Kids in Pattaya

Saturday, 4 January 2014

Charity Fund Raising Show

Saturday, 28 December 2013

Visit to the crocodile farm with UK sponsors

Today we met with Tom and Tim, Thailand based UK sponsors to take their sponsored students Tuey and Jay on a visit to the Crocodile Park, also on the day out was our driver for the day Tom, Liz Shepherd of MERCY and 13 year old Lek.

First stop was to see the crocodile show which comprised of the trainer dragging some rather large crocodiles around before sticking his arm down a croc's throat and then dancing with one of the smaller crocs. The finale of be show was when the trainer stuck his head into the crocodile's mouth.

We then went on to the other animals where Tuey and Jay fed the Giraffes while Lek fed the crocs. Then onto the elephants where all three boys fed the elephants and the two younger boys went on an elephant ride.

A visit to the tigers was where Lek braved having his photo taken sitting beside one of the tigers (I politely declined the offer) then off to see the remaining tigers before entering the restaurant where every dish on the menu contained crocodile, so we decided against eating there.

After exploring other areas of the park for a while we decided to take the boys to eat at The Magnolias a lakeside restaurant before returning them home.

Friday, 27 December 2013

Narupol's and Pongsikonrt's lunch and shopping trip

Today we carried out the request of Bruno and Dominic the two French sponsors of Narupol and Pongsikonrt to take them for lunch and shopping.

As luck would have it their school was closed today so we did not have the usual time constraints and we were with the boys for more than three hours.

Lunch was at MK where the food is brought to your table to cook, the boys enjoyed the experience and ate well.

After lunch it was off to Tescos for shopping where at the top of each boys list was a warm blanked as the nights have been fairly chilly of late. Then after each of the boys buying themselves a radio controlled car it was shopping for clothes where as well as other clothes each boy bought a long sleeved top and shoes it was noticeable just how much prices have risen during the year.

Shopping completed and with the money the boys had left over each bought six Dunkin Donuts to take home to the family. On the way out of Tescos we persuaded the boys that a Svensons ice cream was needed to round off the trip, we then took the boys back to their respective homes. A great afternoon out with two really nice and polite kids who are grateful to their sponsors for their continuing support.

'Piano' and 'Guitar' home visit.

Today we visited the room of 10year old 'guitar' and her 6 year old sister 'Piano'. The children's mother died in childbirth and the girls are cared for by their grandmother who works as a cleaner and also collects rubbish to recycle and the children's father a motorbike taxi driver.

The father works at night so after he finishes work he takes the children to school, returns home to sleep and the pick the up again before gonna comes home to care for the girls during the evening and at night.

Grandma leaves home early in the morning to collect rubbish and then goes onto her cleaning job, the girls help her sort and bag up the rubbish and this earns the family an extra 1000Baht (£20) a month.

The family's room is in a dark and damp passageway where there are many rooms and with a lot of very ferocious dogs which fortunately when we visited were behind barred gates. The family's room has one mattress where all the family sleep. Both girls enjoy school and are obviously well cared for with the meagre resources that grandma and their father earn they are very happy and bubbly kids.

We have offered to double the amount of food we fund each month which will make things a little easier for grandma to feed the growing girls and we have asked 'Noi' the social worker with 'Kates Project' to buy both girls some new clothes and shoes.

We are still looking for individual sponsors for both girls as an offer to sponsor the girls a month ago was not followed through by the potential sponsor so at the moment we are paying for the girls schooling, details of the children can be found on our website at; http://pattayastreetkids.homestead.com/childrenneedingsponsors.html

UK sponsor's Go Karting and lunch with the kids.

Today we met with visiting UK sponsor Ray Parnell to take out his three sponsored students for lunch, shopping and a visit to the Go Cart track.

The boys, brothers Taksin and Chinawat were meeting the youngest student 10 year old Nonthacha for the first time and all got on well together during the day. The choice of where to eat was left to Nonthacha to decide and he chose Pizza, despite Suky's best efforts to persuade him that KFC was better.

After lunch we visited Tesco's where Ray bought the boys clothes, shoes, shorts, underwear and food for the family. Before leaving the boys chose a selection of Dunkin Donuts to take home with them.

After Tescos it was a visit to the Go Karting track to give the boys their first time Go Karting. As Nonthacha is quite small Khun Boonying our driver for the day volunteered to take him in a twin seat Go Kart so he would not miss out.

Following the Go Karting it was time to return the boys home to their respective families and all the boys said that they enjoyed the day and Nonthacha said that next time he wants to drive on his own.

www.slum-kids.org

Home visit to Naphan

This ramshackle home is located way out of the main are of Pattaya and is home to Naphan, a student we sponsor through 'Kates's Project' and to four other family members.

Naphan is cared for by her grandmother and badly disabled grandfather. Grandfather was working and earning 10,000baht (£200) a month until his tripped and fell on the broken wooden walkway to the shack and is now paralysed and suffering firm diabetes.b

Grandma grow vegetables to sell and cares for Naphan and grandfather, her sister who also lives at the house brings in a small income to help ends meet.

The entire wooden walkway and part of the small wooden floor where grandad sits desperately needs replacing, grandmas brother has been collecting timber to replace the flooring but needs help with the cost of nails and some sturdy wooden supports, if this work was carried out it would be feasible to find a second hand wheelchair for him to give him some mobility.

We have asked Khun Noi of 'Kate's Project to buy Naphan some new clothes and shoes and put her in touch with a project that may be able to assist with a wheelchair.