Last Saturday, May 7th, our house moms, house dads, and all our Mercy children held a goodbye party for nine children. Six children are joining their real families while three are now age twenty and wish to start out on their own in life.

Today is the first day of the new school year at our 22 slum preschools. Over 2,500 children are enrolled, including over 800 children who are entering their first year of classes. For those first-year kids, this is the first day of school ever!

This Saturday, April 30, the US Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Kristie Anne Kenney and friends from the US Embassy visited our Mercy Centre to join hands with our children. As our children guided their guests on a tour of Mercy Centre, H.E. Ambassador Kenney took special time in the Mercy Graphic Arts Room to help paint batiks with our children and made a special stop in their Computer Centre, observing how our children are gaining skills through learning software. Following the tour, Ambassador Kenney, our guests and friends from the US Embassy, all our children, plus their house moms and house dads joined together to make art, draw pictures, and dedicate the day, like every day at Mercy Centre, to the strength and joy in every child’s heart. (Photo above, Ambassador Kenney, guests and our Mercy children; photo below, with our triplets, Fon, Fah, and Fai.

For the past three years, we have been working together with a poor community of ethnic Mokan (sea gypsies) living on Koh Lao, an island in Ranong Province. This traditionally seafaring community must now make their homes on the land, where they struggle for most necessities, including food, water, basic health care, and the education of their children.

Violence and mayhem don’t just happen in our slums. It’s not how we handle our affairs. When it does, it’s almost always from outside causes.