One day, my friend Oui called me in the middle of the day in need of help to go with her and her colleague to the IDC to visit and give food to a detained asylum seeker. I immediately said yes since I've been wanting to go after hearing all the stories of how inhumane this place is. After seeing the IDC and making my visit, I agree that this place is truly inhumane. The moment I arrived my heart instantly felt heavy. There were already so many people waiting in line to go inside to make their visit. Immediately when I spotted my friend Oui, her colleague, Dianne, gave me the name and cell number of the person I was visiting and details of how it will be like when we enter the gate. The person I visited is a Christian, Pakistani woman; her God-fearing husband and two sons are also in the IDC. After going through the main gate, there were many wired gates that separated us from the detainees. As each cell group came out, the noise got louder. By the time you know it, the room is filled with detainees and their visitors screaming at each other because that's the only way they can hear one another. What a way to meet someone and have a conversation for the first time. My heart ached. I have never met the woman I was visiting so I had no idea how she looked like. It got noisy so fast. I was screaming her name so eager to meet her and tell her that the Lord is with her and her family and He will not ever forget them. In that moment I knew that I will not and cannot forget either. As I was screaming her name, a young man from the cell approached me and told me that he's the son of the woman I was looking for. I wish I could tell you all their names, but this young man is only 25 years old and he and his family has been in the IDC now for 1 year and 5 months. The woman I was screaming for eventually heard me came toward me. When I saw her, a person, a daughter of God, I cried. I've never felt such a heavy mixture of heartache and joy ever in my life like I did in that moment. Most of our conversation consisted of how difficult it is to live in the cell, how happy she and her family are to have someone visit them, and how good God is. After much talk and giving her a printed Bible verse in her language, the woman raised her arms up to heaven and said, "God is here". All of a sudden I sensed the peace of the Lord, and I'm sure that she and her family felt the presence of the Lord as well. The husband of the woman is a man of God, faithful and near to the Lord, and a prayer warrior. We used up all the 45 minutes we had with one another and ended with the husband of the woman praying for me and I for them. This was truly a blessing from the Lord; broken but mended. What joy and peace it is to be a child of God.
**If you are unfamiliar with the Pakistani in Thailand, almost all of the detained asylum seekers are from Christian and Ahmadiyya communities that have been prosecuted under discriminatory laws or attacked by religious extremists in Pakistan.