December 2008 - January 2009 Visit Report
During a five week visit to Pattaya I was able to visit all of the projects that we are involved with and meet the majority of our sponsored students.
Owing to the blockade at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International airport the trip was in the balance until two days before my flight was due to leave at which time the airport was reopened. Consequently we had not been able to confirm any dates for visits to students or of the parties for the kids so it all became very hectic when I did arrive.
Huay Phong Children’s Home New Year Party
As we were unable to arrange the services of caterers for the actual New Year we held the party at Huay Phong on December 23rd. We had expected about 375 children to attend but on the day there were 417. The home has over the past twelve months had to cut back on staff but at the same time has taken in more children. The kids had chosen the menu for the evening and rice, noodles, fish and chicken were high on the list and last years favourite of crepes was number one. Food was again set out on food carts outside of the dining hall and the kids were able to make their own selection, many returning for second helpings. Food
over and done with the younger children gave a song and dance performance whilst some of the older girls performed traditional Thai dancing.
After these performances the disco started and as
happened last year all of the photos inside of the hall
were taken in total darkness interrupted only by
flashing strobe lights. Fortunately I was able to
organise some photos of the kids outside of the
hall thanks to a 12 year old boy named who spoke
good English and insisted on acting as my interpreter
for the duration of the party and was able to translate
for me to get the kids into groups for pictures.
Again as happened last year one of the kids who
thought of himself as a budding photographer
commandeered one of the cameras and at the end of the evening between the two of us we ended up with 1145 pictures! Photos of the party can be found here:
The disco lasted 2½ hours and if I ever hear the song ‘Kung- Fu Fighting’ again it will be too soon, the song seemed be played every 10 minutes and it got all of the kids onto the dance floor. After the disco all the children received a parcel of gifts and the evening was rounded off by all of the kids singing their version of ‘Jingle Bells’
Back in Pattaya the Mercy Project were busy organising the remaining parties, visits to the students, shopping trips for the students that had been requested by their sponsors, the student’s lunch meetings and visits to the Ko Pai slum where we had financed the refurbishment of the Early Learning Centre. It is thanks to the Mercy Scholarship team led by Liz Shepherd whose military like planning along with Lhen Lhen and Sam that I was able to complete all of the planned visits and in no small part thanks to Liz’s driver Boonying who seemed to know every short cut and back alley in Pattaya that saved sitting in traffic for hours on end.
Sponsors and shopping trips.
Before the chaos at the airport had started I had arranged to meet a number of sponsors who were intending to be in Pattaya over the Christmas / New Year holidays. As things turned out some of them had their flights cancelled and I was only able to meet one sponsor who was about to return to the UK and Mark from California who despite having to reduce his visit from ten to five days was determined to make the long flight to meet all four of his sponsored students and to take them shopping.
A plan that was successful thanks to the Mercy
Project team rushing him from one side of Pattaya
to the other and Mark’s determination take a
chance and turn up at one school on the off-chance
that he would be able to meet one student although
no appointment had been arranged. Naturally all of
his students were delighted to meet him.
Other shopping trips provided plenty of excitement
for the kids, two of the children had never been into a
superstore before and were boggle-eyed at what confronted them and all of the children insisted that some of the sponsor money be spent on food for the family. One memorable trip was with the Patpang family, after lunch in KFC we made tracks for the 2nd floor for shopping. Brothers Chinnawat and Taskin along with
sister Juluwan, who is confined to a wheel
chair, along with Liz and me were bundled
into a rickety old goods lift commandeered
by the ever resourceful Lhen Lhen and in
pitch darkness much to the boys delight
shuddered our way up whilst hoping that
we could work out how to open the door
when it stopped. The kids’ mum and dad
are building labourers or if there is no
building work they collect and recycle
rubbish.
The parents rely on the children for reading
and writing as neither mum nor dad are able
to read or write. So education for the children is vitally important for the whole family. On the way out of the store older brother Taskin was reluctant to step onto the moving walkway until Liz yanked him on whilst younger brother Chinnawat who was with me thought it great fun to try and walk backwards up the moving walkway with a trolley load of food.
In October we had taken onto our scholarship scheme twenty new young students and visited them at their school in January. We were concerned that the health of many of these kids seemed very poor with skin disorders, little clothing and general undernourishment. The Mercy team will be making home visits to check if the living conditions of these kids can be improved and how we can help make their lives more comfortable. Some of these children still need sponsors for their education and details and photos of the kids can be found on our website.
Anyone interested in learning about the scholarship scheme is welcome to contact us for full details of how the scheme works. We are mindful that with the current economic situation it is going to be more difficult to find sponsors for the foreseeable future but we need to do so to ensure the welfare and to give these kids the chance of a decent future.
The cost of living in Thailand has risen as elsewhere and for families living well below the poverty line and having seen their basic diet of rice increase by more than 50% during the last year it is perhaps little wonder that some of the children are so malnourished.
Scholarship Students’ Party.
Eighty plus students attended the party at school number seven and we had organised a number of games for them, the party started off with a lunch of rice and chicken along with soft drinks and ice cream. It was good to see so many familiar faces and how they have grown and progressed over the years. It also gave us the chance to meet each student individually. After the games and some singing each child was presented with a gift specially selected for them and a food parcel of rice, cooking oil, tinned fish, sauce and fruit to take home to the family.
The Ko Pai Slum Early Learning Centre
Last year we became involved in the
refurbishment and expansion of the slum’s
ELC and the centre can now accommodate
eighty children a day a big increase on the
previous maximum of thirty. During the
refurbishment new western style toilets were
installed, washing facilities, a new large play
area was built and new flooring laid. It was my
first visit to the ELC since the refurbishment
and it is a vast improvement on what was
basically nothing more than a large breeze
block shell. All of the children wear a uniform
of green and white and parents pay 10 Baht
(about 20p) a day for the children to
attend the centre. Even at 10 Baht many parents are not able to find the money every day so children often miss school. Photos of the Ko POai slum can be viewed here
The Slum Families Party.
We had intended this to be a beach party but because
of the high temperature it was switched to inside a hall
. About 100 people attended and it followed the usual
format of games followed by lunch. The old favourites
of Pass the Parcel and Musical Chairs had kids and
parents fully involved plus some rather fast moving
games involving parents and balloons being carried
back and forth the length of the hall. After the food and
games each child received a gift and each family a
food parcel and all of the kids and many of the parents
also went home tired but happy.
The Child Development Centre
This is a new project overseen by the Pattaya Ladies
Club (PLC) and we wanted to see if we could offer
some support here. The project is based on a small
piece of land on the outskirts of Pattaya and its
Director ‘Jai’ formerly ran the Street Kids Home of
the Father Ray Foundation.
‘Jai’ also works with the Pattaya Police and at
weekends accompanies them in picking up kids who
are living on the streets, many of the kids have been
subjected to the attentions of foreign child predators
whose sole purpose of visiting or living in Pattaya is to
pick-up and abuse kids. The information gathered
from these children has enabled the police to make a number of arrests in recent months and charges have already been brought against some of those arrested.
The project currently has two dormitories on the land and cares for twenty six children who are aged from 18 months to 16 years. All of the buildings
were constructed from donated timber and most of the
work was done by the kids along with some adult help.
The accommodation is to say the least very basic with
old mattresses on the
floors and no fans to help keep them cool. Most of the
children attend a local school and it is planned to expand
the project when funds are available to construct another
dormitory. The children grow some of their own food on
the land and do all of their own washing, cooking their
meals and caring for themselves under the supervision
of a Monk. We have offered to donate £1000 to the
project which will enable them to refurbish the dormitories and furnish the new dormitory which is planned for next month.
We hope that from this report you can see how your support has helped improve the life and safety of the children. As mentioned earlier we anticipate this year being a difficult year for fund raising and as always 100% of all money donated will be used for the benefit of the children, the charity trustees meet all of the administration costs and the costs of their own personal travel to Thailand.
We hope that you will continue to support the project and mention it to friends who may also be prepared to help in some way. If you are interested in either sponsoring a child or learning of any other way you can help we would be delighted to hear from you.
On behalf of all of the kids we are helping thank you for your support and we look forward with your continued assistance being able to help even more children during 2009.
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We are a Secular charity and do not support or promote any religious organisation.
We are always prepared to consider working with any organisation in bringing help to children in need on the strict understanding that any such help is given
uncondtionally and does not involve the preaching, promoting or acceptance of any religion.
