Mak and Narola Sanglir are from the state of Nagaland, in North East India. They were church planting missionaries in Nepal for 8 years and both of their sons were born there. The Lord called them to Thailand in 1990 to serve Him among the Hmong hill tribes of North Thailand and it’s been 25 years since they came to Nan Province to do church planting, leadership training, and student ministry among the Hmong people.
During the weekdays, they are involved at Kathy’s Home with Bible study every night with the students. There is no public transportation to the villages so every weekend they load their old truck with our mats, sleeping bags, mosquito nets, and food, and drive up the mountains for village ministry.
Kathy’s Home was started in May 2000, since the school year begins in May. This is the fifteenth year since the Lord led them to start this home for the Hmong children so that they can have a place to stay when they attend the local Thai government schools in town, away from their families who live in the nearby mountain villages.
They were privileged to work together with Don and Kathy Rulison who labored in the Hmong mission field for over 40 years. The Rulison’s house was always open for the Hmong and the Sanglirs named it Kathy’s Home after the home going of Kathy in order to continue to show God’s love for these dear people.
This is how the Lord led the Sanglirs to start this home for the Hmong children. Every weekend, they as a family would go to the Hmong villages to share life and the love of Christ with the Hmong tribals in different mountain villages near the border of Laos. When Mak taught the adults, Narola would take the kids aside for Sunday School. One Sunday morning in 1999, Narola noticed that some children were missing in her Sunday School class including young girls. When she asked why those kids didn’t come, she was told that they have gone to central Thailand to the Buddhist temples in order to get free education. This was such a shock to Mak and Narola, because they thought that only young boys could go to the temple, and it broke their hearts to see that even the young girls were gone to live at the temple. Since that time, they began praying to help out the Hmong families by providing a place for their children to come and live with them in Pua town during their school year which is from May to early March. It was a burden the Lord laid on the Sanglir family, and it was a big step of faith as they decided to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”.
There are schools in the villages up to grade 6 but after that they need to go to nearby Thai towns for grade 7 till 12. During their 2 month summer break, the Buddhist monks come to the villages and offer free education and even providing transportation to take them to the temple schools. The Hmong parents are so poor that they choose this free schooling although the Hmong are not Buddhist by religion but are animist and spirit worshippers.
The first year Kathy’s Home had 9 students and the second year they had 17. They all came from Christian families but were not saved. Mak and Narola have Bible study with the children every night and when they understood the gospel message, they gave their lives to Christ and started praying for the salvation of their “Christian” parents. The unbelievers in the villages saw the difference in the lives of these students and wanted to send their children to Kathy’s Home. It was a wonderful opportunity that the Lord opened for the Sanglirs to witness to these families through their children because the third year they had 30 students followed by 26 the following year and the 5th year they had 26 students as well. All the children attend the local Thai government schools in town.
In 15 years, Kathy’s Home has had three different houses in Pua (44 students in 2016.) And now there will be a KH dormitory for college students in Chang Mai (25 students projected) as well as a Kathy’s Home in Namtoaung Village for the 5 -12 year olds (30 students projected.)
See also “Namtoaung Village – Caring for the Children”
“Thanking God for His Word, our Supporters, the future of Kathy’s Home.”