Visit to Pattaya December 2012 / January 2013
I am sure that I heard the sound of a celebration party starting as I left the offices of ‘MERCY Pattaya’ in mid-January at the end my visit. Understandably a celebration would have been in order as my visit threw the office into chaos for the five weeks I was there.
With the increased number of scholarship students even five weeks in Pattaya was not time enough to meet them all. At the students’ party a few children were off sick, a couple with Malaria, and others were involved in different assignments away from the school. At other schools we often turned up at the appointed time only to find that no arrangement had been made to locate the children in time for our visit. At one school we arrived at 11am to pick up three kids only to find that there was an eve of Children’s Day event going on and it took Suky almost an hour to locate the three kids we wanted amongst the one-thousand plus kids in the school play ground. Often we sat around at a school for forty-five minutes while the children were located despite the school having advance notice of a lunch or shopping trip for the kids.
We were able to update ourselves on the family situation of many of the children and also to make a few home visits to take a look at how we could help improve their living conditions. We completed twenty-six shopping and lunch trips on behalf of sponsors and of these only three trips did not involve a visit to KFC for lunch, during the last three lunch trips Suky, Boonying and I just sat and watched the kids enjoy their meal; there is only so much KFC one can eat.
The party at the Hauy Phong Home was a great success with almost three-hundred kids attending. We were also pleased that Ray Cornell of The Venue Jomtien who has raised a lot of money for PSK over the years was able to come along. Ray a singer and dancer by profession was impressed with the Home’s band and was first on the dance floor when the disco started. He proved a great hit with the kids many of who insisted on having their photo taken with him. All of the kids received gifts from lucky numbers pinned on a Christmas tree. We also purchased some sports equipment for the home and paid for the children to visit Suam Siam a Thai cultural heritage site. Just as I was leaving Pattaya Ray organised a show at The Venue starring Lady Diamond Sitges which was a sell out and through audience donations raised 27000Baht (£540) for PSK.
The party for the slum kids and kids from Baan Kong Por (formerly known as the MERCY Home) was also a success and we were pleased to welcome along Tom and Tim who sponsor a couple of kids at the home, it is always nice for the kids to meet their sponsors and the kids were really happy to see them. All of the kids received gifts and the kids from the slums also received a bag of rice and some extra food to take home with them.
I was invited to spend the afternoon and evening on Christmas Day at Baan Khong Por with the children. The children had school that day so the opening of presents was left until they returned home at 4pm. I can only say that twenty-eight children opening their gifts is an experience not to be missed. The kids firstly watch a ‘Ben Ten’ super hero DVD before opening their gifts and then as a special treat for dinner we included a couple of Ice-cream cakes from Svensons to help round off the day. It was early to bed for the kids as next day was a normal school day. All of the kids at Baan Khong Por who are of school age are sponsored through PSK so it gave me a good chance to catch up with how the kids are doing. The day was one of the highlights of the visit.
Staying with Baan Khong Por we were able to help by buying curtains and fittings for the kids dormitories, a new set of bunk beds as there were two girls having to share one bunk and another little girl was expected in a few days, a couple of tables for the Early Learning room and we have agreed to meet the food bill for the kids for three months. With twenty-eight growing kids clothes and shoes do not last very long so we bought 1000Baht (£20) of new clothes for each child at Christmas.
Sponsors of children or anyone wishing to visit Baan Khong Por to see the work that goes on are welcome to do so by appointment. Regrettably a very few people seem to think that they have a god given right to just turn up at the home unannounced completely disregarding the strict Child Protection Policy that the Thai government has and that Baan Khong Por must adhere to. Anyone wishing to visit can contact us and we will be happy to try to arrange a visit through the MERCY office where the visit will begin and transport made available to take visitors to the house. For obvious reasons the exact location of the house is not given out as the safety of the children is paramount if the refusal to give the address does annoy a few people who should better appreciate the need for child protection policies then so be it..
We were asked by Lhen Lhen who is the Leaders of the Chum Chom (slums) project if we could help with the cost of a special pushchair (stroller) for eighteen-month old baby ‘Vic’. ‘Vic’ was born with only a brain stem and is now too heavy to carry for the couple who the mother abandoned her to. Lhen Lhen was able to find a suitable pushchair that will give the baby’s large head substantial support and the cost of this was £100. A few days later speaking to Ian a visiting UK sponsor and whilst talking about the baby he offered to meet the cost of the pushchair. ‘Vic’ has a life expectancy of up to ten years so we will be looking to see if we can assist with the cost of ongoing medication to make her comfortable.
One child that we took shopping on behalf of a sponsor lives in a tiny dilapidated tin shack on a piece of wasteland next door to a chemical plant where a tank holding and acidic liquid recently exploded. A lot of the foliage on the piece of waste land was burned and the chemical sprayed over the house. We have offered to pay for the cost of the materials (appx £200) for the father of the child to rebuild or at least make the shack habitable, he is a general labourer and is willing to carry out the work himself.
On New Year’s Eve along with Lhen Lhen and her family I took three boys from Baan Khong Por to Pattaya beach to watch the fireworks and to see in the New Year. Along with a few thousand other people the kids enjoyed the night out as well as mingling with the crowds until early on New Year’s Day.
During the lunch / shopping trips for the students we were surprised how much the cost of clothes and food has increased since April when I last visited. Clothes that we were paying £3.50 for now cost £5 and school shoes which were £5 are now costing £7. Food has increased around 15% - 20% so it is little wonder that we have been asked for help by supplying monthly food parcels for more families this year.
On one slum two of the families who have over the past two year rebuilt their homes following flooding have been told to move off the land, the land owner has turned up and wants to clear the land for redevelopment. Both families each have two of our students in them so now these families must try to find another piece of wasteland to build somewhere to live. In one of the families the mother has recently received a twenty year prison sentence which leaves just the father to care for the two children aged a boy and a girl thirteen and eleven respectively.
Overall my visit was a success if at times a bit chaotic. My thanks to Liz and Suky in the MERCY office for acting as my social secretaries for five weeks and telling me (or in Suky’s case commanding me) where to be at certain times. My visit was particularly difficult for Liz who had eye surgery scheduled during my visit and who, against her eye surgeon’s advice, insisted on going to the office directly after being released from hospital to organise my day.
Also to Sharon, Khun Sudjai, Lhen Lhen and Francesca for facilitating my visits to Baan Khong Por, these frequent and informal visits gave me a good insight into the problems of bringing up twenty-eight kids and the associated costs of clothing and food. We have offered to consider helping with the costs of the kids’ welfare as and when we are able to do so. Also thanks to Liz’s driver Boonying for his ferrying me around Pattaya and all of his advice, the kids all love him and he is a valuable asset to the Scholarship project. He worked late into the evening on a number of occasions to ensure I got to where I was supposed to be. There are many other people in the MERCY organisation who helped make my visit run smoothly and I thank them all for their help. The MERCY office team is small but very effective.
We have published many of the photos of my visit and the links to these photos can be found at the bottom of this page,
Don Ford.
Treasurer / Trustee
