After much deliberation and prayer, the management committee will be driving our outreach activities towards the following :
1 ) Strengthen programming amongst the StreetKIDS!
Over the past 2 years, we've had a high success rehabilitating children from substance abuse (glue-sniffing) backgrounds. The success rate stands at 80% which is already a feat with the little the resources we have.
But real challenges still remain outside the walls of our shelter, drug dealers, gang leaders and poor influence from families usually interfere with our work and result in some children to prematurely give up and leave the programme.
This year, we're planning to employ professional psychologist and counselors to help direct our programming to not only better understand these influences but also teach the children to overcome the temptation to go back into their old lives.
This year, we need to commit more effort to look into small details in our children's lives to we can bring about a greater sustained change.
2) Capacity Building Amongst Staff
Currently, RADION is operated by 2 groups of staff. The first professionals and second group are destitute womenfolk or victim who have suffered abuse from their husbands and are in need of assistance.
For the first group, we're planning to employ 6 more staff to bring our staff base to 12 to balance out the heavy workload and enable the rest to focus on direct assistance outreaches.
The second group, we're hoping to bring in more professional assistance to help these ladies regain their footing through basic counseling to starting up of support groups. This programming allows for greater community support amongst this highly marginalised group.
3 ) Regaining Of Supporters/Blog Readers/Corporate Sponsors
In 2009, we have done much groundwork by providing food & free medical aid to more than 2500 people and gave basic necessities such as toothbrush and toothpaste to more than a thousand needy children.
Ahead in 2010, we hope to follow-on with our groundwork by focusing on the ones that need help the most and give them that simple glimmer of hope to live on.
2010 is a challenging year and we'll need to raise approximately SGD20,000(approx USD15,000) each month for operations. I ask each and every one of our sponsors, friends and partners to prayerfully consider supporting our work financially for the next one year. My personal commitment to you is that every single cent will be invested into lives and mending broken dreams.
Hi friends! We're pleased to offer you another channel to catch RADION's updates at our brand new Twitter site. You may now follow us at http://twitter.com/RadionIntl
Wishing all our Chinese readers a very blessed and prosperous Lunar New Year !
-From the team at RADION International
I received a call just minutes ago when my staff (aun) asked me if its alright for her to have a small support group/cell group for victims of domestic violence. She has got a group together and they have 7 ladies in that group needing emotional support.
My heart raced and I spluttered out a big YES !
For those who know Aun, she comes from a background of domestic violence and was left to raise her child single-handedly when her husband was imprisoned for life for drug trafficking.
From her background of hurts and pains, she has now moved ahead and taking the initiative to ministering to others from similar backgrounds !
What a joy ! firstfruits of our work !
Guys,
Much apologies for the slow update on the status of the management committee.
The last 3-4 months has been a rough one for the management team and from here, things will get exciting !
Here are some updates :
1 ) Management Committee has been formed
2 ) Ben has returned to Singapore
3 ) I've resigned from my job in view of the pressing needs up in Thailand and will be heading back in March.
I hope to be able to meet up with our sponsors/supporters over the next 3-4 weeks to give a full account of what we have accomplished in the last 1 year with your financial support.
I'll leave more for the next post, but as promised here is a sneak preview of the management committee members !
In the next few months, RADION will be doing a massive migration of the current newlifeoutreach blog to a web based blog. This new portal will be a one stop site where you can get all your updates on radions progress from the blog to our corporate info.
The new contributors will be Benjamin (Operations Director), Bruce Thao (Director Of Operations USA) and yours sincerely .... and many many more :)
Keep yourself updated at www.radion-international.org !
As part of RADION International's master plan, we have formed a management committee made up of young working adults who have a passion to impact the lives of the marginalised and needy.
These management committee members will take on a vital role in bringing greater awareness to the masses though campaigns and innovative programs in Singapore.
More details to follow !
What a privilege to have been part of RADION for the last 2 years ! As sat at my desk reminiscing both the ups and downs of RADION, it brought back bitter sweet memories.
It has been such a harsh but beautiful 2 years. Yes pains and disappointments are plentiful but as I look at the lives that have been touched. The negatives just seem to pale in comparison to the joy of being able to help and give the simple measure of hope to that someone.
Memories of refugee leaders breaking into tears as blankets were given to them...
Memories of refugees rushing up and kneeling down to be prayed for....
Memories of that elderly later who held my hand so tightly during a routine home visit (she passed on during the cold snap disaster)...
Memories of hopeful children as they got their first chance to see the sea.
What a privilege to be able to make that journey of faith and walk through that season with these people ! I can't wait to get back !
RADION International is in the process of revamping its organisation structure to cater for new growth areas while maintaining the versatility of a small organisation.
Do stay tuned for the updates in the weeks ahead !
Last sunday as I was sitting in church, the pastor came up with a solemn note, asking the church to pray for people who face the brunt of Typhoon KETSANA, earthquakes and tsunamis.
As I prayed, I teared because the affected region is so wide, from Philippines to Vietnam, to Cambodia to Indonesia.... tears rolled down my cheeks as I prayed feeling helpless that RADION could not be able to do more within the region.
With limited funding, RADION can just do this much and our reach is largely limited to Thailand. What a grieving moments seeing disasters, but yet having to sit down and the only thing that I'm able to do is to pray.
-By The Nation
Health Ministry warned people on Sunday about possible break-out of six diseases during floodings.
Acting Permanent Secretary for health Dr Paichit Varachit said the diseases; leptospirosis, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, red eye and dengue fever, usually break out during floods.
Provincial mobile medical units will provide free service to flood victims as well as distribute information on preventive measures for flood-related disease to the public, said Dr Paichit.
Of the six diseases, the number of patients suffering from red eye and leptospirosis had risen sharply by about 8 per cent from January through September 29 compared to the same period last year, Dr Paichit said.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his weekly talk on Sunday that his government has been closely monitoring flooding situation in the country and the cabinet will this week evaluate damages again.
The evaluation will enable the government to allocate budget to assist the flood victims.
Abhisit said he had ordered relevant government agencies last Tuesday to lay out their plans to respond to Thailand's floods, and urged the public to listen to weather forecasts on a regular basis as weather is still unpredictable.
So far 12 provinces, mostly in the North and Northeast, have been under water with Ubon Ratchathani and Si Sa Ket suffered serious floodings, while Lampang and Lamphun provinces in the North are the worst-hit following heavy rains last weekend.
The Cabinet would discuss the flood situation on Tuesday and re-evaluate the country's damages.
Government closely monitors flooding; Health ministry warns of six diseases
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday his government has been closely monitoring flooding situation in the country and the cabinet will this week evaluate damages again.
The evaluation will enable the government to allocate budget to assist the flood victims.
Speaking in his weekly television talk, Abhisit said he had ordered relevant government agencies last Tuesday to lay out their plans to respond to Thailand's floods, and urged the public to listen to weather forecasts on a regular basis as weather is still unpredictable.
So far 12 provinces, mostly in the North and Northeast, have been under water with Ubon Ratchathani and Si Sa Ket suffered serious floodings, while Lampang and Lamphun provinces in the North are the worst-hit following heavy rains last weekend.
The Cabinet would discuss the flood situation on Tuesday and re-evaluate the country's damages.
Bangkok Post :
Many provinces remained submerged yesterday as humanitarian aid trickled to thousands of marooned and homeless residents left uprooted by the heavy downpours of Typhoon Ketsana.
The North and the Northeast are the worst-hit areas after a weekend of heavy rain with thousands of houses and thousands of rai of farmland flooded.
Affected families have been living on relief supplies.
Ketsana's lingering effects were most widespread in the northern province of Tak, where about 1,700 families in nine villages in tambon Mae Tuen of Mae Ramat district were cut off from the outside world after a bridge collapsed, preventing troops from reaching them with emergency help.
Many provinces in the north, northeastern and southern regions have experienced flooding after heavy rains.
Despite official efforts to pump out floodwater from the affected areas, the water levels in some areas are not receding but are actually rising, and rains show no signs of letting up, officials said yesterday.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has told agencies to rush relief aid to victims in hard-hit provinces.
He plans to visit the worst-hit areas to give moral support and make sure help is reaching the affected people.
The prime minister has ordered irrigation officials to monitor water levels in the dams and reservoirs as they could overflow as weather conditions are expected to worsen in the next few days.
Mr Abhisit said Thailand was also sending aid to the Philippines and Indonesia, which were heavily hit by the typhoon and an earthquake.
Rice, medical supplies and electricity generators has been flown to Indonesia and would be sent to the Philippines as well, he said.
In Tak, where residents were cut off from the outside world, the bridge over the Mae Tuen River collapsed under the force of the flash flood. It is the main transport route out of the tambon.
A temporary bridge could not be built immediately due to the high water level of the river, leaving the military rescue teams unable to get into the flooded villages to extend help.
In Sam Ngao district, about 400 houses were submerged after the Wang River burst its banks. Residents and farm animals have been either evacuated or moved to higher ground.
In the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, motorists were yesterday warned about possible landslides along the Nakhon Sawan-Chaiyaphum Road.
About 500 houses in Phakdi Chumphon district and another 1,000 in Kaset Sombun and Phu Khieo districts were flooded. In some areas, the water is three metres high.
The overflowing Lam Pa Thao Dam has flooded Muang district where the floodwater in some spots is almost half a metre deep.
Residents of the central province of Ayutthaya are also assessing the flood damage to their houses and land.
About 1,000 homes require extensive repair work as a result of flooding in the rice-producing district of Sena.
In Phetchabun, more than 5,000 rai of farmland in Nong Phai district has been swamped.
Meanwhile, 13 Thai crew members who survived after their fishing boat capsized in Malaysian waters on Friday returned to Pattani yesterday.
Another 13 are still missing.
According to reports, waves as high as three to five metres hit the boat, the Pornpitsanu 91, which had 26 crewmen on board when it had left Pattani to receive fish from another trawler anchored in Malaysian waters. BANGKOK POST AND TNA
With effect from 1 Sep 2009, Mr Bruce Kou Thao will be joining RADION International as our Director Of Operations (USA). He will be pioneering the awareness and assisting with the charity setup in the states to support our outreach efforts in Thailand.
Mr Bruce Thao is no stranger to RADION, in fact he has served a summer term with RADION right in Khek Noi Thailand as part of his PhD program internship. Bruce has teared with us, labored alongside us into late nights and now he is jumping on-board to be our ambassador among the Hmong Americans back in the states.
Bruce Kou Thao is the first generation of Hmong who were born and raised and America. Both his parents fled persecution during the Vietnam War in Laos and lived in Thai refugee camps in 1975 before being repatriated to the United States. Bruce is now pursuing his 2nd Masters and a PhD in Social Work at the University of Chicago.
If you're in the states and would wish to contact Bruce to speak at your organisation/church/school, you can reach him at bruce.thao@radion-international.org
BANGKOK: -- Thai authorities upcountry and in the capital are braced for a major blow from tropical storm Ketsana, which has intensified to typhoon status, and is moving towards Thailand's Northeast and North, Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said Tuesday.
Having ordered the authorities in the northern and northeastern regions to be on alert for possible flash floods, Mr Chavarat said the Interior Ministry had allocated Bt50 million from its emergency budget to each province to help flood victims.
Meanwhile, Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will keep Bangkokians updated on the weather condition in Bangkok.
The updates include the amount of rainfall and flood-proned areas, he said, adding that announcements will be made via radio, television and traffic signs so that residents will avoid entering flooded areas, move their valuables to higher grounds and prepare themselves in better manners.
In a bid to protect Bangkokians affected by heavy rains, the BMA has set up mobile emergency units to visit flood-impacted various areas and provide drainage pumps, temporary accommodation, medical teams and other facilities.
Mr. Sukhumbhand also said that the BMA would help repair and clean damaged homes after the floodwaters recede.
He instructed the heads of flood-prone districts, in particular the eastern metropolitan area and Thon Buri, to urge community leaders to brace for possible flooding.
The governor himself will be at the emergency relief centre to inspect the authorities response to flooding.
The BMA has launched its Hotline 1555 to receive complaints from flood-hit residents.
Meanwhile, in the southern province of Songkhla, fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand started sailing for shore after a warning was issued by the Meteorological Department.
The department earlier announced that strong winds and waves would likely be higher than two metres due to tropical storm Ketsana which was moving across the South China Sea and expected to enter Thailand's northeastern provinces of Mukdaharn and Ubon Ratchathani via neighbouring Laos.
Meanwhile, customs officers in the northeastern province of Nong Khai warned ferry boat and motor raft operators plying between Bung Kan District and Laos against overloading with cargo and passengers to avoid possible accidents during the heavy rain and strong winds.
-- TNA 2009-09-29
The last few weeks have kept me really busy, hunting for jobs, filling up painful applications that never seem to end and going for job interviews.
The scary thing about it all is how quickly I get so terribly comfortable and absorbed in the Singaporean lifestyle. How quickly I find myself chasing material comfort and momentarily forgetting Khek Noi, the kids, the people.... those who really need our help.
There were moments were I was starting to revive the drive for recognition in the corporate world, nothing wrong about that. But when that pursuit of material comfort slowly eats away my passion of touching lives, i'll be back in square one.
We can always come up with reasons and excuses to justify our every decision. But may I never forget the real reason why I'm doing what I'm doing.
It was a nostalgic day as I boarded my plane back to Singapore. The sights, the sounds, the all so familiar surroundings... all in exchange for a more urbanized lifestyle.
Arriving Singapore felt strange, it had a sense of familiarity but it strangely felt foreign, almost as though as I'm away from home right here in my homeland. Thoughts of the streetkids flooded through my mind as well as the faces of the elderly folks that we reach out to regularly, their wrinkled smiles that fills my heart with warmth.
Right now I'm blogging in my bedroom and looking towards a new phase in my life, hopefully this phase will be short (or maybe a miracle happens) so I can rush back to rejoin radion full time :)
p/s : Thank you for your encouraging mails and messages.
Today, 4 of us, my 2 Thai staff and Bruce (our PhD intern) headed down the mountain to Phitsanulok to grab the supplies for tomorrow's mission team. This is a routine chore that we do prior to every volunteer team's arrival.Though routine, this trip turned out to be a nostalgic one for me.
As I stood in the all-so-familar surroundings of the Thai hypermart (Tesco Lotus), I was reminded that this would be last time I'll be here; hearing the repetitive thai music while struggling to get groceries that have their labels written only in Thai.
With every step, my heart felt heavier. Looking through the items brought back memories.
Going through the children section, reminiscing how I have previously bought some of these kids on our streetkids program. The dried noodles & bedding section, brought back memories of late nights where Ben and me will be filling our empty stomachs with instant noodles and wondering when will we be able to buy a proper bed instead of sleeping on the floors.
Each section took me back memory lane, though the hard times, happy times and times that was filled with tears.
Finally i stopped by the Audio & Video section to pick out a few educational documentaries for the kiddos. This too brought their faces to mind, and my heart sank knowing that I may not be around to watch these shows with them.
On the journey, Bruce asked me what made me the same question as many of our dearest supporters. A simple but painful question "Why did I decide to leave full time service in Thailand to head back to Singapore?"
Now, we have been on the mission field for some 2 years now and since we started, we have drawing from our personal savings . Its only of late that we managed to draw a small allowance from our lifeline project- CS300. Without CS300 attaining full financial support and the ministry has pressing needs for the money, both the directors bore the burden and survived on a terribly small allowance.
My decision to leave is not a sudden one, neither is it one of disappointment, instead its a hard decision that have been rendered months of careful thought.
With low financial support and insufficient manpower, having Ben to manage the operations in Thailand and me to work in Singapore to support financially would definably be at the best interest of RADION.Without having to cater for allowances, RADION will now be able to free up some funding to employ 2-4 more local destitute villagers to continue and expand our work.
That i guess is the best option right now.
It's saddening just thinking of how to break the news to the kids, but i do hope that i can quickly clear off all my existing commitments and return to Thailand as soon as I can. Missions is fun ;)
So do keep me in your prayers :)
Yesterday, we received news from the villagers that the body of a 2 year old child was found near the guesthouse. The body had bite marks all over the body and her lips were bitten apart. Investigation indicated that the young toddler has also been raped before being killed.
The hideous act was committed by a local villager who kidnapped the young toddler when he was high sniffing glue. The attacker tried to to silence the girl from screaming and closed her mouth with his hands but she ended up suffocating to death. The arrest has been made however it offers little to the parents who have lost a child.
Glue sniffing/substance abuse is a prevalent problem in the village, attacks are also common ranging from gang rapes to murders. That's the reason why we focus our efforts to bring awareness and aid to children from high risk background such as this to prevent them from going down that path....
The Program
StreetKids! program is a rehabilitation program giving substance abusers and children from high risk backgrounds a second chance to study. The program provides shelter, food and education for each of these needy ones.
The Process
Poor parents will always push their children to be on our program, but only the children who are deemed within the high risk categories are accepted. Most of children are ostracized and their own parents and the village has given up all hope on them.
The Need
Right now on the streetkids program, we have 16 children. 12 have already been sponsored, leaving the following 4 kids who have either completed probation and awaiting a sponsorship, or children who have just joined us
The Children
1 ) Tao ( Waiting For Sponsorship) Tao is a 13 year old young lady who comes from a high risk background. Her father was caught trafficking drugs and she has been left without a fatherly figure in the family. Her mother was a poor odd-job laborer and she subsequently remarried to another villager. Tao in her growing up years had little guidance and was slowly starting to loose interest in school to hang out in the streets with gangs that had a reputation for substance abuse. Tao has just passed her probation with us and will be a needing a sponsor to enable her to continue her rehabilitation program and education.
2 ) Manak (High Risk Family)
Manak's father who is the sole breadwinner for the family was diagnosed with stroke and has since been unable to find work. To make matters worse, Manak's mother is a drug addict(current) and the family has little to make ends meet. Manak is always seen walking around the village barefooted before he joined the program. Each sponsorship cost just SGD96/month. If you wish to sponsor Manak, please email me at eugene@radion-international.org
3 ) Kua & Tong (On Probation) Tong and Kua are siblings. Both of them come from a complex background of neglect and vice. Tong was recently caught sniffing glue while Kua was well known for stealing. Both these children are not well liked by the village due to their vices. Both are now undergoing probation. They should be up for sponsorship in 2 weeks.
The Rehabilitation
All our child sponsors play a crutial role, not only in providing for these kids financially but also in the area of emotional rehabilitation. Its simple. The sponsors are required to communicate with their sponsored child to let them know that someone cares for them. These children have no sense of hope, but when they know that their sponsors care, they try harder in everything they do so as not to disappoint their sponsors.
Each sponsorship cost just SGD96/month. If you wish to sponsor a child, please email me at eugene@radion-international.org
