Israeli Ambassador to Thailand HE Simon Roded and friends at the Israeli consulate gave honor to our Mercy Centre yesterday, sponsoring a private concert for our Janusz Korczak students, our kindergarten students, and Mercy staff.

by Fr. Joe Maier, C.Ss.R.

Published by the Bangkok Post, Sunday Spectrum, June 1, 2014

Last week was the official beginning of the new school year in Thailand. For our House Moms and Dads at Mercy, who take care of almost 180 children, the whole first week is a super big deal.

For four full days our children gathered at the community stadium behind our Mercy Centre for a professional basketball camp, brought to Mercy by the US Embassy and conducted by Top Flight Academy. With plenty of exercise, laughter, joyful competition, delicious food (thank you, Sunrise Tacos), and lots and lots of rehydrating fluids, it was the perfect warm up for the new school term.

How do young children develop lifetime learning skills? Local news Channel 3 reports that our Mercy Kindergartens - which have taught over 40,000 poor children how to read and write in the past 41 years - are paradigms in preparing children for their formal education. Our Mercy kindergarten studentsgain the skills to propel them successfully into primary school and far beyond.

Yesterday was a gorgeous (but sweltering) day at Mercy. It was gorgeous because we invited hundreds of of our elderly neighbors in the slums and the Monks from our local Wat Saphan Temple.