Thai Children's Trust reception at Lambeth Palace

Archbishop Nichols at evening for Thai Children's Trust at Lambeth Palace

"Supporters and staff from the Thai Children’s Trust were welcomed to the historic splendour of Lambeth Palace for a reception last Tuesday hosted by the charity’s Patron, The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.

Archbishop Vincent crossed to the south side of the Thames at the invitation of Dr Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to garner support for a new Special Needs Centre at the Father Ray Foundation in Pattaya, two hours south of Bangkok, which is being part-funded by Thai Children’s Trust through the web-based match-funded Big Give Christmas Challenge taking place on Thursday 5 December 2013 at 10am. www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/the-big-give

Among the guests were: Ms Jidapa Lumyong First Secretary Royal Thai Embassy; Dr Phuchphob Mongkolnavin Counsellor Royal Thai Embassy; Mgr Marcus Stock General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Confefrence of England and Wales, and Redemptorist Brother Denis Gervais CSsR, who works at the centre in Pattaya.

In his speech, Archbishop Nichols said: "The purpose of the reception is to introduce to you a project which the Trust is hoping to accomplish. The origin of the project lay in the compassion, kindness and vision of one man, a Catholic priest of the Redemptorist Congregation, Fr Raymond Brennan.

"It is now just over ten years since Fr Brennan died. He was an extraordinary man who looked after orphaned children and vulnerable young people in Thailand for nearly thirty years and without whom there would have been no Thai Children’s Trust. In a few minutes, Mr Michael Lancaster will talk to you about a project which Fr Brennan was unable to undertake during his lifetime; the need in Pattaya for a centre for children with Special Needs. But Fr Brennan’s achievements were far from negligible, and it is perhaps appropriate to consider, ten years on, how his work has continued to flourish, and how wide‐ranging are some of the outcomes of this work.

"Fr Ray’s first project, in 1974, was the Pattaya Orphanage, which has been home to more than two thousand babies and children, and has placed more than five hundred of them into loving adoptive homes. A significant number of the children who remained in the Orphanage have gone on to university, and many of them now enjoy influential careers in teaching, in business, and in public administration.

"The Orphanage was followed in 1984 by the Vocational School for the Disabled, whose graduates have moved out from Pattaya into Thai schools and organisations serving people with disabilities and, indeed, the broader community. These graduates, and especially the remarkable Paralympic athletes who have represented Thailand so effectively at successive Olympic games, have helped change public perceptions of people with disabilities, and opened new and inspirational opportunities for disabled Thai people to contribute positively to the common good of their country.

"It is a blessing that these young people have made their mark in Thai society just at a point when Thailand enjoys greater economic prosperity, and that as a consequence, the voices of those who have known poverty and exclusion are included in the national debate at a critical time.

"There is another way in which Fr Brennan’s inspiration has moved beyond the boundaries of Pattaya City and into other parts of Thailand and beyond. This has been through the work of the Thai Children’s Trust whose founder, Baron Riccardo Carini, was inspired by Fr Brennan’s work. Although I know he would not wish it to be said, it is doubtful though if any of the work that has been accomplished by the Thai Children’s Trust would have been possible were it not for the generosity and determination of Baron Carini. The exceptional support given by Baron Carini and also by two of the Trust’s other founding trustees, Sir Andrew Cunynghame and Dr Michael Phelan, deserves our admiration and the thanks of countless children and young people who have benefited from the work of the Trust over the last thirty‐one years of its history.

"Since the terrible Tsunami in 2004, the Trust has extended its fundraising to support projects outside Pattaya, in Ban Nam Khem in the south, in Nong Khai in the north east, in Rayong in the east, and on the Thai‐Burma border. Orphans from the Tsunami, children whose lives have been touched by HIV, refugee children, and abandoned children like the orphaned and the disabled, now benefit from the work of the Trust. Mobile Teacher Trainers, trained at a project we support in Mae Sot, are now also reaching beyond Thailand’s border and into the eastern provinces of Burma.

"The work of the Trust touches the lives of at least four thousand children every day. So the Thai Children’s Trust continues to need your support as much as ever.

"Tonight the Trust will be asking you to support the foundation of a Centre for Children with Special Needs in Pattaya, a project which Fr Brennan had planned, but lacked the funding to start. The Thai Children’s Trust hopes to correct that. This Christmas, the Trust will be asking for new sponsors to come forward to help support the basic costs of caring for children, food, clothing, education and play.

"On behalf of the Thai Children’s Trust, I thank you for coming here this evening and for demonstrating your willingness to support its important work. As Fr Brennan has demonstrated, by serving those children who are vulnerable and in need, we serve the Christ‐child, God made man, who lives among us in humility and poverty. Let us pray that our efforts tonight, this Christmas, and in the months and years ahead, may be blessed by a success which will outlive us all."

There are some 1.2 million people living with a disability in Thailand out of a population of nearly 67 million, with more than one in four not diagnosed or recognised as having a disability and therefore not getting the support they need.

It is intended that the new centre becomes a centre of excellence to be replicated with state – funded provision elsewhere across the country. It will have state-of-the art facilities providing physical therapy, individual development and education plans, professional special needs services and outreach family support .

“Children with disabilities are very often isolated and lonely” says Andrew Scadding, CEO, Thai Children’s Trust. “The new centre will give them a precious opportunity to make friends and play, as well as allow parents to find support and share experiences.”

Thai Children’s Trust is the largest UK charity focusing solely on disadvantaged and disabled children in Thailand and surrounding countries, supporting projects in Pattaya, Rayong, Nong Khai in the north, the tsunami area in the south and Burmese migrant communities on both sides of the border.

Thai Children’s Trust helps children at risk, children with HIV/Aids, children with disabilities and refugees- providing a home, an education and a future for some 2,000 children, and reaching out to thousands more through health and nutrition projects.

Please visit www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk for more information.