Each weekend the Northwestern students and their respective cell groups go on different outings with their Thai students. Most of them are in and around Bangkok, while some go out a bit further and even include overnight stays at popular destinations which Thai students (and American ones, too!) would love to go to. One popular destination which three of our students and a Thai youth group went to this past weekend is Pattaya, a popular beach destination about 100 miles from Bangkok. Pattaya is well-known to Thai and "falang" (foreigners) alike. There is a sizable foreign population living in Pattaya, especially retirees from Western nations who find the prices in Thailand more agreeable to their pension budgets. And naturally there is a good-sized group of Thai living in Pattaya working in the tourism industry.
In preparation for this trip, our students read a book by David Livermore called Serving With Eyes Wide Open. The gist of the book is to be aware of cultural differences and basically to expect the unexpected. Three of our students felt that their eyes were opened when they came face to face with one of Pattaya's darker industries, catering to both foreign and local clientele, blatantly and unashamedly advertising along the streets as the sun began to set. The Thai students were also shocked - one of them commented that he was glad he'd never been exposed to this sort of nightlife in the past. The youth group and the American students returned to Bangkok with a bit of heaviness on their hearts as they considered all of the people involved in this aspect of the "tourism" industry.
Please pray for the Thai people involved in this dark industry. Although there are many Christians in Thailand working to serve at-risk girls and boys by helping them develop cleaner marketable life skills, there is still a very long way to go.
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