Social Service Day

Ms. Oiy, age 31 with a 5th Grade education, earns 2,500 baht ($82) per month as a part-time maid and is the sole provider for her four young children. The family lives in a two-room rented shack with no electricity or running water. When Oiy faced a crises recently, she knew she needed help, but she didn’t know who to ask or where to go. For the sake of Ms Oiy and everyone in her circumstances, we celebrated National Social Service Day by inviting all the social workers in our community to Mercy Centre plus the community leaders, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, the Port Authority, neighborhood NGOs, and all our neighbors. The neighborhood government clinic - Public Health 41 – provided free check-ups to our neighbors; and the local vocational college, which has a barbers’ college, offered free haircuts to everyone. Several hundred neighbors attended. Representatives from every group shared their experiences, knowledge, and concerns while their children built castles in a playground of sand in Mercy Centre.