Saturday: Redemptorist Foundation for People with Disabilities, Children's Village, Children's Home, Chinese Acrobats at the Orphanage

First meeting with the day with old friend Suporntum Mongkolsawadee, one of the most impressive - maybe the most impressive - players in the world of disabled education, employment and rights in Thailand today.  Once a pupil at the Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled (known here as 'Mahathai'), Suporntum's ability was recognised and he swiftly became a teacher, then Head Teacher.  He used that position with great skill to build the reputation and capacity of the school and to help advance the rights of people with disabilities throughout Thailand to access education and employment on equal terms.  Some time ago Suporntum moved across to the head the Redemptorist Foundation, whose services to disabled people include the job placement agency, including a 'job club', small enterprise development, handicraft training and sales, the provision of services to disabled people locally through the Chonburi Association of People with Disabilities and a tiny school offering specialist services to children with special needs ranging from physical handicaps to autism.  It is a daunting range of problems, but one of Suporntum's great strengths has been his ability to choose and promote people of real ability to work alongside him.

One of these is Eknarin Swatwaengkuang, Chief Job Placement Officer.  His group acts as a specialist dating agency, painstakingly matching  potential employees to potential employers in terms of ability, experience, interests - and investigates whether the individual's particular disability permits them to function successfully in the employers unadapted premises, since there is no legal obligation here for employers to make changes to accommodate disabled employees.  It is not an easy job, and many potential placements fall at that last fence because the disabled candidate cannot use the employer's premises and the employer cannot, or will not, pay to make changes.  But the JPA has built up a list of employers who have successfully recruited people with disabilities as employees, and who have come back for more.  The target of 250 people to be placed in work in 2011 is not high, but it is realistic.  In 2010, 160 such placements were made, each one a triumph for common sense.

There will be more about the work of the Foundation later in the week.

A housemother and her children at the Fr Ray Children's Village.

Our next port of call was the Fr Ray Children's Village, a project started a couple of years ago which gives some children the opportunity to live in a stable quasi-family environment.  Each house has a 'house mother' who sleeps in the house with the children and is a full-time carer.  But unlike real mums, they can call on the services of an 'Auntie' to give them time for the occasional day off.  There can be no doubting that this is a heaven for children who have come from tough and sometimes abusive backgrounds.  They live in a 'street' - actually a private cul-de-sac - in their own family home.  But all the neighbours are similarly homes to families with young children, so there are loads of friends to play with.  And play they do, happily and safely all around the site.  The smiles on the faces of the Mums and the children really say all that needs to be said about the success of this project.

Children's Home residents, staff and visitors.

Next visit was to the Children's Home.  There was a time a few years ago when I was ashamed for visitors to see this project, it was failing badly.  Then along came Khun Daeng, who turned out to be a miracle-worker.  

Khun Daeng has lots of experience in running children's homes, and applies a simple philosophy that a busy child is a happy child, and therefore a child who is unlikely to get into trouble.  The children have a huge choice of activities. 

During our short visit we saw girls picking and weighing mushrooms. boys doing their washing, the football team return from a match (they lost, don't even ask!) lots of children in the library watching a dvd on a huge television (it was Saturday!) and no doubt others were following different pastimes in parts of the site which we didn't manage to visit. The Home has two mushroom sheds, and sells half its production.  It breeds chickens, grows vegetables, has dogfish tanks and pigs.  Children can learn Thai boxing or Tae Kwando.  There are computers, books, TVs, football pitches.  And all are in regular use. 

Well done, Khun Daeng, a great achievement - a happy, busy home for happy, busy children who have fulfilled, purposeful lives.

Finally to the Guanxi Acrobat Dance Show at the Pattaya Orphanage - sorry no photos of this one.  An amazing show - the acrobats were astonishing.   But to Fr Michael Weera, Khun Toy and their team, warmest congratualtions.  The organisation was perfect, everything went entirely smoothly, and they hit their target of 4000 people (it looked more from the stage) being drawn into the Pattaya Orphanage to make friends.  Thanks for the invitations, it was a storming success all round.