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Thanksgiving at
The MERCY Center |
In addition to primary mission collecting donations
for the children at the center and for the poor in
the slum for which the center also provide food,
milk and care; there was also a Thanksgiving event a
few days before.
The MERCY Center hosts a thanksgiving luncheon every
year, mainly to thank the people who have donated.
The charge to attend is only about US$5, which does
not even pay for the food as turkeys are hugely
expensive in Thailand. They are usually imported
from the US. A large turkey can cost upwards of
US$100.
Being that I was flying in from the US just days
before and was allowed 250 pounds of no-charge
luggage, I offered to bring the birds from the US as
they in the weeks before Thanksgiving are sold for a
song here.
I brought over 9 turkeys along with pre-made
stuffing and cranberry sauce. While this allowed a
more liberal serving than normal it was also more
than needed, but the excess birds were later raffled
off to raise additional money for the center.
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Co-founder Pastor Fred |
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Co-founder Diane |
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My Friend Bo |
 In
my last trip report
(3 - 4 September, 2008)
I wrote about the little boy that I "met" in the
slums. His name is Bo and when I met him he was
running around naked and he had no family -
whatsoever!
Bo absolutely broke my heart and I asked the staff
at the MERCY Center why they had not taking him in.
It turned out that there were two major problems.
One being that the MERCY Center is set up primarily
to take care of "at risk children" with a chance to
eventually reunite with their family. The second
challenge was that Bo had no papers and as far as
the Thai government was concerned, he could be an
illegal immigrant (at an age less than 3).
In the months following between my September mission
and this one I pleated with the MERCY Center to make
an exception and to do whatever it would take to get
him into the shelter.
My Thanksgiving present was that the MERCY Center
managed to overcome all the obstacles and rescued Bo
from an environment doomed to provide a career
somewhere between a beggar and a trash collector.
For that I will forever be grateful.. As a follow-up
to the good deed by the center, I have promised to
fund schooling and other expenses for Bo till he
becomes an adult and hopefully will be able to use
his education to maintain a good and gainful employ. |
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Slum Trip |
Much like the
last trip to the slum
this trip started with some early morning work
bagging the food for about 80 families; each getting
2 scoops of rice, fish oil, vegetable oil, noodles
and tomato paste.
We visited the same three slums that we went to the
last time and while it was surely depressing to
(again) witness the conditions that they live in, it
was good that we did not meet another Bo.
This was only my second trip to the slums and I was
floored by the fact that many remembered me and
though the communication was mainly visual it was
much more profound and sincere than the last time.
It is not to be expected that people in this lower
class of life in a third-world country speak a word
of English, however, almost 10% had learned to say
"thank you" in English when receiving their
donation.
It is very hard to describe the emotions and
feelings that you experience at the moment when you
are privileged to hand these needy soles a small
ration of food that will get them through the week.
Never have I been so humbled in my life.
I would encourage anyone who read, and appreciate,
this to try it at least once in a lifetime. It will
give you a completely different perspective on a lot
of matters in life. VERY different. |
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Attending to The MERCY Center |
After the trip
to the slum it was time to go shopping and to spend
the money donated.
In a way this task is fairly boring and I am glad
that the members and volunteers of the Center took
it to heart leaving me to do the accounting duties
and to have the distinct pleasure to take care of Bo
who was with us.
This was Bo's first encounter with the civilized
world. Before this even
 Bo
had never seen anything outside of the slum,
or the MERCY Center. The supermarket we went to had
a small restaurant with a playground for kids with
plenty of nickel rides. Bo has a sausage on a stick
and fries for lunch ... an all new experience in
life.
It was amazing to watch Bo as he was given the
opportunity to try various rides. The reaction was
somewhere between the typical child's reaction and
that of someone being totally overwhelmed.
Spending all the money donated (thank you all again
for your donations) took almost three hours. I had a
lot of fun with Bo while in the market, but it was
also very tiring on Bo and to make it bearable for
him I picked up a few pillows and a towel/blanket so
that I could wheel him around in a shopping cart. I
had expected him to fall asleep, but all these new
impressions kept him awake all the way.
Once again we managed to fill up more than a pick-up
truck full of goodies. |
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Next mission.
The next mission is scheduled for the summer of
2009, please watch this site for details or send an
E-mail
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