Overview
of projects in Thailand
Members of The Family International in Thailand have adopted a broad approach in their activities, to bring a message of hope and love to those in need from all cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Projects have included educational programs; counseling and motivational seminars; motivational courses for children and teenagers in orphanages, shelters, and child protection homes; drug awareness programs; disaster relief; assistance to the elderly and physically challenged; and early learning seminars for teachers and parents.
Emotional and spiritual support, and the promoting of fast-fading values such as love, compassion, and caring work in tandem with material assistance to provide long-term solutions to the many social problems of today, as well as to help maintain a good quality of life.
Project Highlights
Anti-Drug Programs
| Drug abuse in Thailand especially targets the youth and laborers. Over the last 15 years, the Family has participated in numerous drug-awareness and prevention programs, seminars, concerts, and therapeutic group activities in schools, colleges, rehabilitation and juvenile detention centers, reaching hundreds of thousands. Combining a drug-awareness/anti-narcotic theme with music and drama has proven to be a most effective approach in reaching the youth. We also provide classes and activities that can assist these youngsters in their struggle to integrate back into society and lead productive lives after undergoing rehabilitation.
Hospital Visitation
| Our hospital program includes counseling programs offering encouragement, comfort, and faith-building literature, as well as face painting and clown shows to cheer up the children. Music therapy has also proven to be successful in lifting the spirits of the patients—so much so that one cancer hospital has included music therapy as part of their treatment program. Sharing encouragement with the patients’ relatives and hospital staff who sacrificially care for the patients is also an important part of this ministry.
Orphanage Assistance
| Our members assist at a number of orphanages on a regular basis, which are often understaffed and operate on very limited budgets. We provide tutoring, character-development classes, excursions and field trips, sports activities, and aid in improving their facilities by assisting with painting and basic construction projects. At an institute for abandoned babies, members assist the staff in the physical care of the children. Family members are also active in finding sponsors to help provide needed items and school supplies for the orphans.
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Care for Underprivileged and Needy Children
| We regularly visit homes for slum children and toddlers and preschoolers whose mothers are in prison, to share inspirational stories with the children, to do various sports and arts and crafts activities, and to help teach them basic learning skills. We also provide basic supplies such as toys, diapers, and soap, as well as milk and other food items. The staff encourages us to give the little children the gifts they value the most: love and attention.
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Disaster and Flood Relief
| When Thailand experiences disasters and calamities, Family members organize relief teams, and are often at the disaster site within one or two days with food, water, clothing, and other needed supplies. The most common disaster to affect Thailand is the annual heavy flooding often accompanied by frequent flash floods. Thanks to the help of donors, over the years we have been able to donate tons of rice, dry goods, bottled water, and many other essentials. Often, we arrive to very heartbreaking scenes of those who have lost loved ones, fighting to survive amid the confusion, mud, and mosquitoes. We pitch in to help organize, counsel, comfort, cook, clean, and help bring smiles to tearstained faces..
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Tsunami Relief Work
| The tsunami that hit the Southeast Asian region in December 2004, resulted in the worst disaster ever in Thailand’s history. As was witnessed worldwide, in a matter of minutes, an idyllic holiday paradise was thrown into a maelstrom of devastation, death, confusion, grief, loss, and pain of body and spirit. The need for assistance was dire and immediate. Government action was swift, yet the needs seemed to be endless. A two-pronged relief plan enabled a team of Family members to arrive within a day after the disaster hit, while some teams stayed back to collect donated goods for the survivors. Family members served in various ways, from acting as translators, to helping foreigners who were seeking their missing loved ones, to serving as cooks and caregivers. However, perhaps the most important service of all was our role as grief counselors to the traumatized survivors, both adults and children alike.
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Rehabilitation Programs
| We have been working with various institutions in the central Bangkok area and upcountry for the last 20 years. Our projects range from assisting abused children and the handicapped, to battered women and drug addicts. Our activities are varied to meet the needs of each facility, but most of them are centered on motivational and counseling services to provide emotional support and healing that will help the patients overcome their trauma and focus on building a productive future.
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Remand Centers for Delinquent Youth
| Teenagers, usually ranging from 13 to 18 years old, and sometimes younger, can be found in the five major remand centers of the country. At an age when they are most vulnerable, and when most of their peers are working toward a bright and prosperous future, these youths find themselves imprisoned for anywhere from a few months to over five years. Dejected, discouraged, hardened, and hopeless, they are in desperate need of direction and purpose. Friendship, kindness, and personal input given through our many activities help them find closure and redirect their focus to trying to build a future with hope and purpose.
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Homes for the Elderly
| Asian culture strongly advocates the care of the elderly by their close family and relatives. Most of those who find themselves in these Department of Social Welfare homes feel neglected and abandoned. Our visitation programs supplement the dedicated efforts of their caregivers to help the residents feel loved and appreciated.
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Educational Supplies to Needy Schools
| For over 15 years, there has been close cooperation between the Family, members of the business community, and the local education office of many provinces. This very successful endeavor has improved the quality of education for thousands of underprivileged students who have benefited from donated books, audio-visual aids, school supplies, and food. Qualified members also assist in conducting motivational seminars and English camps for the teachers, school staff, and students.
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Prison Outreach
| Our music ministry to prisoners incarcerated for crimes ranging from minor misdemeanors to more serious offenses, brings relief from their loneliness and desperation. Inspirational classes and reading material also help them to find hope and purpose, and provide moral instruction in an otherwise dismal environment.
Ministry to the Handicapped and Crippled
| Often subjected to social condemnation and discrimination, the handicapped struggle for the right to lead a life of usefulness and a degree of normalcy. Our visitation programs to handicap centers and our yearly participation on National Handicap Day bring encouragement, not only to the handicapped, but to their families and caregivers as well. Assisting in their vocational courses, providing music therapy and other input, helps them achieve their goals.