Sunrise over Isaan

Welcome to Isaan

Driving the Friendship Highway (Highway 2) east out of Saraburi you come to a crack in a narrow ridge of mountains (a feature that I presume gives rise to the name of the nearby community, Pak Chong=”mouth of the hole”).  This seemed an appropriate location for someone to put a dam, so there is a very nice lake here.  But as you pass through this gap in the hills, you enter the elevated portion of Northeast Thailand called the Khorat Plateau.  This is known as the Isaan Region (variously spelled in English, Isarn, Isan or Esarn). 

Map Showing the Isaan Region of Thailand
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51258

Lake at Gateway to Isaan

Gateway to Isaan

Isaan is an area that is more Lao than Thai.  The language (Isaan) is more similar to Lao than Thai as is the food and culture.  While most people can speak Thai (it is taught in schools and heard and seen in mass media), the older people all speak Isaan.

Social Issues

Over 30% of Thai citizens live in the Isaan, but it remains the neglected and poorest part of the country.  For that reason, many people have left Isaan to work in Bangkok or other cities, or work overseas.  It is the goal of many parents to have a child marry a foreigner, for it offers them a way up.  I heard somewhere that there are about 100,000 Isaan people are married to foreigners and living overseas.  Another 20,000 foreigners are married to Isaan people (primarily foreign men and Isaan women) and live in the Isaan.  It seems most villages have at least one foreigner living there-though they often don’t speak the language.

(Our little corner of Bangkok is almost like little Isaan.  The streets are filled with vendors selling all kinds of cooked food—much of it Isaan style food cooked by people who have migrated to the city to improve their economic outlook.)

The cities have a lot of problems common to cities throughout the world.  Drug and alcohol abuse.  Infidelity. (Infidelity is a problem throughout the country. A Bangkok Post commentator (originally at http://m.bangkokpost.com/opinion/271595, but link is not longer valid) referenced a survey in which just over 50% of both men and women reported cheating on their partner.) Incomes that are not on par with the standard of living or, more likely, not on par with a desired lifestyle. While in the past women might have been sold into prostitution, these days women enter the trade because they can earn for more money than they can with a "normal" job.  So it is not surprising that there are a significant number of people that are HIV positive.  In one province for which there is data, 16.66% of children under the age of 2 are HIV positive.(data originally from http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/thailanddata/northeast/NakhonRatchasima.htm, but link is no longer valid)

There are a couple of reasons for Isaan being economically depressed. One is that it is a bit remote. It is not on the way to any place in particular except Lao, which is also much poorer than Thailand. There are not many resources there to cause factories to locate there. Agriculture is the dominant industry, but the area is also dry. It is the driest part of Thailand and there is no irrigation water in much of the area.  As a result they can only grow one crop a year, unlike the 2 or 3 crops that are grown throughout most of the rest of the country.

Isaan Produce-Note the Red Chilies!

Hog Farm

Sugar Cane Truck

Photogenic Cow

Religion

The Isaan is strongly Buddhist.  The temple remains the center of community life.

There are few or no Christians in most towns and villages. Some of the cities might have several churches but they are generally quite small.  (For more detail, you can view the map at http://e-star.ws/harvest/christian-presence-map.html)

Sakon Nakhon Baptist Church

Living Water Community Church in Borabue

At this point it looks like we will be moving to the Isaan in the near future.  There would be many opportunities for us to use our technical skills and abilities as we start building communities of faith.  Pray that the light of Jesus would shine brightly through us.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NIV)