Rice for Thai kindergarteners in need

The rainy season has come and gone in Thailand; the whelming floods have subsided and the harshness of the daily driving, lashing rain has ceased. But a harshness of another kind still haunts the communities here in Bangkok: that of poverty.

In our neighborhood of Bangkok, kids run and shout along the narrow alleyways that thread over the klongs, the small, trash-choked canals that wind like veins through the communities. Laundry hangs like curtains in the windows, drying in the relentless sun; soi dogs lie panting in whatever shade they can find, and flies whirl in dizzy, restless circles along the dusty streets. Soup-bowls steam in noodle shops, making a fragrant aroma as vendors mix chili paste and limes, galangal and lemongrass. Khlong Toei is beautiful and bright, but amongst the many families living here, packed into the close-built, precarious shacks, there are far too many who worry and struggle for life’s basic necessities: food, clothing, medicine.

Meet Miss Jaa. Jaa was living with her two older brothers and her parents in an abandoned warehouse in the east of the city. After her father died of cancer and her mother was put in jail on drug charges, Jaa and her siblings had to go and stay with relatives. They were not in school and were living in extreme difficulty. A relative brought Jaa and the boys to the Mercy Centre, where they now have a stable home. The kids who used to spend their days in an old warehouse are now enrolled in school, surrounded by friends, and Jaa is learning the art of Thai traditional dance.

Now that Jaa lives here in Khlong Toey at our Mercy Home, she has safety and security; where her needs are provided and she is cared for holistically. Every day, she can get a healthy, homemade meal from the Mercy Kitchen. Children are at the heart of our mission here at the HDF Mercy Centre. Day by day, we feed our Mercy kids, both those loved and housed here and those who live out in the community. The impact of our Rice Project ripples out, a community resource, helping children to have the energy to run and learn and play, and also reaches out to our southern project on Koh Lao, helping feed the Moken preschoolers who learn every day in our island preschool. Every year, the Mercy Kitchen provides some 100,000 hot-cooked meals!

It is thanks to donors like you that we are able to continue this life-sustaining work. We are so glad to partner with GlobalGiving, and on behalf of Jaa and all our other Mercy kids, we want to express our gratitude for your support. Thank you to GlobalGiving and thanks to the donors who support the Rice Project. Little by little, grain by grain of rice, we are making a difference in the lives of people in our communities.