CS300 : Your Support Means The World To Them

2009-02-28

StreetKids + Project LIVES!  

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Alright. Some of you have been asking to see the new place where the streetkids are putting up.

The impetus for the shift from our field office to the new place is due to the constant influx of new children and more importantly, our children are growing up. So we do foresee problems if they share a single room at the basement of my office.

So here it is, it isn't 5-star but its just perfect for our expanding streetkids work. This is what it has...
- 4 Rooms
- Storeroom (or rather storage corridor)
- 2 Toilets (One inside and one out in the field!)
- 1 External kitchen
- 1 big hall which we partitioned to cater for more storage space.
- Parking space :)
- On a plot of field which is roughly the size of 1 football field


The house and parking place to the left.

Open area used for games and stuff :)

This little outfit used to house pigs. But we're going to convert it to a mushroom farm :)

The kitchen behind the house. There is no proper dining area, so we'll be trying to do a little reno here for a proper dining area.

The boy's room and their spanking new double deck beds (which arrived together with the container)

The girls room. Slightly larger. Right now we have 7 girls staying in this room.

This place used to be a living room.... utill the container rolled in :)
Temporary storage and sorting of container reliefs.

2009-02-27

Arrival Of Project LIVES! Container  

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The container arrived early yesterday morning after some small delays at the port. The goods arrived all intact :)

As you know, the village has low hanging wires as such the container can only reach the main holding area and we had to use an additional 3 trucks and engage our part time workers to assist in the unloading process.

From the main holding area, the reliefs were shuttled to 2 different storage areas for easy access. The first is our existing office and ops hub, the second is our new streetkids! accommodation building.

Some pictures of the day in actions..

Container rolling into the holding area just at 0730am.

Some of the 1456 boxes of cargo.
The unloading in progress


Container unloading completed at 1300

2009-02-22

Monday A Big Day  

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The 40' Project LIVES! container has arrived in Bangkok safely and is now undergoing custom checks.
If all goes smoothly, we should expect the container to arrive the village on Monday. That is when all the action will start.... why ?

The village has low hanging wires(electricals, phone etc etc) and the container has height restrictions.... less we tear down 1/2 of the village's power supply.

We'll be parking the container at the nearest clearing and shuttle the items to our 2 storage sites. And this would roughly take half a day considering the number of cartons involved.

And yes, we are also expecting a staff from Syngenta to come down.
Syngenta, a world-leading agro-tech company has kindly offered to contribute to our Community Development Project (Phetchabun Integrated Farm) by providing their high growth variety seeds and expertise.

Lets see how things run on monday :)

2009-02-20

Hmong Lao : Deportation Pending  

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Laos to Hmong: Return, you've no choice

By: ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Published: 20/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

PHETCHABUN : Hmong illegal migrants at a camp here have no choice but to return to Laos, says a senior Lao official, in a new campaign which seems to have failed. ''Don't dream that you will be landed elsewhere,'' said deputy chief of staff of the Lao armed forces Buaxiang Champaphan after talks with 20 Hmong leaders yesterday.

''No country, including the United States, will receive you.

''And don't ever hope to put up any resistance, as no one will support you. So think about it thoroughly again.''

The Lao officer initially planned to visit the camp at Ban Huay Nam Khao in Khao Kho district but changed his mind and met with the Hmong representatives at the nearby Khao Kho Task Force.

A heavy presence of soldiers around the small tents where the meeting was held did not allow any of the Hmong to appear outside or make any protest.

Brig-Gen Buaxiang accompanied Nipat Thonglek, head of the Border Affairs Department, as well as other senior officials from both sides to the meeting.

Since 2004, several thousand Hmong from Laos have migrated illegally to the village to join others from Tham Krabok temple in Saraburi who resettled there in the hope of being sent to a third country.

They were relocated last year to a more restricted holding area uphill under the vigilance of the army while Thailand and Laos worked out ways to solve the problem.

The camp was originally intended to close at the end of last year. But since May 2007, only 2,057 Hmong have been sent back home, while 5,474 remain.

Lt-Gen Nipat said Thailand was still trying to convince the illegal migrants to return home but has not set a new deadline.''It might be considered a delay but we will keep doing so within the humanitarian framework in which [repatriation] is on a voluntary basis,'' said Lt Gen Nipat, co-chairman of the Thai-Lao general border subcommittee.

Streetkids! - New Kid On The Block  

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Nong Nuu grew up in a dysfunctional family. Her father is a drug addict and constantly abuses her mother. The family finally tore apart when Nong Nuu was about 7 and since then her mother remarried and the step father does not consider Nuu as part of the family. Nong Nuu is also physically abused by her mom who uses a blunt object to hit her. When she first arrived, Nuu had a big bruise on her right arm.

Growing up in a destitute background, Nuu gets only plain rice for meals which she adds water to make it more palatable. Nuu does not receive sufficient nutrition and her growth has been affected.


Personal Note :
We first saw Nong Nuu when we went about our home visitation work. At that time, she just appeared at the door of the home we visited and looked on quietly. The volunteers spent a little while to play with the children however there was no mention that she came from a dysfunctional family. We did another round of home visitation and this round we visited her home and was told the story of how the family suffered through physical abuse.

Nong Nuu is a quiet and shy little girl who carries a beautiful smile – Hiding her hurts and pains.

*Nong Nuu is still in the probation phase, if you are keen to sponsor her, drop me a mail at eugene@radion-international.org

Farming Problems.  

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Today was a memorable day.

The couple in my farm was going through a difficult patch in their marriage due to the differences.

You see, Phetchabun Integrated Farm was not only meant to serve as a prototype platform, but also provides jobs and housing for destitute families.

This is one of the families which we took in. The husband is a hard worker, but has an serious alcohol problem, affecting the family finances. The wife on the other hand has a temper issue.

Both these issues do not go well together and today it broke. The lady called today sobbing and saying that she'll quit. The man came in to my office in the afternoon in tears.

We had to spend close to 3 hours to counsel the family and bridge the differences.
Right now things are still tense, but we will continue to assist this family through this difficult time. Btw, they have a 1 year old child.

2009-02-18

Project LIVES! - Container Loading Pictures  

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The hard work....

40' Container rolls into Con Lash warehouse to be loaded.
Hope in each box
Container positioned for relief loading

Inspection by Alvin Peter. Chief coordinator for Project LIVES!

Sorting and packing each little item

The real machines behind all the work. 2 ladies doing the entire container manifest list

Checking and ensuring the last few boxes are securely sealed

Sorting under the hot sun for a good cause

Boxes all prepared for fork lifting

The action behind the container. Johnny (Con Lash Manager) and team.

The first few entries....

Final boxes count.... 1456th

A nostalgic last photoshoot before container is closed for shipment.

The final moments

A security seal and its on its way.

Site X : Pictures  

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Children gathering in anticipation


Starting the games !


Little refugee children listening attentively to stories while the milk is being prepared


Giving out more than 100 cups of nutritious malt and milk

Mobile medical setup for refugees who have no access to medicine

2009-02-17

Streetkids! - Songkran @ Pattaya !  

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Alright people this is the long awaited annual trip !

This trip will be a 6D5N trip to Pattaya, Thailand.

We'll be bringing the children from the streetkids! program some 400km down south for educational exposure. The children are all terribly excited about this trip as this will be the very first time they'll be see a sandy beach and play in the sea. (Most of their lives, they have been staying in a land locked area)

These children are all from either substance abuse backgrounds, from high risk families or from the streets. Prerequisites : Active and fun volunteers who are water confident(as most of the activities would be water based)

The dates are from 13-18 Apr falling in line with the Songkran holidays (Water festival & Thai New Year). Visiting most major attractions like Coral Island, Crocodile Farm, Mini Siam, Water Park etc etc

The land cost of this trip is SGD900 (Including all transportation, accommodation, food and sightseeing cost. Excludes flight)

This round we can take a maximum of 10 volunteers and all must be ready to play and rough it out :)

Contact me quickly @ eugene@radion-international.org to reserve your space.

*For normal FRT(Fund Raising Trips) the mandatory SGD200 is channeled to the outreach fund. For this trip, the SGD200 goes directly into subsidizing the trip cost, making this trip possible for these under-privileged children.


Project LIVES! 2009 - Thank You  

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Special Thanks.

Alvin Peter
Thank you for setting aside 2 weeks of your precious time to help out with the coordination and shipping documentation.

Millicent (Kyrie International)
Sis, thank you for all your efforts to rally sponsors for the shipping.

Ng Weiboon
Buddy, thank you for going that extra mile :)

Lee
Thank you for sourcing for warehousing and support for this project despite your busy schedules.

Johnny/Patrick (Con-Lash)
Gentlemen, thank you for your kind advice, pushing into late night hours for this container relief.

Cheryl Ng & Denise Wong (Pan Pacific)
A big thank you for your kind hospitality and making the public collection drive possible.

Staff Of Pan Pacific
It has been most heart warming seeing staff from all levels of management coming together to make this collection drive possible.

Kek Beng (MOLSIN)
Thank you once again for your kind advice and support for the shipping.

Debbie (SPF)
Thank you for your kind support and last minute assistance :)

James Tian (Salvation Army), Edmond (Habitat For Humanity)
Gentlemen, thank you for your generosity and support for this effort.

Crocs, CCM Pharmaceutical, Starhub Singapore
It has been a pleasure partnering with you. Thank you once again for your kind donations.

Bartley Secondary & Maris Stella High,
Thank you for rallying your students together in support of this cause. Special thanks to Jermyn Wee (Maris) and Fu Chee Sheng (Bartley)

Private Donors
Thank you for making that special effort to make this drive possible.

For the rest :)
Thank you my friends. It has been most encouraging to the leadership team of RADION seeing all of you rally in support of our efforts. Thank you once again. Without all of you working in the background. All these would never have been possible :) Thank you.

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Project LIVES! - Container Departs  

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A big thank you to all our supporters and friends. Especially those who came together to make Project LIVES! 2009 a success.

Today the 40' container will be setting sail for Bangkok, we are expecting this cargo to reach us this friday/saturday.

2009-02-16

Completed Site X Mission  

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Thank you for your prayers and support.

We have completed another humanitarian relief mission at SITE X and have returned safely.

This mission saw more than 100 refugee children befitting from the MILK! Mission. We also operated a mobile clinic running in tandem with the relief distribution which saw some 1200 packets of dried rice noodles reaching the entire community of refugees.

Pictures will follow :)

2009-02-11

Project LIVES! - The Last Lap  

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Coming to a close, RADION now requires 10-20 volunteers to assist to help us load up the container with reliefs before its sent to Thailand. The loading is on 14th Feb from morning to evening.

Please contact Mr Benjamin Goh at ben@radion-international.org

Last Week At Project LIVES!  

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Our annual relief drive - Project LIVES! had been a rousing success with all your kind support.

This annual relief drive not only aims to bring relief to Thailand but also to ensure our humanitarian relief operations are well oiled in the event of a crisis.

Our collection drive was split into 3 portions. School collection, Open Public Collection at Pan Pacific and Closed Corporate Donations.

Some pictures from our open collection drive at Pan Pacific over 7 and 8 Feb 09.

2009-02-07

Today & Tomorrow ! Project LIVES!  

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2009-02-02

A Cross To Let Us Smile.  

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Today I was having my devotional time and I just told the Lord, all I wanted was to see Him smile. And in that split second I realised that the Lord's desire was to see us smile as well. And then I thought about the painful cross which the Lord hung painfully till the very last moments...... the pains, the grief, the hurts, the sins that He bore upon himself........... so we could smile today.

I wept. Knowing that as He hung on that cross and gave His life in exchange for the lives of little insignificant human beings. All these because of love.

My job is a simple one. I give practical items to needy people regardless of race and religion. My message is simple. God has not forgotten them just like He has not forgotten me. And He loves them for who they are.... no matter if she is a prostitute, a abandoned family, a kid on the streets addicted to glue, a thief.... God still loves them.

I want our readers to come together this 2009 not only to support our work. But to pray with us. Our work has a certain amount of danger involved but its well worth it :)