Passing plates in Thailand
Reflecting on mission at work in daily life
Elise and Jon Fletcher live in a slum community in Thailand where they are sharing Jesus with their neighbours through daily life. This reflection invites us to pay attention to what Jesus is saying to us through the people and places around us.
Elise and Jon Fletcher live in Khlong Toei, Thailand’s biggest slum community, where 100,000 people are living in material poverty, unaware of their God-given worth.
Elise and Jon have immersed themselves in the life of this vibrant community and share Jesus’ love for people living on the margins through everyday life. They turn up and show up for people living and working alongside them.
Elise writes:
When we first moved to Thailand, we inherited a collection of odd plates. They were perfectly functional, if slightly garish, but we made do. After a year or so we found ourselves feeling homesick in IKEA and caved in to buying a matching set – plain blue, not plastic!
Once we were more settled into the community, we began to receive gifts of food. If a neighbour was cooking something good, they would bring over a plateful so we could enjoy it too! Though we didn’t dare compete with samples of our Thai cooking, we soon learned who appreciated our occasional baked offerings! One thing niggled. People didn’t return the plates… and they seemed shifty when I returned theirs! I bought a stack of paper plates to get around this problem and let the donated plates stack up by the front door for neighbours to take back if they wanted them. We still had eight of the 12 matching plates so all was well…
Then, one day I handed a plate back to a friend who feigned shock that it was empty… it was a lightbulb moment as I realised where I had been going wrong. I had underestimated the reciprocal nature of community life. Not that people wanted anything in return, but that it was natural to give out of whatever we had, whether that be a few bananas from a bunch or the excess rice that would go to waste. This could be an everyday thing, not just a grand gesture when we baked brownies.
A few weeks ago, I commented on the delicious smell of a soup cooking in a clay pot outside the home of a new neighbour. We hadn’t talked before but I learned that she had moved here from the countryside to cook and clean for two grown-up sons. As I drove away, I suspected I’d be tasting that soup later in the day. Sure enough, my new neighbour appeared at the door with a bowl later that morning. She wasn’t home when I returned it filled it with lamyan fruit so I left it on her outdoor cabinet.
That bowl has moved back and forth every few days (changing colour occasionally, as I’ve learned that the specific plate is not what matters!) Though we’ve not exchanged many words, my new neighbour and I have bonded over shared food. As I passed her house the other day she had a suitcase packed and told me that she is going to care for her sister who is very sick. Every time I see her plate in our cupboard, I am reminded to pray.
We are now down to four matching plates that get used most days. But they are mixed in with ten or so randoms, which I’ve learned is exactly how it should be; we are right back where we started! As plates circulate between houses, I’m reminded of how much we need others and how diversity makes life richer. Though there are certainly members of our community excluded from the circle of reciprocity, by participating we can help to expand its scope and reach.
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