BMS World Mission worker Brian Leitch tells us of the opportunities that God is opening up in Mae Sot, Thailand.
Mae Sot is a complex place and I am beginning to work out where the gaps are and to think through how I, BMS World Mission and now Compasio, can get involved.
Quite unexpectedly I am getting quite involved in fish farming. Earlier this year I started a small fish farm with a couple from the Karen ethnic group about 140km south of Mae Sot.
The project worked well and we are working to expand it. Once we acquire two acres of land in January it will produce over 1,000kg of catfish a month as well as pigs, chickens and vegetables.
Although the farm will be in Thailand, the workers will be from inside Burma and have been affected by the conflict there. Most of them will be landmine victims.
Some of the food produced will be used in a dormitory for children who have fled from fighting. The rest of the food will be sold to fund the farm and to raise funds for health, education and other community development projects inside Burma.
The best part is that it's being done by a loan, so the impetus is on the family to make it work. The repaid loan will be used to fund other work in the area.
As well as working in rural communities, a lot of our work is with people who live in small houses in Mae Sot and work either by collecting rubbish or begging. Often their nutrition is poor and they can afford to improve it.
We're looking at doing small-scale fish and vegetable farming and after Christmas I will experiment with various types of fish farm systems and various types of fish.
I'm just about to move house and my new house has space on the roof to enable me to play with fish and vegetable systems. Once it works well look at rolling it out to various families we work with to see how beneficial it is.