

As we continued to talk she told me how the men her age who want to be friends with her are not Christians and some use drugs. Fortunately for her, however, it is common for women in her particular village not to marry until later in life.