Dear Everyone

It's 22 November 2011 in Bangkok. Day 26 since our first slum kindergarten flooded. - a total of eight went under water. In three slums, the water came up in an hour. Water to the ceiling. The children are safe, everything was soaked. In my letter of a couple weeks ago, I said 10 schools were going under water. I believed 'the T.V. weather guru'.. but in truth only eight flooded and 750 children lost their schools, most of them lost their homes also. Our other 14 schools are in slums on dry ground, and school is back in session as normal.

As I write this today, some of the waters have gone down some. Our shack'school buildings are a mess, but we have patched and scrubbed and cleaned to get them functional, at least temporarily to get the kids back in school. Future repairs will be a head-ache, but I don't even want to think about that right now.

The slum peoples have all helped. Most important, re-wired the buildings since the electrical outlets were flooded, rusted and dangerous as can be - for shorting out and electrocuting people. We got the toilets working - bought new kitchen equipment, brought in clean drinking water. Books and pencils etc etc etc. Eighteen of our teachers (whose homes have been totally flooded also) have moved into the schools, as they have no where else to go. We have bought mosquito nets, sleeping equipment, refrigerator, fans, - a small old fashioned clothes washing & dryer to make their lives as comfortable as possible....under the circumstances. Got them new mobile phones, as most of them had lost their phones in the floods. We have resumed class (after a fashion) in five slums. Of the 550 slum children who usually attend these five kindergartens shack/schools, 250 are back in class. The other children are still literally "Up country in the Rural Provinces" staying with their grand parents - for safety. They are slowly returning to Bangkok.

Three other slums, where we have schools, according to the Weather man.. it will take another 45 days for the waters to go down. Two hundred children attend these schools. We are trying to do what we can to begin school as soon as possible. We did some 'horse trading' with the marine police who received 750 small plastic boats from the Government of China (the boats hold a maximum of 8 children) - the police let us use two boats and small putt-putt motors So the teachers, somewhat captive in their flooded schools have freedom to travel in the boats - also if one of the children get sick, etc, they have transportation. We have been lucky thus far, only two children and one teacher have been bitten by creepy-crawlies. Nothing serious, but they have had to 'shoo shoo away a few snakes, also looking for a dry place to live.!!!

So in conclusion - we're doing our best. Some of the children are back in school. That is so vital. Our teachers are real heroes - beyond belief, living, in difficult circumstances..!

Also with this, I am sending you a U-Tube link which a friend from Australia did for us. It's filmed near the slaughter house, thus near the river, with the tides going up and down twice daily. But it does give you an idea.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HDFMercyCentre#p/a/u/0/bs5PA0T3tOg

Again - I want to thank all of you - the worst is yet to come, and the crisis still exists, but the urgency is a bit less. Please do continue to help, if you can. In a couple weeks, I will send you my annual Christmas Letter - and promise I will not talk of floods...

All of you are wonderful. Prayers Respectfully

fr joe & all of us here at Mercy Centre.