 |
|
 |
 |
|
> Mercy Orphanages and Shelters
> Sponsor a Mercy Child
> Street Children Outreach
> Children's Rights and Legal Aid
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mandate
To provide love, care, and a stable home environment for abandoned, abused, and orphaned poor children in our care.
Program Director
Wannee Kidswad
Contact
wannee@mercycentre.org
Phone: (662) 671-5313, ext. 257
Number of Children
Currently 220 children.
The Care We Provide
The HDF operates five Mercy orphanages and shelters for children. We raise the children in the Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim faith or the faith of their parents and teach them to respect all religions. We have programs that teach our children art, computers, dance, and physical education. Each Mercy Home also includes social workers, cooks, tutors, and coaches. We send them all to school and nurture and love these children for life. Since all our children have suffered severe loss, rejection, or abuse before we found them, our first and most important efforts must always be in helping restore and rekindle the simple joys of being a child in each of them.
The Orphanages Include:
Mercy 1 for boys, ages 13 to 18
Mercy 2 for boys, ages 6 to 12
Mercy 3 houses our young children, boys and girls, ages 3 to 6
Mercy 4 is our home for girls, ages 7 to 18, located nearby Mercy Centre
Mercy 5 - a safe house for children in grave danger.
(We also have a special home for Mothers and Children with AIDS-detailed as a separate program.)
Origins/History
In 1976, HDF opened a home for nine street children who depended on Father Joe and Sister Maria for survival. Our capacity to care for such children grew with each child we took in and our reach expanded every year. Twenty-five years later in 2001, we opened our fifth home. The following year, the Ministry of Justice, in a unique arrangement, also began assigning children to our care as an alternative to incarceration.
The Challenges
Our greatest challenge never changes. That is, to ensure our children, who often come to us after experiencing enormous infancy and childhood deficits, are each able to be children once again on their way to leading a fulfilling family life in adulthood.
Success Story
A three-year-old slum child named Benz was abandoned by his parents and somehow (nobody will ever know) ended up living alone in extreme degradation and sleeping among pigs in the slaughterhouse market of Klong Toey. Months later, when our social workers found Benz, he was severely malnourished with life-threatening infections. Nursed back to health at his new home in Mercy Centre, Benz is now a normal, mischievous five-year-old boy-a master of the scooter and an asset to his team on the soccer pitch with plenty of friends at home and in kindergarten.
Urgent Needs
- More varied skills training programs for our older children.
- Psychiatric social workers to help our most troubled children.
Since we first opened our doors in 1973, we have never turned away a child in need. It's a promise we keep both for ourselves and for the children we have yet to meet. Our special Child Sponsorship Program helps ensure the care of all our current children and allows our Mercy homes to grow with the needs of the community.
All our children have suffered loss, pain, and severe rejection before we found them - many since early infancy. For these children, just having a friend - someone they can write to who cares - means more than most of us can imagine. They love having big brothers and sisters.
Our children always need sponsorship from caring individuals, companies, and organizations. While the actual cost of care for each child is 88,000 baht (approx. US $2,000), we offer four levels, as indicated, to provide more affordable options for everyone who wishes to help.
|
Thai Baht |
US$ |
| Level I |
| (Equivalent cost: Education) |
8,000 |
$200 |
| Level II |
| (Plus housing) |
25,000 |
$625 |
| Level III |
| (Plus food/health care) |
60,000 |
$1,500 |
| Level IV |
| (Total caring) |
88,000 |
$2,000 |
As a sponsor, you will receive photos, a case history, welcome letter, holiday greetings, and periodic updates from your sponsored child.
The children take great joy in writing to the sponsors and drawing pictures about their life and feelings; and in this way your sponsorship helps build their self-esteem and confidence as an important part of their personal growth.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Adults in the Klong Toey community with art and design skills are now teaching art to our children
and opening up new avenues of expression and new ways of healing.
Through gifts in kind, volunteers, and small donations, we recently have inaugurated a computer school for our staff and children. In addition, we are providing many of our children advanced computer training.
Mercy Music and Dance Program ...
Our children receive formal instruction on premise at Mercy Center in Thai and Western music and dance.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
