New Life Outreach

A reader commented that my blog should reflect all the good stuffs.

My answer is simple. NO.

My blog should reflect the true us, the struggles we go through, ugly or not. It does not make sense to blog about all the good stuff and put aside the real issues which are bothering us.

This is the way that we are. We share with our readers our "mountain high" successes as well as our "valley low" moments.

Today as I looked back and recounted our efforts, it dawned upon me that we have really progressed fast and achieved so much.

But amidst all this fast paced success, I look back and wonder if I'm pressing my staffs and partner too hard.

I have a flaw. I'm a self confessed work speed monster, when I'm engaged in doing something, I put my whole heart and soul into making that task a reality in the shortest possible time. I can sacrifice almost anything, be it salary, time, relationships or even rest. All these so we can touch and reach more lives.

Sometimes I do get discouraged when people do not work at the same pace or when others cannot give that 100% - to put aside all personal agenda and get things moving.

Maybe thats just me.

After driving for almost 8 hours to reach Chiang Mai, I had to attend a meeting with my lawyer who is helping in our expansion plans. Its 1am here and I've just completed buying some basic stuff sourcing for contractors. Now... i just dog tired.

Signing off early tonight to rest for another full day ahead.

All 7 of our children from the StreetKids! outreach will be going to school thanks to your generous support and sponsorship.

Next week, we'll be bringing them out to get school uniforms to prepare them for school.
Again, on behalf of these precious lives. A Big Thank You.

Note : We will be continually reaching out to more children from the streets as well as children from destitute homes. Please continue to help us spread the sponsorship message so that as these children come in, we can continually provide for them.

Thank you once again !

Faa is a beautiful and brilliant young 12 year old girl who always carries a charming smile. But behind this smile is a tattered past of seeing the divorce of her parents , and seeing her mother struggling through the last 12 years to bring her up.

Every single day, she would turn up early at the Shophouse! togther with her mother(Neet) to help out with the chores to the point of forsaking an excursion just to help her mother.

We spoke to her mother(Neet) and she tells me that her regret is not being able to provide for Faa to study well.

Though life has dealt a seemingly unfair blow in her life, Faa goes through each day with a positive outlook. Just today she told us that her dream is to reach out and help people who are struggling.

Sponsoring Faa cost just SGD78/month. If you are keen to support her studies, please write in to eugene@radion-international.org

Friends, thank you for coming forward to sponsor these children. To date, all 4 streetkids have been sponsored. The final child (chaan) is still not ready to go to school, so for the mean time, he is not up for sponsorship yet. Once he is ready, i'll put him up.

The next thing I'm looking forward to is to get sponsorships for 2 of my staffs' children. As you would know both of my staff are single parented and they make just enough to make ends meet.
Doing the calculations for meals and schooling, I reckon that these mothers would have to skip meals to send their kids to school.

Therefore, I'm planning to open up the streetkids program for their children to bless them as well.

I have 3 children in the following priority.
1 ) Nong Faa (Elder child of Neet)
2 ) Nong Kut (Only child of Aun)

3 ) Nong Plaa (Younger child of Neet)

In May, we are hoping to send all 4 of our boys to school. My last boy (Gau) is still waiting for someone to sponsor him and he has been asking me when will he get a new sponsor. Always hinting that his birthday is also coming up next month.

I just told him to patiently wait and pray. God will provide.

Sidenote :
Every month, we have kids asking to join us, but we carefully screen them to determine their actual needs. Next month we may slowly open up our sponsorship program to destitute families who cannot afford to send their kids to school.

Over the last 2 weeks, we brought the streetkids together to build a fish pond together. It was a simple hands-up project but we had great fun together. This project's objective was to teach the boys responsibility and provided an opportunity for my staff to have open interaction.

It was a pleasant surprise today when my staff got the boys to draw anything they liked. Gau drew a picture of our time spent together building the pond. To us it is a just small activity together, but to him it was a memorable experience.

p/s : Now the boys are in a frenzy to stuff the pond with fishes, prawns, snails, crabs.... you get the idea...

We have spoken to the military a couple of times, however they have updated us that the entry permit is dependent on the supreme command (Border control) in Phitsanulok.

We are maintaining positive relations with the Phetchabun military camp and at the same time we are pushing a request paper through the governmental channel for re-entry. We are awaiting a formal letter from our lawyer.

The letter should be ready by this week and we will be speaking to the governor shortly after. So lets wait and see. So do keep us in your prayers.

Yesterday, we brought the streetkids out to distribution food to the destitute families. It was a radical move as these streetkids are well known among the villagers.

Yesterday when we asked them if they wanted to help the poor. They immediately jumped up and offered to help carry the stuff and join us.

Normally, our village outreach would be rather sober. But this round with these boys around, its kinda.... different. They pounced all over the house, pat the dog, climb trees, talked loudly.

But somehow, it still touched the villagers when these hyperactive children gave the dried noodles to the villagers. Towards the end of every visit, we got the streetkids to pray for the destitute families and you could see tears just welling in the eyes of these destitue elderly.

So who says that broken lives cannot make differences ?

For a whole week, we have been spending time with the streetkids and it has been most encouraging. The young ones are slowing getting accustomed to us and starting to accept us.

For a couple of days, Chay (Aka James) remained extremely quiet and did not really talk much. We knew something was wrong and we just waited for him to open up.

One day, Chay came back to us sobbing at night and told us that every night when he went home, its empty and he missed his father giving him a hug. Most nights, his mother would be out and leave him to find food himself and he would go hungry.

We sheltered him and told him that he has a family with us and we offered to let him stay with us for as long as he needs. Today, we start to see smiles on his face again.

Gau (12) and Lieng(10) grew up in a troubled family whereby both their parents would not get along. Many nights, his mother would run away from the house leaving the father as the sole breadwinner to take care of the children.

Their father went through a traumatic time in his marriage and was severely depressed. One day the boys woke up to find that their father had committed suicide by eating pesticide.

Both children are now under the care of their paternal grandparents, however they too have little to give to these children. On normal days, the children will live off rice, water and fish sauce to fill their little tummies.

Personal Note :

Gau is a young and brilliant boy. Although he is mischievous, I see a good spark in him. I’ve seen several times when other boys bully his brother, he would stand up and defend his younger brother even when he gets insulted to the point of tears.

Despite going through so much in life, Gau maintains a positive outlook in life.

Personal Note :

Lieng is a simple 10 year old who is always smiling. Behind his charming smile hides a shy boy. This boy although young, but has been involved in much bad company leading him to glue sniffing and other vices.

Lieng may not be as brilliant as his older sibling, but he has a teachable heart which is always willing to listen to correction. In fact, he’s always the first to arrive for lessons wanting so much to learn.

Each child cost SGD78 to sponsor. If you are keen on sponsoring either child, please email me at eugene@radion-international.org

Chay is a quiet 14 year old and just last year Chay’s father drowned while fishing leaving him with his mother. His mother is a farmer and does not have regular income, many times Chay has to go hungry and without food.

Chay told us that he wants to go to school, but is frequently discouraged by his own mother about the need to study. After repeated discouragements, he dropped out of school and was involved in a street gang where glue sniffing and petty theft is common.

Personal Note :

Chay is one of the most honest streetkids I have encountered. When apprehended on a wrong behavior, Chay is almost always the first to admit his mistakes and take corrective actions. This little boy stirred our heart when he told us that the people at Radion are sincerely concerned about his welfare and he wants to grow up to be a useful person.

In our encounters with Chay, he shows signs of a reformed character and many times offering to help in chores while other kids go out to play. Sometimes the children will ask me to buy water guns for the Songkran festival and when I explained that it was expensive, Chay would be the first to hold my hand and tell me “Pee Eugene, its ok… lets go.. its expensive”

To Sponsor Chay - email eugene@radion-international.org entitled Chay

Beang is a cheerful 13 year old who was orphaned 6 years ago when his whole family went missing, leaving him with his elderly grandmother.

His grandmother makes a living as a farmer and does not make enough to make ends meet, many times Beang and his brother goes without food. Most days, he gets only plain rice which he adds water in help fill his tummy.

2 years ago, his grandmother asked him to quit school as they can no longer afford to send him to school and since then, Beang learn to live off the streets, picking bottle caps and selling them. Hoping to to buy food. He learnt to live off the streets and in the process was addicted to glue sniffing.

When we asked if he has ever stolen, he was quiet for a moment and he replied yes. He told us that he stole soap from a provision stall to bring back home as his grandmother could not afford to buy soap. He quickly replied that he has not stolen since he joined our streetkids program, he said that he did not want to disappoint us and wanted to have an opportunity to study. He dreams to be a pastor someday.

Personal Note :

Dear friends and supporters,

We've just spoken to our 5 streetkids and they hope to return to school!

That’s the good news.

Here's the bad news. As you know all these children come from broken families or orphaned, which means that the families can hardly support these children from going to school.

Don't get me wrong, the school fees and medical in Thailand is free(as opposed to what many NGOs say) but here is the reality. These children need to eat, they need basics to live like any normal students.

I’ve broken down the costing for your reference. This is the actual amount which is needed. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’ll be putting up a small campaign for child sponsorship where our sponsors can opt for a one year commitment to rebuild the dreams of these little ones.

If you are keen to support a child, please email me at eugene@radion-international.org

Monthly Cost Factor Unit Total School Fees 0 0 NA 0 Breakfast 10 20 NA 200 School Lunch 200 1 NA 200 Dinner 20 20 NA 400 Transport 300 1 NA 300 Allowance 10 4 Weekly 40 Excursions 500 1 NA 500 Hair Cutting 40 1 NA 40 Utilities 20 4 NA 80 1 Year 15840 Term (4.5 Months) Cost Factor Unit Total Stationeries 100 1 Term 100 Socks 30 4 Pairs 120 School Excursions 200 1 Term 0 Camp Fire Day 200 1 Term 0 1 Year 440 Yearly Cost Factor Unit Total Uniform 500 2 Sets 1000 Shoes 250 2 Sets 500 Books 1250 1 year 1250 School Bag 400 1 Year 400 School ECA 500 2 Sets 1000 1 Year 4150 Misc Cost Factor Comments Total Medical Free Free NA 0 THB SGD Total Yearly Cost 20430 928.6364 Monthly 1702.5 77.38636

Throughout the trip, I noticed that these streetkids were stuffing themselves with food whenever we had meals. Some of these small boys would eat something like 3-4 plates of food, this of course blew our excursion budget, but thats all good. :)

I asked my staff what was happening and this is what they found out.

These children back at home would only have simple meals (ie rice and water) and they have never had such good food. In their little minds, they would gobble up as much as possible as they do not know when will they ever get such food again or when will their next meal be.

We just arrived in Chiang Mai a few days back, brought the kids to our new office to bunk in. It was amazingly hilarious.

As you know, these boys are street kids and live in the hill tribes for their whole lives and they are used to doing things "normally" (read spitting, pissing almost anywhere they can find). Just as I was walking down the stairs of my office... I bumped into one of the street kids who just gurgled a big blob of saliva and spat it out with much gusto on the office stairway.....

It was quite a shock for me and I had to educate them that spitting is meant for the outside and not the inside of the office *grinz*

Yesterday we also managed to bring them to TESCO (something like our carrefour) and they never seen supermarket.... not to mention an escalator! They were so amazed with the stuff that they went on it quite a couple of times.

As we did our shopping, some of the boys asked me if I could buy them a toothbrush(8bht/0.40SGD). I don't know, but my heart felt an ache which I'm not accustomed to - Wondering how much a simple gift like that means so much to them.....

Tomorrow, we'll be leaving for Chiang Mai again to clear more administrative issues. But this time we are taking this opportunity to bring our streetkids out to Chiang Mai for Songkran(Water Festival aka the biggest super soaker fight in the world)

We are reaching these kids through hands-on learning programs. Ie (Learning to make a cement pond, Learning to paint a wall)

Yes.... the wall in my shophouse basement does not look fantastic, but we sure had a lot of fun and the kids learn responsibility ! :)

Will blog again if my laptop survives :)

In our last trip to Chiang Mai, we had a sharing session with TRAFCORD's project manager to share ideas and information. TRAFCORD is a Thai based NGO which enjoys close relations with UNICEF, their focus is on trafficking issues in northern thailand and the Mekong region.

This is what we have gathered in our meetings.

1 ) Where do they come from ?
Children come from Thailand's hill tribes and Burma. These children are "bought" from their poor natural parents for something like 2000-5000bht(SGD$90-$227) and resold into brothels or labor camps.

2 ) How old are the victims ?
Children rescued by TRAFCORD ranges from 12 years old to 17 year olds.
We also have reports of children as young as 6 year old are also trafficked on the Maesai region.

3 ) Are they predominantly girls ?
The children who are rescued from sex trade are mainly young girls but there is also an increase in boys entering the sex trade in Bangkok.

4 ) How are they trafficked ?
In Thailand, traffickers operate in small groups in the poorer hill tribes, convincing parents that these children will be given better paying jobs in cities like Bangkok, Chiang Mai. Only to find their children coerced into sex trade.

Children are usually passed through many hands before finally reaching the brothels or pimps.
Ie : Village purchase -> Sending to border -> Receipient -> Transport -> Agents -> Brothel

5 ) Success rate ?
Every year the success rate of rescue operations is fairly low. Something in the ranges of 20 raids, which is normally tipped off by the general public.
*Tip off are rare in view of the Thai culture of acceptance.

Note* : This rescue is disproportionate to the estimates of some 10,000 children being trafficked every year.

6 ) Shelters
Even after rescue, the children are placed in general shelter homes to wait out a repatriation or receive help. There is no home which specialises on child rehablitation and emotional recovery.

For those who are unaware of our work tempo. Here we go :)

Daily - Streetkids teaching program
Weekly - Food distribution program for destitute (high priority)
- MILK! @ Hmong lao refugee camp*

Bi-weekly- Village outreach for destitute (medium priority)

Monthly - StreetKids Outing/Program
- Village outreach to destitute (Reach out)
- FRUITS! @ Hmong refugee camp*

2 Monthly - Mass outing for village children

Quarterly - Dinner & BBQ for destitute village people

*Pending permits from the military

Today I'll be headed to Chiang Mai for another set of meetings to with similar minded NGOs on child trafficking in northern Thailand.

We will also be looking out for possible building plots for building the Y-Gen home.

I should be back in Phetchabun on Tuesday.

Today a small boy came to our Shophouse this morning in a pair of faded and tattered track pants asking if he can study together with the rest of the kids on our program. His name is Beang.

Beang too dropped out of school as no one was there to care for him. His parents have both ran away leaving him in the care of his grandmother who has barely enough to feed him.

Without parental guidance and education, this boy's life is destined to live on the streets. With this boy into the program, we now have some 6 children on the street kids program.

Somehow with this boy coming in made both Ben and myself think more on a sustainable program to help this children.....