Orphan Kids - Mission 3 Report

Report - Visit to the Children's MERCY Center - 9 July 2009

Thank you to all who supported the project and who contributed to its success.

It was a new record in terms of the fund raiser with a cash total of 53,409 Thai Baht or the equivalent of US$1,582. In addition a missing pledge of 3,000 baht was given directly to The MERCY Center later. All-in-all this meant a better than 50% increase over the previous mission,
Some of the money was raised during a private auction of 9 large teddy bears. The teddy bears were actually donated by a colleague of mine (Kyle) last year, but due to airline luggage constraints, I was not able to take them over before this trip.
The bears were auctioned off for a total or 22,000 baht (~US$650), but there was a bit of a twist to this auction. The successful bidders did actually not get a teddy bear, but rather became official sponsors of the bears donated to the preschoolers of The MERCY Center which through OrphanKids.com was accompanied with a framed letter to the center.
Click here for a copy of the letter.

Each week the MERCY team goes into the most destitute areas to bring basic food items, clothes, milk for the children, emergency medical care as needed, and hope to some of the poorest residents.
The team watches for children at risk, emergency situations and other special needs, and provides help as resources and volunteers are available (e.g. fixing leaky roofs, locating needed resources, etc.)
As usual the day started early with the preparations for the trip to Chumchon (the slums) where we distributed food to upwards of 100 poor families. Each time I have gone to Chumchon it has been in a small group of two members of the MERCY team and two visitors. This time we were 7 of us including my friend Tom who is from UK. We went to the same three areas that we visited during my previous two trips and by now I am starting to recognize many of the people and many of them also recognize me. One lady came up to Tom and I and gave us a hug.
At the first stop the MERCY team needed to attend to a young girl who had recent been identified as being mild retarded and plans were being put in place to help her in to the school system. In the week following my visit she was scheduled for an IQ test to determine the best support for her. This was at the same Chumchon area where I first saw Bo (my 3-year old newfound friend). Since the MERCY Center took Bo in to their care he has evolved remarkably and is a now a happy little boy who just needs to find a new sets of parents.
At the last area we visited there was yet another child that needed a bit of special attention. This little girl had a skin condition that would cause just a small scab to become a much larger skin infection; in this case it covered a several square inch area around her hair line on the front right side.
It took a little less than two hours to complete the mission of supplying food and children's milk to the three Chumchon areas.
While we were driving from one area to the next we has a bit of time to talk with a couple of the members of the non-resident MERCY team and part of the discussions were concerning religion and the mission to help the poor and the children.
The MERCY Center is a non-denominational Christian organization affiliated with the Victory Church. The MERCY Center, lead by the directors pastors Fred and Dianne, do teach the beneficiaries and the children about the Christians belief in the creation of the world, however, they do not work to convert the Thai, who are predominantly Buddhist. In the end those who choose to be spiritual often end up having some appreciation for the Christian faith, while still remaining Buddhist.
It should be noted that OrphanKids.com is not affiliated with any religion and exist solely to help being better welfare to children and the poor.
Another question raised was whether all the people living in Chumchon are truly poor and starving. The answer of cause vary from family to family, but poor they certain are. Starving, ... most are not. This is, in part, because Thais always help each other and whether they are related or not, they largely function as a family.
The food that is delivered to Chumchon is not their only source, but rather a supplemental.
The food drives are equal importantly used to get to the select people who need special help in other ways. This includes medical assistance, help to maintain reasonable living conditions and to identify children that should receive help to attend school (see below).

Additional Pictures from Chumchon

Lunch with The MERCY Center staff

After we finished the Chumchon visits it was approaching lunch time. One of the objectives at lunch was to get more details on the children's scholarship program which is another mission of The MERCY Center.
In Thailand schools are free to attend, however, among the poor there are a number of road blocks that prevents the children from attending school.
The biggest is supplies such as school uniforms, schoolbags and daily lunches. These are required to attend school and the total cost is 'only' US$100 (approximately) per year.
This is money that the poor just do not have and as a result the children may never go to school and will be destined to become a next generation of Chumchon.

Another problem is the simple process of signing up for school. The parents are likely to be illiterate and cannot even fill out the proper paperwork.
The MERCY Center runs a program to offer scholarships to these children. The cost is about US$100 per year. This will cover the required purchases. The MERCY Center will in turn do all the administrative work as part of charity for free.
One of the question for the MERCY directors were whether the cost would go up as the kids get into higher grades. Aside from a cost increase every year equal to inflation, the cost may also go up once the kids reach an age where they are eligible for trade school. In Thailand it is possible to skip trade school and go to the universities directly, however, given the background and the circumstances of these kids the option of trade school is by far the best. Even if they do go the trade school route, they may still qualify and go on to the university. As to the cost of the university that could not immediately be answered, however, it was understood that with good grades most could attend universities on scholarships at little cost.

If and when the child starts trade school the cost of a sponsorship may near double, the annual scholarship expense could rise to US$200 per year.
Another question was concerning drop-outs. Depending on how desperate the family is, some kids may be called by their parents to stay home and help earn a living collecting trash or performing other low level jobs. The MERCY Center, however, will try to step in and guide the family in the right direction.

Sponsors are not obligated to be a sponsor for more than a year at a time, however, one should seriously consider a full commitment before starting a sponsorship of a specific child. How awful would it be to be a child finally going to school courtesy of an overseas sponsor, only to lose the sponsorship after a couple of years. The MERCY Center does have provisions to cover such misfortunes and in part that is made possible by people who sponsor the program, rather than a specific child.

The children living at The MERCY Center are all included in scholarships and as soon as Bo starts school, he too will have a sponsor. The resident children under school age, like Bo, do attend preschool at the center every day. One issue had surfaced which was that the preschoolers notice that the older kids go to school in nice uniforms where as they 'go' in shorts. The center had asked for a donation for school uniforms for the preschoolers so that they could feel like they were going to real school, just like the older kids. My friend Tom provided the funding for the uniforms and as soon as they are done and a picture is available it will be posted here.
Another of the objectives, of cause, was to spend a little time with Bo. He could not be part of the trip to Chumchon as that would only take him back in time and could potentially be mentally damaging. I am sorry that I did not get any pictures from the lunch itself, but Bo and his 'brother' indulged in a hamburger with fries (not my style of food while in Thailand).

Shopping

One of the highlights of the day was of cause to shop food and supplies spending all the money so kindly donated by supporters of this mission.

I have to honest here ... the event itself is boring. I did it twice before; each for hours. With 50% more money than before this could not make it more fun.
Lhen Lhen, the golden star volunteer at The MERCY Center organized it so that team members would do most of the shopping while 'we' had our 'lunch and learn' event.
After we had completed our lunch and gotten answers to the many questions we hooked up with the shopping team.
The were in process of checking out for the first time to see how much may be left in the donation envelope once done. They managed to get it quite close and had about 6,000 Baht remaining. A quick second round started where the main items of need were new steel drinking cups for the 25 kids. While most purchased were cheap (so to speak) this was an overdue purchase of some expense.

While rule number one of my mission is that I want to witness the money being spend so that I faithfully can report back to all who donated, The MERCY Center greatly appreciate that I let them create the shopping list based on their needs; that so that they don't end up with a garage full of bikes that the donor felt good about buying.
The center is always desperately in need of some day-to-day essentials aside from food. This includes diapers, utensils, and cleaning supply. Just the same as the previous two fund raisers a fair percentage of the money was spend on just that.
One note to make with respect to the Thais and cleaning. They go to the n-th degree. Even visiting Chumchon where filth is all over the place, the people there are as clean as can be.

Finished the shopping with about 3,000 baht remaining. 1,000 of that was to be spent on waterproof diapers which was not available in the store we shopped at and the remaining 2,000 baht was to be used for fresh fruit and produce.
All in all we managed to completely fill up two pickups with food and supply; thanks to Tom that we had a second vehicle so that only one run was necessary.
Once back at the ranch (The MERCY Center) it took six of us to offload the trucks and haul all the goodies back to the supply room, where the shelves were about empty before we started and nicely stocked by the time we were done.

The Teddy Bears

It finally became time to distribute the teddy bears to the preschoolers. Two of the preschoolers were not residents of The MERCY Center and could not be rounded up for the photo opportunity.
I brought over 9 large teddy bears so kindly donated by colleague Kyle. When he gave them to the mission last year they were so seasonal as it was before Christmas, but as far as the MERCY kids are concerned the incorrect theme due to late delivery did not matter.

In addition to the teddy bears I brought there were a couple added along the way. The maid at the hotel where I was staying curiously inquired as the volume of teddy bears in my room. I told her that is was for the MERCY kids. She immediately replied that she too had a couple of bears that she would like to add and a couple of days later the bear family was up to 11 with a baby blue and a golden brown bear added.

Every time I have stayed at this hotel something has been added, whether that be more bears, clothes, money or used towels from the hotel. One of the exiting things about charity is to see it spread in both small and big ways.
When the big suitcase with (now) 11 bears was opened it was like Christmas for the kids (no pun intended). A quick set instructions from Lhen Lhen for them to relax put things in order instantly.
The kids were set up for a photo shoot as a group and late one by one.
Thanks to Kyle and his wife especially for making this moment possible. These bears will be treasure more than one can imagine.