Thai woman finds love and livelihood through crafting Christmas ornaments
She uses a silver pen to sketch miniature hats and cuts out figures of the wise men from the Christmas story. This Thai grandmother’s velvet ornaments will hang on trees in countless American homes during the holidays.
Christmas isn’t celebrated in Ponpit Sayom’s home with ornament-laden Christmas trees, cookies or carolers.
Instead, Sayom goes to church and remembers her Savior’s birth on Christmas Day. To her unbelieving family, Jesus is just another man. Food must still be earned and her grandchildren need tending to.
Sayom is the main breadwinner for her family of eight. Her husband’s work has suffered recently because of heavy rain and flooding. She prays one day her family will listen to the story represented in the ornaments she makes.
Providing a livelihood
Sayom earns her wages making ornaments for Thai Country Trim, a 25-year-old ministry that provides livelihood for rural Thai women.
Thai Country Trim employs 22 full-time workers at the ministry center — all believers who lead Bible studies and small groups.
The ministry also employs dozens of women who work from home, which allows them to make an income as they care for their children.
Thai Country Trim specializes in Christmas ornaments. It was the first artisan for WMU’s WorldCrafts program that began in 1996 and now has national artisans in 33 countries.
WMU’s support and promotion allows Thai Country Trim to employ more workers, Cheryl Derbyshire, director, says. WorldCrafts is one of many ways WMU promotes missions involvement among Southern Baptists.
Derbyshire says the greatest joy for her is getting to teach people about Christ and watching lives change.
“One of the joys of working in Thai Country Trim is seeing women’s lives changed,”Cheryl Derbyshire, Thai Country Trim director
She says she enjoys watching the 22 full-time workers share the Gospel with the women who work from home who aren’t believers. Sayom, who has worked for Thai Country Trim for 20 years, is one of the full-time workers.
WMU’s investment makes it possible for her to support her family.
Daily routine
Sayom seems like the type of woman who’d spend her time in a rocking chair, sipping tea while rocking a grandchild to sleep.
But, Sayom rarely has an idle moment. She spends her days and nights meticulously checking the stitching on Christmas ornaments. If one stitch is out of place, the entire ornament is scrapped.
She rises at 5 a.m. to get her grandchildren ready for school. Then, she heads to the Thai Country Trim center and draws and cuts out the figures of Christmas characters.
After working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., she comes home and cooks for her family, feeds and bathes her grandchildren and tends to her aging father, who has Alzheimer’s.
After others are in bed, she sits cross-legged on her linoleum floor and sews angel ornaments by the light of a fluorescent bulb until midnight to earn extra income. All of Thai Country Trim’s ornaments are hand-stitched.
To pass the time as she sews and decorates ornaments, Sayom sings praise songs and whispers prayers for her family. She’s caring for three generations, her father, her children and her grandchildren.
Longing for love
A friend introduced Sayom to Thai Country Trim and helped her get a position making ornaments.
Sayom later learned God loved her dearly, she says, as tears form in the corner of her eyes. She believed in Him because of the love the Christian workers showed her.
“My Christian friends loved me,”Ponpit Sayom, Thai Country Trim artisan
She never had love before, she explains as tears form faster behind her silver glasses.
Sayom’s tears are those of hurt, heartache and healing. Her father didn’t love her and her mom died when she was seven. Her father was always mean to her, she says. Sayom said she grew up lonely and longing for love.
“When he’s old, I don’t want to take care of him,” Sayom told her brother.
No one told Sayom “I love you.” No one told her she was special. But, things changed when she started working at Thai Country Trim.
When Sayom started working for Thai Country Trim, she learned she had value. She received praise for her handiwork and began taking pride in her work.
In weekly Bible studies that are a part of the workday at the ministry center, Sayom heard God is like a father and loves her unconditionally. She saw His love in her coworkers’ lives.
“My Christian friends loved me,” Sayom says. She became a Christian because of Christ’s love exhibited in them.
Because of Christ’s love, she says she’s able to love her father. After a major surgery, her father needed to live with one of his children. He asked if he could live with her.
“I didn’t want to,” she admits. “But thanks to God because when I came to know God, God changed my mind to love my dad.”
God is changing her father’s heart too. Though still not a believer, he treats Sayom with more respect now.
Changing lives
Derbyshire says she watched Sayom’s transformation. Her self-esteem rose and she began to reach out to others. Sayom started working at home and has now moved to a full-time position working at the center. She helps lead weekly Bible studies with women who haven’t believed yet.
Because of Thai Country Trim, Sayom is able to support herself and her family. She has a Christian community who supports her and nurtures her.
Life is still hard for Sayom. Her family has yet to believe. As mother to both her children and to her four grandchildren, she must continue to provide for them financially.
But, “God’s greater,” Sayom says, smiling.
And, because of Thai Country Trim, Sayom experiences the unconditional love of a Father who will never disappoint.
Widow faithfully follows the star
Yupha Hanuman came to Thai Country Trim eight years ago as a widow looking for work. Like most Thais, Hanuman was a Buddhist. When her daughter caught dengue fever, Hanuman’s Christian coworkers covered her in prayer. God healed her daughter and at a Christmas party Hanuman chose to believe the message behind the ornaments she made.
Hanuman said the star of Bethlehem is her favorite ornament. Just as the star led the wise men to Jesus, the ornament helped lead Hanuman to Jesus.
Some evenings she brings ornaments home to work to earn extra income. Hanuman, her teenage daughter and her mother live in a two-room house.
Hanuman asks for prayer for her mother’s deteriorating health. Her mother has yet to believe in Jesus. She asks for prayer for her daughter as she finishes high school and will begin to look for work.
Thai Country Trim allows Hanuman to provide for her aging mother and teenage daughter.
What a lovely Christmas greetings. I join all of your friends in praying for a good life of peace and joy. God Bless.