ITDF Work Teams
We got to celebrate with Integrated Tribal Development Foundation (ITDF) in having the first work team of 2024 in Thailand this last month!
ITDF welcomes and hosts work teams that desire to come and spend their time serving the hill tribe communities in Thailand. The work that these teams do typically consists of getting trained at ITDF headquarters, then going out to these villages and putting their hands and feet to work through water projects, agricultural projects, and whatever else these villages might be in need of.
GVBC Team
Garden Valley Baptist Church (GVBC) went out to Thailand to be the first work team of 2024 and they were able to help serve in the Karen village of Sanmorcha Lang. They, along with ITDF, completed a water project that will impact 152 villagers receiving clean water!
GVBC served for 10 days and they completed a huge service for the hill tribe people in this area. They trenched the ground for the water system, put in latrines, and sinks along with the water tank and filtration system.
More than providing a service for these villagers, GVBC and ITDF were able to continue to build relationships with these villagers.
The leader of the GVBC team mentioned that they all “became family. [We] had close relationship despite language barriers.”
The whole team was deeply impacted by the community that they felt during their time in the village. They received a very warm welcome by the villagers through participating in fun recreation, deep meaningful conversations, and even exchanging gifts!
Being able to dwell in mutual gratitude has the power to be an incredibly impactful experience in building community.
“The kids danced all the way to their grandparents sharing how they have been blessed by us and our time together. It was beautiful for all of us to have a heart of gratefulness and giving…”
It is so beautiful to see people from all walks of life coming together to bring relief and service to one another. For GVBC, I’m sure they would say that they received just as much as they gave in sweet memories, conversations, and fellowship.
We look forward to many more stories like this as more teams come from all over to Thailand in order to participate in the vision of ITDF and Lanna Foundation!
