LONDON - 5 November 2007 - 350 words
London school students return from working visit with Thai orphans
Jo Siedlecka
Supporters of the Pattaya Orphanage Trust gathered at Holy Trinity Church in Brook Green, West London, on Saturday for their annual Mass and reception. The chief celebrant was Father Larry Patin, Project Director, with Fr Marcus Stock, one of the charity's trustees. Among the congregation was a group of students from south London who had just come back from a visit with the children.
The Trust supports several projects run
by the Redemptorists in the Thai seaside resort, including a home
for abandoned babies, a drop-in centre for street children often
caught up in the sex industry, a children's home, schools for
deaf and blind children, vocational schools for young people with
disabilities and a home for stateless elderly people.
The students, from Sacred Heart RC School in Camberwell, with
their teacher, Catherine Dawson, were part of a 25-strong group
just back from a two week stay in Pattaya. Before this trip of
a lifetime they worked for months to pay for their fares, and
raised £23,000 to buy clothes, medicines, air conditioning
and other equipment for the children.
Ms Dawson said: "When we first got there we thought we would play with the children in the centre, but soon we realised what they really needed was to go out. Because there were so many of us we could give them one to one attention. We ended up taking them for trips every day, to the elephant park, to the beach to swim, gardens and shopping."
All the girls said the hardest part was saying goodbye at the end of their stay, but they have pledged to keep in touch with the children and come to visit them again.
During his homily Fr Larry thanked all the supporters for their help and outlined the progress that has been made in the past year thanks to their support. New accommodation for disabled girl students was opened by the Princess of Thailand; work with AIDS orphans has expanded and hundreds of children have a better diet now because of the introduction of lunch clubs, where schools have set up gardens to grow their own food.
A number of training courses were given to staff and volunteers. Fr Larry said: "The First Aid course came in particularly useful right away. Last week one of the residents in our old folks home was bitten by a snake. They knew what to do and treated him immediately. The snake was killed and they rushed to hospital with it in a plastic bag so they could give him the right antidote. He is fine now."
In the next few days ICN will be publishing some personal accounts of the trip written by students from the Sacred Heart School.
If you would like more information about
the Pattaya Orphanage Trust visit:
http://www.pattayaorphanage.org.uk/home/
© Independent Catholic
News 2007
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