| THAILAND:
Helping Manna| By Scott Coats, Executive Director, Mekong Minority Foundation
MIPC member Lucille Scholfield sponsors Manna to go to school. When Lucille heard about Manna’s health issues, she followed up to see how she could help. She met with Scott when he was here, emailed back and looking for ways to help, and in the end financially supported Manna so that she could get well. Lucille was a wonderful catalyst to bring health and hope to this young woman Manna.
I’d like to tell you a story about Manna, a wonderful young Lahu girl. The team at the Mekong Minority Foundation (Thailand) got to know Manna when she was 14. She was part of a scholarship program for poor tribal girls at risk to trafficking that MMF had begun to manage. Manna, though a Lahu, had been raised by an elderly Thai woman in Chiang Rai who found her as a homeless child when she was very young.
At the time Manna came into our lives, she was doing well in school and in the program activities. But not too long afterward, she developed a serious allergic reaction of some kind. A doctor put her on very strong medication that successfully stopped her reaction, but unfortunately brought on other side affects, causing serious pain in her legs and arms. Later medical tests showed that Manna’s kidneys had been damaged and her bones had deteriorated, which was leaving her unable to walk She had to drop out of school and ended up spending weeks in the hospital. Later, though her kidneys improved, she told that she had little hope of ever walking again.
After more tests, the doctors decided that she may be able to walk again with double hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately, without Thai citizenship papers, Manna didn’t qualify for Thailand’s free government health care, and the costs were more than her elderly caregiver (or even we) could afford.
MMF staff was visiting her regularly to encourage her, and each time we were impressed to find her cheerful and hopeful. Manna had a quiet determination and patience about her. Eventually, we (the MMF team) resolved to send her to Chiang Mai to try to schedule her for surgery even though we didn’t have the $5,000 it was to going to cost. Finally, Manna was operated on - twice, and several of God’s people responded generously to help with the costs, and now, after months of hard work and rehabilitation, Manna is walking again!
We can’t help but feeling that in all of this, it is Manna who has blessed us, and that it was her faith that kept all of us going.
Thanks so much for your important part in this work, providing scholarship for our students, and making it possible for us to keep serving our Lord. It’s an amazing privilege
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Manna & Scott's wife Tan
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