“We want to thank our teachers for teaching us, loving us, being here for us, and caring about us even when we are being difficult. Thank you, my teachers for your unconditional love and trust,” said one teary-eyed student from our Janusz Korczak School for street children.

Every year in Thailand on the first Thursday in June, our students celebrate “Wan Wai Kru” or Teachers Appreciation Day. Today every Mercy School - comprising 23 kindergartens, five construction campsite schools and our Janusz Korczak School – held a “Wai Kru” ceremony where students presented flowers to their teachers in a show of gratitude. The teachers, in return, gave blessings to our students and wished them great academic accomplishments in the years ahead.

The students at our Janusz Korczak School for street children were most appreciative. Some Korczak students had been living on the streets for years, missing out on a primary school education, before they found our Korczak School. Others, who are the children of migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos and Burma, lack the proper documentation for entry into formal government schools. Our Korczak School is their only chance for an education. All our Korczak students know what it means to NOT have any teachers. They count themselves as blessed in having four great teachers who care for them and guide them in their studies.

“This is the best Wai Kru ceremony I have experienced, and I have managed several schools," said Anonth Collaco, Executive Director of the Mercy Centre, to our Korczak students. He continued, "I can feel the sincerity that all the wishes, the songs, and the praises come from the bottom of your hearts. It is a very heartfelt ceremony, thank you, dear students."

Here at Mercy Centre we wish all 130 Mercy teachers and teachers everywhere around the world a Happy Wai Kru Day!


Korczak students give thanks to their teachers.