Rice for Thai kindergarteners in need

Thank you for walking alongside and hand-in-hand with our slum kindergarten kids and elders who bring them up to the kitchen door of our shack kindergartens for their daily meal.  Thank you for supporting our teachers, who look at their homework, help say their prayers and tell each child they are loved.

Here in the slum, a young blind mum lives with her seven-year-old daughter and four-year-old son.  Her daughter just graduated from Kindergarten 3 and is now a proud first grader.  She recently introduced me with these words, “Mum, this is Uncle Joe.  He is also a priest father.  You can trust him, Mum.  I do.  So, if he takes you by the hand to lead you while I am in school at first grade, that’s okay.  You can go with him.  You will be safe until I return from school and I know you will be waiting there for me.”  This says a lot about love, trust, education and a beautiful tomorrow 

Your contribution is vital. Kids are hungry.  Your funding is helping to meet their critical needs. We sincerely wish you could visit to see the impact of your support for yourself and know that you wish the same.    

So, what are we doing?  It will make you proud.

Our twenty-one slum kindergartens serve over 1,600 kids each day.  Each school has a makeshift but functional kitchen.  Our teachers, supported by a group of very determined elderly ladies, visit the slum fresh markets each morning to buy fresh food at reasonable prices to bring back to the kitchen to cook for the children.

The Thai Department of Education has canceled school classroom sessions but says we must continue to feed the students. The Government provides a stipend of 20 baht per child per day to cover the cost of food, fruit and milk.  While this is not enough, it is helpful and we find funds to support the remaining costs.

Teachers come to school to teach each day. While they are not allowed to teach students in classrooms, they are able to review the work that the children do at home.  The children bring their homework to the front door of the school each morning and receive their daily lunch while their teachers correct their homework.  If a teacher is sick, her mother or auntie will come in her place to help. 

In addition to our students, over 1,600 children, we also feed around 200 elderly and bed-ridden slum folks daily. We provide them with food from our shack kindergarten kitchens with the full cooperation and support of the slum community and parents.

The 5-6 elderly ladies who help in each slum are well organized.  They visit the sick and make sure the very poor and truly indigent are cared for.  They also wash the pots and pans in the shack kindergarten kitchens, wear masks and carefully wash their hands and feet, keeping everything clean and hygienic. Our elderly volunteers also help the teachers correct homework and visit our students and their grannies in their homes.

As for me, Fr. Joe & all of us here at Mercy, we are fine.  I have been vaccinated twice and am healthy. 

Twenty of our teachers are now living (basically camping out) in our shack kindergartens where they teach, somewhat gleefully.  Two schools have been converted into safe temporary ‘homes’ for children whose parents have Covid, so they will stay in our care for a while.

Finally – with so much scary stuff happening, as for me, I hope there is nothing on my tongue but a broken hallelujah.  We are making a beautiful future for our children.  Thank you for being a part of that.

Prayers,

Fr Joe