Do you remember, as a child, making artwork with pens, pencils, and crayons? Most of us, in our early childhood, would come home from school with drawings that we were proud to show our moms, Our moms, in turn, were at least equally proud to keep and display our art - usually in kitchens and especially on refrigerator doors.

But our Mercy children don’t have real moms and dads to come home to. And with 200 children in our care, we don’t have enough refrigerator doors to show off all their artwork.

We are justly proud of what our children create. Their art is beautiful, joyful, reaffirming, and full of love. Please think of our art gallery as the wall of a huge family kitchen with an enormous refrigerator door! You can view our children's new art gallery here. Gallery of children art classes here.
 

If you happen to be driving or walking past our Mercy Centre, you may wish to stop by for a delicious cup of coffee. The students who attend our Janusz Korczak School for street children have set up a coffee stand in front of Mercy Centre, which they man before school and after lunch, offering freshly brewed cups of coffee for just 10 baht per cup. Ice coffee, mocha and espresso are the current best sellers.  The coffee stand manager, Ms. Sherry (age 14, her birthday was yesterday!) says that their stand is making a little bit of money: “The rainy season isn’t helping business, but we are well situated to capture the 70 Rai neighborhood market.” Most importantly, the school children, all of them former or current street kids, are learning how run a small business.
 

About the Korczak School of SE Asia

Related photo gallery

The street kids who live around the Rama I Bridge phoned our Street Teacher, Kru Nang, last week on Mother’s Day, and told her that she must visit them. “It is urgent, “ they said, “but we can’t tell you why. Just come right now. We need you.”

When Kru Nang arrived, the children presented her with garlands of flowers and told her that in their hearts, she was their mom. Tears flowed freely. Even strangers passing by were moved to tears by the beautiful ceremony. (Photo gallery here.)

Early this morning we celebrated Mother’s Day at Mercy Centre and gave honor to Her Majesty the Queen on her birthday and to all of our House Moms and all the moms who are a part of our Mercy Family.

Monks from our local temple, Wat Saphan, joined us at Mercy Centre. Since our local temple is also a “half-way” home and treatment centre for many poor adults addicted to drugs, we each gave gift bags of rice, canned foods, milk, and other essentials for the adults in their care.  The Monks prayed and blessed our home and family. The schoolchildren from of our Flat 12 Kindergarten performed in dance. And everyone at Mercy Centre sang together for the love of our Queen, our mothers, and our children. It was another beautiful morning at Mercy Centre. (2011 Mother's Day Photo gallery here. Previous Mother's Day gallery here.
 

Last week marked the beginning of Khao Pangsa (known in English as Buddhist Lent), a period of spiritual renewal in the Buddhist calendar. To commemorate the teachings of Lord Buddha and pay respect to the Monks who make merit on our behalf, our house moms, teachers, street workers, social workers, children, and students representing our eight kindergartens in Klongtoey – over 800 men, women and children in all - paraded to Wat Saphan, our local temple, where we made merit and received blessings. The photo gallery tells the story, here. Photos by Alex Ashley. Related gallery here.