This last Saturday at Lumpini Park, friends of Mercy ran the first of 10 10-Kilometer runs on our foundation’s behalf as a part of the California Wow Corporate Wellness Program in celebration of their 10^th Anniversary. More runs are taking place all week at California Wow tracks around Bangkok and in Chiang Mai. Please call California Wow for details if you would like to join in a run! Photos above and below show our Mercy Children with Fr. Joe, Usanee, House Moms, and California Wow’s Eric Levine at the Saturday run in Lumpini Park. 

Bangkok, Sept. 2, 2010, HRH Princess Srirasmi, the Royal Patroness of the Human Development Foundation, visited our Mercy Centre in the port area of the Klong Toey community in recognition of the newly awarded status of the foundation. During the visit HRH unveiled a plaque signifying the foundation's new status.

We want all our children to know where they are from – to have a strong sense of place and home outside of Mercy Centre - and to understand and love their real families.

Mercy kids go home whenever possible. Sometimes our children may join their families for just a weekend, short holiday or school break. Other times, whenever the home life is safe, nurturing, and loving, our children stay home, and we can help from a distance, just when needed.

Over the recent Mothers Day extended weekend, we held a three-day family workshop in Suphanburi Province, which brought together 46 Mercy kids, 14 moms, 2 dads, 16 aunties and grandmoms, several Mercy House Moms and House Dads, plus Ms. Wannee, our director of shelter programs, and Sister Maria. Every moment was dedicated to the strengthening of family bonds. And there were many joyous and tender moments.

When we first began working with the Mokan community on the island of Koh Lao two years ago, the villagers had never heard of “Mothers Day” or for that matter any other national holiday. They had no concept of a specific day, week, or month of the year because their culture bases the passing of time on the moon and the tides.

Father Joe recently presented the keynote address at the International Janusz Korczak Conference, held this August 5 - 9 in Tokyo, Japan.

If anyone doubts the revolutionary power of a strong education, they should meet our international scholarship students. All fourteen of our current scholarship students grew up in poverty; several lived for years as a part of our Mercy family. None had ever imagined studying past high school.