We found Galong – our oldest Mercy child, born with a kind of Downs’ Syndrome – on a street near the Pratunam market and invited him to live with us and join our Mercy family. That was thirty years ago

Our Thai Chinese neighbors and each of us wish you all "Xin Jia Yu Yi - Xin Ni Huad Xai” or “Happy New Year,” as we say in our local Chinese dialect, spoken here in the Klong Toey slums and throughout Bangkok.

The first rhythmic sounds started around 7:30 last Friday morning. Ta dah dum! Ta dah dum! Ta dah dum! Ta dah dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Gradually the beat of drums, tom-toms, and tambourines grew louder and louder.

We wish to thank all our friends at Mercy Menorca (www.mercymenorca.org) for organizing a concert of classical music on our behalf. The concert brought in much needed funding for our Mercy programs! Thank you!

She didn’t have a home. Did once, but bolted when she was eleven, to save her own life. Ran like she’d never ran before. Hid under a wrecked car. Predator men are feral and dangerous to 11 year olds. And her own drug mum had allowed this predator into their shack. He had the drugs and money and hiv-aids. And he soon destroyed mum. She abandoned her eleven year old daughter: made her an orphan.