Child Protection Thailand Project #20991

Safe Shelter for 16 Children and Woman in Thailand

by DEPDC

Project Report | Mar 23, 2016
Update from the Swimming Home and Ban Klang Na

By Linn Johanne Haaland | International Volunteer

Ban Klang Na has reopened! This is such great news to all of us here at the Mae Chan sites. After receiving donations through Global Giving and private donors, we have been able to start the work of reopening our site for families and women in need.

As mentioned in one of our earlier updates, our two sites at Mae Chan were forged to merge for a longer period. Being able to start all over again at Ban Klang Na is great news both for the children and the adults at Mae Chan.

After a long time of not using the site as much as earlier, both the house and the ground needed a bit of refurbishing before letting the adults stay here over longer periods.

Lately, all the children and adults have spent their weekends at Ban Klang Na, making it sustainable to live there long term by having a nice resting place for everyone, a functional kitchen area, and a vegetable garden.

We have been able to fix a leaking roof and a broken door, the house has of course been cleaned, and new bed sheets have been brought to the site. It looks more and more like a home now.

During their weekends at Ban Klang Na, they have grown rice, corn, and multiple different vegetables. In February, we were finally able to make a new vegetable and flower garden. The future goal is to be able to grow enough vegetables here so the users of Ban Klang Na can sell their self grown vegetables at the local market, making a little income by themselves.

Your generosity has made all of this possible. To all of the supporters of the Mae Chan sites and DEPDC/GMS, thank you so much for your kind attention and generosity. We are forever grateful for all your help and hope you will continue following us.

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Dec 28, 2015
It's getting cold here, but we're still enjoying life - an update from our volunteer Linn

By Linn Johanne Haaland | International Volunteer

It gets cold in Thailand, too. As we speak, I am wearing woolen underwear, a thick sweater and a scarf while sitting inside. We don’t have the luxury of heaters inside, thus 15 degrees Celsius feels really cold. The children dread taking their daily showers, as I fully understand. You can imagine how cold it is after a cold shower, with no possibility to warm up again. That might also be one of the reasons why they like to sleep close to each other. This way, they keep each other warm.

Even though they would skip the showers if they could, they come running to me afterwards, smiling from ear to ear. The bad part is out of the way, it’s time to concentrate on what’s good! They have a place to stay, they have food and they have people who care surrounding them. And this is so crucial. All children need to feel loved, but these children might have a greater need than others. That’s one of the main reasons working with these kids is so rewarding. The little you give, you get back ten fold.

Lately, the older girls have been visiting me in the evenings. Mainly because they want to listen to some music, like most teenagers do, but also because it is a little bit warmer at my place than in the shelter. Even the younger, active kids are cold nowadays. The plan is to renew the shelter soon, making it more livable there. Through the donations given so far, it seems like we will soon be able to start the work. This is something that is highly appreciated by all the users of the shelter.

Just before Christmas, we watched some Christmas movies together. One of the children asked me if Santa is real, and I honestly didn’t know what to answer. To let children live with their fantasies is one thing, but this fantasy is just cruel to children that rarely get any presents at all. Luckily, one of our private donors sent us money to support the children’s spare time activities and we decided to buy them some personal gifts.

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Oct 1, 2015
A new family member and other updates from MRICRH

By Linn Johanne Haaland | International Volunteer

There have been some changes here at the Mae Chan sites lately. We are eager to share these news with you.

First of all, there are now nine children and two young adults here at the moment. We are continuously working on cases out in the field, trying to help families where they are. In some cases, that is not possible, in some cases, we have to bring the children to the shelter and take care of them here. Recently, we got a new family member. He is not two years old yet, but was in need of someone to take care of him, because nobody else was able to do so. He is a sunray here at the Swimming Home. We can see him grow for every day. From being a young boy that felt unsafe and not loved, he has become a child that smiles at every possible occasion, running around playing most of the time. To be part of this transformation is incredible.

The children who stays at the Swimming Home, attend school in daytime, and in the evening they are all attending aquatic therapy and English language activities. The children shows a lot of appreciation for the evening activities, which also include the need every child have to be seen and cared for. These children have already had traumatic experiences in their lives, experiences most people are unfamiliar with. They do need to be taken cared of more than an average child, they do need therapy and they do need responsible adults to be in their lives.

MRICRH usually consists of two different sites, one for traumatized women and families, called Ban Klang Na, and one for abandoned and abused children, called The Swimming Home. At the moment, we have been forced to merge the two sites, so all the victims stays at the same shelter for now. This is not the best situation, but it is the best solution we can think of. They all have a place to stay and a supporting network surrounding them all. The alternative would be not to be able to take care of more children in need, which just is not an alternative for us.

To all of the supporters of the Mae Chan sites and DEPDC/GMS, thank you for your kind attention and generosity. We are grateful for all your help this term and look forward to the rest of the term ahead.

Saving MRICRH's cat from a roof

Aquatic therapy in the evening

Relaxing at MRICRH's agricultural site

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