Appeal from Mgr Marcus Stock on behalf of hungry children on Thai Burma border

Mgr Marcus Stock

In time for Easter, Mgr Marcus Stock, General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales, has made a special video on behalf of the Thai Children's Trust. For several years Mgr Stock has been a Trustee of the Thai Children's Trust, a charity which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged children at risk across Thailand.

The video is in support of the charity's HungerBusters campaign - an urgent appeal to feed one thousand children in five impoverished migrant schools on the Thai Burma border.

For the last eight months the Thai Children's Trust has managed to provide a healthy lunch for nearly one thousand children each school day. The difference it has made is plain to see. But the money runs out this month.

Mgr Stock is asking for a modest monthly gift of as little as £3 - less than the cost of an Easter egg.

As many as 30,000 children in north-west Thailand have had their growth stunted through lack of food. This malnourishment will have impaired their physical and mental development and the damage it has caused is
irreversible.

These are Burmese migrant children who have had to flee their country. They have seen their villages burned, their siblings forced to be porters in the army, their parents killed. They live on the edge - fearful of being returned; vulnerable to child traffickers or the military. Life for them is unimaginable poverty in desperate conditions - many receiving little support in run-down school boarding houses.

They will not be sharing the same euphoria as the western world over the success of Aung San Suu Kyi in the Burmese elections. It will take a long time to build trust for these damaged young souls and a return to their homeland is not an option for a long time, if ever.

Mgr Stock is asking for anything that people can afford, but -

• £3 a month will feed a child with a meal every school day
• £5 a month will feed a child with a meal for 365 days a year
• £7 a month will provide a child with breakfast and supper as well every day

Mgr Stock says: "This Easter, children on the Thai Burma border are not asking for a special or expensive treat - they simply want to eat. This Easter, we can help to give these give children a chance at life. This is my Easter message - feed a child for a year and change a young life for good."

Andrew Scadding, Director of Thai Children's Trust, says: "We would ask people to take just a few minutes to see what life is like for these children on our videos on www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/hungerbusters/ - and then click to give what they can. Whatever they can afford will make a different to one small life. Thank you."