Street Kids

Today was one of the most important visits of this trip, to the Street Kids project to meet the new Director Khun Supachai, known to all a Paw Aw Daeng. He is a professional childcare specialist, and one of Thailand 's top experts on Child Protection.

It is impossible not to like Daeng on sight. He has a wide smile, great warmth and unlimited enthusiasm for his work and for the children in his care. The site is filled with new activities - the children are growing vegetables, there's a plant nursery growing orchids,and there are chickens. There are two new computer training rooms, each with more than 20 computers. I was impressed to see all the computers in the boys' section in use under the guidance of an expert teacher.

There are outside activities too. The children have been divided into groups of about 20, each group in the care of a couple of adult leaders. These groups, always with the same leaders, go out on activities regularly , one of the objectives being to strengthen the links between the children and between the children and the leaders. To adapt the old adage,'the family that plays together stays together.'

There will be a full write up on this in the Newsletter shortly. For now one comment will suffice, from Mr Tom Vincent, an old friend of Fr Ray Brennan, who has been consistently among the most generous of supporters. He has known the Street Kids project for as long as it has been running. Today, he says simply, it is 'best ever.'