Entrance to the IDC
After being patted down and checked for recording devices, I was lead into a room with two fences. Behind one were the inmates and behind the other were the visitors. A space of about 3 feet stood between us where guards paced back and forth to hand notes and envelopes from one side to the other, checking each letter. This isn't exactly what I expected a visit at the Immigration Detention Center (IDC) would look like. I was expecting something like what I had seen in the movies. Maybe we would sit at a table or talk on a phone between a plexi-glass window. But that was not the case.
Instead we strained to hear one another over the chaotic noise of everyone shouting at once. A young Cambodian boy in front of me cried silently, clutching the fence while his grandmother spoke to him in Khemer. Down the line to my left visitors from a local church were praying for inmates over the chaos and to my right friends chatted passionately, trying to figure out how to get free. In front of me was a woman who had been locked up for 2 years and couldn't stop speaking about the goodness and power of Jesus. She has been dubbed, "the preacher," as she loves to preach and hold bible studies whenever possible. Next to her was a 16 year old girl that had been trafficked from Ethiopia to Kuwait and then to Thailand. After escaping from the man who forced her into a brothel she was picked up by immigration police and has been behind bars for 3 months now. And just to their left was a young Vietnamese couple that I couldn't take my eyes off of. They are Christians that have been locked up for nearly 2 years and only get to see each other on the occasion that visitors request to see them both at the same time. What do all these people have in common? What is their crime? They all have expired visas and not enough money to bail themselves out. That is their crime.
I am trying to wrap my mind around the reality of the Detention Center, but I can't. It doesn't make any sense to me. Families are torn apart as people of all ages (yes, children included) are held in crowded cages (calling it a "room" or even a "cell" would be a luxurious overstatement) with only watery rice-porridge to eat. The only way to get adequate nutrition is to get lucky enough to have someone bring them food. This is the condition in which they live day in and day out until they can manage to pay their way out. Some will. Some will not. Many will not. Especially the poor ones. And all of this because of a visa!
Thailand does not recognize refugee or asylum-seeker status, so families that have ended up here after fleeing their home countries because of persecution end up in danger once again. They are in danger of ending up in this place or being sent back to their home countries where they will likely face imprisonment or death.
This is a reality that thousands of people are facing in Thailand. This is a reality that my families are facing. They have been hiding from it, running from it, and taking crazy measures to avoid it. I can't imagine them being locked up.
My mind feels like a scrambled egg and my heart has been broken into a million pieces. For some reason the image of the Vietnamese couple has been burned into my mind. Part of me wants to erase the memory because it hurts too much. I'm tired of crying. The other part wants and knows to embrace it because the prayer and intercession will be worth it. Feeling God's heart for a person is always necessary and worthwhile, even when it hurts...especially when it hurts.
I pray that if I ever end up in jail someone will visit me, bring me food, and let me see my husband too.
"I was hungry and you gave Me food;
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.....
Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you
did it to one of the least of these My
brethren, you did it to Me."
-Matthew 25
Instead we strained to hear one another over the chaotic noise of everyone shouting at once. A young Cambodian boy in front of me cried silently, clutching the fence while his grandmother spoke to him in Khemer. Down the line to my left visitors from a local church were praying for inmates over the chaos and to my right friends chatted passionately, trying to figure out how to get free. In front of me was a woman who had been locked up for 2 years and couldn't stop speaking about the goodness and power of Jesus. She has been dubbed, "the preacher," as she loves to preach and hold bible studies whenever possible. Next to her was a 16 year old girl that had been trafficked from Ethiopia to Kuwait and then to Thailand. After escaping from the man who forced her into a brothel she was picked up by immigration police and has been behind bars for 3 months now. And just to their left was a young Vietnamese couple that I couldn't take my eyes off of. They are Christians that have been locked up for nearly 2 years and only get to see each other on the occasion that visitors request to see them both at the same time. What do all these people have in common? What is their crime? They all have expired visas and not enough money to bail themselves out. That is their crime.
I am trying to wrap my mind around the reality of the Detention Center, but I can't. It doesn't make any sense to me. Families are torn apart as people of all ages (yes, children included) are held in crowded cages (calling it a "room" or even a "cell" would be a luxurious overstatement) with only watery rice-porridge to eat. The only way to get adequate nutrition is to get lucky enough to have someone bring them food. This is the condition in which they live day in and day out until they can manage to pay their way out. Some will. Some will not. Many will not. Especially the poor ones. And all of this because of a visa!
Thailand does not recognize refugee or asylum-seeker status, so families that have ended up here after fleeing their home countries because of persecution end up in danger once again. They are in danger of ending up in this place or being sent back to their home countries where they will likely face imprisonment or death.
This is a reality that thousands of people are facing in Thailand. This is a reality that my families are facing. They have been hiding from it, running from it, and taking crazy measures to avoid it. I can't imagine them being locked up.
My mind feels like a scrambled egg and my heart has been broken into a million pieces. For some reason the image of the Vietnamese couple has been burned into my mind. Part of me wants to erase the memory because it hurts too much. I'm tired of crying. The other part wants and knows to embrace it because the prayer and intercession will be worth it. Feeling God's heart for a person is always necessary and worthwhile, even when it hurts...especially when it hurts.
I pray that if I ever end up in jail someone will visit me, bring me food, and let me see my husband too.
"I was hungry and you gave Me food;
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you visited Me;
I was in prison and you came to Me.....
Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you
did it to one of the least of these My
brethren, you did it to Me."
-Matthew 25
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