My Return to the Mercy Centre - Pattaya
In our last newsletter I wrote about my trip to Pattaya and spoke about the Mercy Centre. Well I returned last month for another visit. It is a project reaching out to the poor within the city; providing a shelter for children at risk, outreach and aid in the slums and police lock-ups, support for single mothers and much more.
On my first visit I was blessed enough to tag along with them on some of their outreach. Firstly to the slums where they deliver a bag of rice, oil and basic essentials every week.
Then I joined them to the Police Lock-ups which is an absolute shock to your system. We again took food and water to the people there. Most of them are foreigners, Cambodian, Laos or Burmese who are working here illegally. There are some westerners too who have overstayed their visas. The westerners, however, have good embassies who won't leave them in a lock up for long. Basically, in cells of approximately 2 meters by 3 meters there were maybe 10 women and 5 children. One baby was 2 weeks old! There is a squat toilet in the corner and they are given one small meal per day. Children and babies are not catered for so we pray the mothers are healthy enough to breast feed. There are no beds, no chairs, no blankets - nothing. Just a concrete floor and the clothes on their backs. My first trip to the Mercy Centre was certainly an eye opener.
The Centre has many projects to run and organise and on my return visit I certainly didn't want to become a nuisance or get in their way (even though they would never say I was a nuisance because they are far too lovely :)) So I arrived in Pattaya this second time around and decided I would simply go to the Children's home and spend some time with the kids. I had a wonderful couple of days playing, laughing, cuddling, even enjoying the wonderful task of riding children of head lice which is always lots of fun ;) I spent the whole time at the Centre and look forward to seeing the kids again.
Please check out the centre's website www.mercypattaya.com They are doing amazing things, always looking for people to help for a short or long time and can always do with your prayers.
I pray now that God will continue to bless all the staff there, continue to steer their vision and passion for the poor people of Pattaya and that God's labourers will be drawn to the Centre for work.
This coming weekend I hope to return once more to spend some time with the kids and continue building my relationship with Fred and Dianne - the founders of the Mercy Centre and pastors of Victory Family Church, Pattaya.
On my first visit I was blessed enough to tag along with them on some of their outreach. Firstly to the slums where they deliver a bag of rice, oil and basic essentials every week.
Then I joined them to the Police Lock-ups which is an absolute shock to your system. We again took food and water to the people there. Most of them are foreigners, Cambodian, Laos or Burmese who are working here illegally. There are some westerners too who have overstayed their visas. The westerners, however, have good embassies who won't leave them in a lock up for long. Basically, in cells of approximately 2 meters by 3 meters there were maybe 10 women and 5 children. One baby was 2 weeks old! There is a squat toilet in the corner and they are given one small meal per day. Children and babies are not catered for so we pray the mothers are healthy enough to breast feed. There are no beds, no chairs, no blankets - nothing. Just a concrete floor and the clothes on their backs. My first trip to the Mercy Centre was certainly an eye opener.
The Centre has many projects to run and organise and on my return visit I certainly didn't want to become a nuisance or get in their way (even though they would never say I was a nuisance because they are far too lovely :)) So I arrived in Pattaya this second time around and decided I would simply go to the Children's home and spend some time with the kids. I had a wonderful couple of days playing, laughing, cuddling, even enjoying the wonderful task of riding children of head lice which is always lots of fun ;) I spent the whole time at the Centre and look forward to seeing the kids again.
Please check out the centre's website www.mercypattaya.com They are doing amazing things, always looking for people to help for a short or long time and can always do with your prayers.
I pray now that God will continue to bless all the staff there, continue to steer their vision and passion for the poor people of Pattaya and that God's labourers will be drawn to the Centre for work.
This coming weekend I hope to return once more to spend some time with the kids and continue building my relationship with Fred and Dianne - the founders of the Mercy Centre and pastors of Victory Family Church, Pattaya.
posted by Emily Andrews @ 8:59 PM
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