Every fortnight Anna meets with the girls - three of the items always on the agenda:
- Never Give it away - we will do it for you!
- Use Condoms!
- Ensure you are checked every month!
We finally managed to get down to Rayong in November and were very impressed by the work they are doing.
The Centre opened in 1995 and initially concentrated on "Palliative Care" ie treating people who were in the critical and terminal stages of AIDS. In 12 years they have treated 1493 people who arrived at this stage - managing to rehabilitate 698 of them back into society. We were told that nowadays, given the right drug therapies, diet and environment, AIDS was now a chronic - but not necessarily terminal disease.
The work of the Centre has broadened and they provide care, particularly to children, for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The Children receive the correct Drug Therapies, Diet and Environment. Some have to be educated within the Centre, but many are well enough to attend local Thai schools and mix with other children.
As they grow older they move on to a purpose built Independent Living Centre where they are still supervised and provided for but do their own chores and maintain the home.
Whilst many young adults are now able to find work outside the Centre and join mainstream society there are some who move on to a self supporting farm about 40 kms from the Centre.
They work closely with the Thai Health services and nowadays receive a small proportion of their expenditure from the Government. The rest of the money comes from groups of donors in Italy and England.
We had collected around 30,000 baht from Anna's Party and chipped in a further 5000 - but when we saw just what a good job the centre was doing we managed to get that up to 42,000 with some extra help from Colin and Trevor who came with us. Thank you everyone.
If you would like to help the Camillian Centre then there are a number of ways to do so:
- We have a collection box in the bar
- Pay Direct in a bank in Thailand: St Camillus Foundation of Thailand: Bank of Ayudhya, Map Ta-Phut, Rayong. No: 229-1-29336-3
- Consider sponsorship: UK http://www.pattayaorphange.org.uk. France: www.orphelineatpattayacv.org
- Alternatively - take a few hours out - and go and visit the Centre. We will happily put you in touch and assist you to organise Taxis etc. (I may even take you there myself). You can join them for lunch, Thai and Italian! But do take your wallet!
You can look at the work of the Centre here: http://www.camillian-rayong.org/
We also agreed to sponsor a girl on an ongoing basis because what places like this really need are regular monthly donations allowing them to budget and plan.
Our guide was Paul, I asked him how he got involved? "I couldn't think of anything better to do with my time".
Paul, I couldn't agree with you more!
4 comments:
Interesting report, Peter !
Completely different from all the stories of political unrest in Thailand, which you can find when you surf forums and blogs nowadays.
I think Anna and you are doing a great job overthere, not only with the bar.
Several months ago, a German news magazine has described Pattaya´s bar scene as "Vorhof zur Hölle"... translated in English it means "forecourt of hell".
Against all prejudices one might have against Thailand, I know that it is not, as long as there are a few people like Anna and you !
It would make me happy to give my donation when I´m overthere in March...
I clicked the link to the Camillian Centre in your blog entry.
But it did not work... So, I googled and found the site.
I haven´t read all the informations yet, but will do so as soon as I have some time.
Here is the URL I found:
http://www.camillian-rayong.org/en/situation.asp
Thanks Mike - the link works now.
Peter what can I say, it was a pleasure and a privilege to go along with you and the AJ “family” on this visit. All I can say is that it was without a doubt my best ever day in Thailand the centre was an uplifting experience and the kids and adults an inspiration especially the little one who thought I was her Australian father? It may have been the most expensive “free lunch” I’ve ever had but worth every baht.
Look forward to the updates on your new "daughter"
Monty
im the trevor who went with them to the center this is by far the most best charity that i have seen in action anywhere in the world and ive seen and worked with some in iraq afganistan and a load in places you couldnt find on a map if you wanted to.so if you have any spare cash and want to do a little bit of good then this is the place to do it
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