What a beautiful day! The children living in the Zone 9 section of Lat Krabang industrial estatenow have a brand-new Mercy Preschool. The old Mercy school, which had stood for eighteen years and graduated over five hundred poor children in preparation for government primary school, was destroyed by one-too-many termite attacks. Its second floor had been rendered unsafe, which meant that all one-hundred-and-five children enrolled in the Zone 9 Preschool were crammed into the first floor. It was a difficult learning situation. Our school children urgently needed a safe place to learn to read and write.

A glorious ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on January 15. The school children performed in song and dance. Community leaders gave thanks. A grandmother in a drunken state sang an ancient children’s song (over and over until we gently cajoled her to the sidelines). Sister Maria spoke with the children. Father Joe blessed the new school. It truly was a wonderful day for the children of Zone 9. In attendance: the school children, their teachers, community leaders, and representatives of the school construction sponsors, which included Wings of Support (a charity comprised of KLM Airlines fight crew members), Recreational Bangkok Biking, The Netherlands Embassy, Franke (Thailand), B-Quik, NVT Dutch Club of Thailand, East West Seed Intl, and Asia Congress.