TEAM ISAAN TRAINING CENTER

(click here for information on how you could help financially support this project)

We praise God for the new training center.  From what we understand, this land was given to the C&MA over 30 years ago when US troops moved out of Udon Thani after the Vietnam War.  For years, the C&MA has loaned out the land to another organization.  In May 2009 TEAM Isaan obtained this land as the site for our new Training Center.  People coming to this Center will be trained in job skills, leadership skills, and church planting.

Though the building looked a little run down and the yard was extremely overgrown, we didn't realize the extent of the work that was needed at the job training center.  

We began with taking out some of the trees and clearing and leveling the land in order to make better use of the property.  As we began working on the building, we quickly realized that the building was infested with termites.  As we ripped out the ceiling of the first floor we discovered a termite nest that was 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep and 8 feet long.  This picture on the left shows a piece of the nest that fell out.  The entire flooring for the second floor, the internal walls on the second floor, the wrap around walkway, and the stairs on the outside (as you see in the picture above) will all need to be torn down and rebuilt.  When we took out the drop ceiling on the first floor, we discovered that the existing electrical wires were spliced together and that was a fire hazard so all the wiring on the first floor needed to be redone.  The windows did not work, the screens were all ripped up.  The plumbing in the kitchen just drained the water from the sink onto the bathroom floor, and the bathroom was not adequate for a building of this size.  As you can imagine, there is a lot of work to be done. 

As mentioned already, we cleared our some of the trees and started some farming projects.  In the background of this picture you can see the mushroom farms, and the fish farm.  The workers also put up a Takraw net to play this Thai sport after work.  On the other side of the building a small vegetable garden has been planted and crickets are being raised as a means of income.

Below is a collection of pictures:

 (left- wrap around porch being removed.  Notice the wood beams are completely eaten by termites.  right- new stairwell and wrap around porch removed)

  (left- old electric with wires spliced together.  right- new electric tacked into the beams)

  (more pictures to come as work is completed)