PCEC’s speaker for the 3rd of
March was Cesca Tompkins - she and husband Kevin run the Mercy Centre,
dedicated to caring for Pattaya’s less fortunate children, who may not be
orphans but for one reason or other are not receiving care and nutrition.
The Mercy Centre was established in the year 2000 by Fred and Dianne Doell,
who saw people in need in the slums of Pattaya and started to bring them
food and life essentials.
“We work with the poorest of the poor,” says Cesca
Tompkins who runs the Mercy Center - Pattaya with her husband Kevin.
The Mercy Center was started in the year 2000 by Fred and Dianne Doell, who
also founded the Victory International Church. Fred and Dianne saw people in
need in the slums of Pattaya and started to bring them food and life
essentials. This was the beginning of the Chumchon Project (“Chumchon” means
“slum”).
Then, Cesca explained, Fred and Dianne saw children who were abused,
neglected and abandoned. They started to take people in, and soon realised
that they needed to establish a home for these kids.
Club Treasurer Judith Edmonds
presents Cesca with a Certificate of Appreciation for her and husband
Kevin’s inspiring presentation on the fine work of the Mercy Centre.
Money was saved; money was raised; a house was rented;
the years went by; and the home moved a few times. Eventually, land was
bought for a permanent home and construction started. The children moved
into the new home, which is called Baan Khong Por, one and a half years ago.
The home is across the street from the school the children attend, which
means that they can participate in after-school activities. The Mercy Centre
is licensed to look after 50 children. It has 28 now (nine girls and 19
boys) and does not have the staff to grow at the moment. But growth is a
long-term goal.
PCEC member Dave Anderson
advises fellow members of the St Patrick’s Day activities, including a St
Pat’s Parade, arranged for the 17th of March.
The children are not orphans; they are simply not able to
stay with their families (for reasons that vary, but often have to do with
lack of money). The Mercy Center serves as their foster parents. “The
children are in our custody at the state’s good graces,” Cesca explained. It
is government social services that decides who gets placed in the home, and
there is a government social worker full-time at the home. Cesca mentioned
one little girl at the home, 10 or 11 years old, who had lived all her life
in one room with her father and who had never been to school. “We realised
that we needed to get her socialised first,” Cesca said, “and then bring her
up to speed so that she could attend school.” The Mercy Center has an early
learning centre that provides pre-school training, Cesca explained.
Hawaii Bob updates all on the
activities of the ‘Frugal Freddy’ group, dining at some of Pattaya’s better
value but good food restaurants, usually with a good discount.
Cesca said that donations from members of the Pattaya City Expats Club
enabled the Center to purchase new school uniforms for the children in the
Baan Khong Por home. In addition to the home and the Chumchon initiative,
the Mercy Center has other projects. For example, it is currently serving 50
families in a work site. The types of assistance provided by the Center
include helping people obtain pensions and medical care that they have not
accessed because they did not know how to complete the paper work; donating
money to rebuild a well damaged by road construction; offering emergency
first aid; and providing pre-natal counselling.
The Mercy Center also runs a scholarship programme for 250 children (with
help from the Pattaya Street Kids organisation). The programme covers the
costs of going to school which amounts to about $150 a year (for things like
insurance and uniforms). “Some of what we do needs money,” Cesca said, “and
some does not. A little tender loving care goes a long way.”
More and more, the Mercy Centre sees children who are the victims of human
trafficking. There is a stream of kids coming from Cambodia to Thailand.
There are lots of very small organisations out there working on this issue.
Cesca revealed, “Our goal is to enable these groups to network.” The Mercy
Center is starting a micro-enterprise project where it tries to help poor
families establish small businesses.
Cesca said that PCEC members are welcome to visit the home and to accompany
Mercy Center volunteers on the weekly Chumchon trips (which happen every
Thursday morning). In answering questions, Cesca and her husband Kevin
explained that although the Mercy Center was founded by Christians, it has
no religious agenda, and it does not indoctrinate the children into
Christianity. Kevin and Cesca came to Thailand about four years ago when
Kevin took a job opening a division of Powerwave Technologies in Laem
Chabang. For more information on the Mercy Centre - Pattaya, visit their
website: http://mercypattaya.com/.
Master of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg provided an update on upcoming
events and called on Roy Albiston to conduct the Open Forum where questions
are asked and answered about Expat living in Thailand; Pattaya in
particular.
Paul Strachan (right) interviews for PMTV Joe
Grunwell (left), chairman of the Light House Club Pattaya.
Paul Strachan
The focus was certainly on the March Lighthouse networking event as the last
meeting was not without its problems.
However, the committee made a great effort to ensure this event went smoothly.
The Seaboard Ballroom at the Hilton Pattaya was the venue on Friday March 1, it
was nice and cool, the staff were constantly refreshing people’s drinks and the
food was good and plentiful.
Chairman Joe Grunwell explained to the two hundred or so networkers that
unfortunately there was no sponsor for the event and that the committee was
working hard on firming up sponsorships for the upcoming months.
Earl Brown (left), Eastern Seaboard Manager of the
Sutlet Group chats with Sudaporn Changthong, Director of Infinity Magazine.
Lighthouse has certainly changed over the years and still manages to attract new
faces, many are people in business and not just from the real estate sector as
the beam of the Lighthouse spreads across smaller businesses such as
restaurants, marketing and financial planning.
It’s a good way to meet people if you are considering setting up a company or
perhaps looking for employment.
The club continues to support the Melissa Cosgrove Children’s Foundation, which
in turn takes care of a number of projects including the Sanuk Day Center in
Jomtien, which is a nursery for the children of the construction workers. This
is a great initiative and requires constant funding, so perhaps if you are
considering promoting your business, sponsorship of Lighthouse would give you
exposure, build your client base and of course help provide for those less
fortunate than ourselves.
Take a look at their facebook page which is simply Lighthouse Club Pattaya and
details of the next event will be posted there.
(L to R) Pichai Visutriratana, Director of Worldwide
Destinations Asia Co., Ltd.; Andrew Wood, National President of Skål
International Thailand and director of Worldwide Destinations Asia Co., Ltd.;
Allan Riddell, Director of the South African-Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Pasit
Foobunma, board member & web master for the South African-Thai Chamber of
Commerce.
(L to R) Tom Dallyn from Huay Yai Villas, Rene
Christensen Dokbua and Richard Bell, Managing Director of Cornerstone Management
Co., Ltd. discuss the future of real estate in Pattaya.
(L to R) Nitjaree Jaemsawang from Clare Pattaya
Property Co., Ltd.; David Strachan, Consultant with PFS International; Paul
Strachan, Yanisa Srisuk from Clare Pattaya Property Co., Ltd and Sudaporn
Changthong, Director of Infinity Magazine line up for a photo op.
Lyndsey Rowe (left), Senior Client Advisor of MBMG
Group enjoys a humorous moment with Rodney James Charman.
(L to R) Dave Buckley, Managing Director of Real
Estate Magazine Thailand, Stuart Saunders, inventor of FlossFirst ‘Credit Card’
Dental Floss and Perry Sea Hoe from Seaway Design Co Ltd.
(L to R) PPCnSEO.com’s John James, Stuart Marsh and
Wichuda Muannoi take a break from networking to smile for the paparazzi.
(L to R) Frank Lok, Kochakorn Sanpakdee, Agency &
Office Manager Pattaya & Eastern Seaboard and Suchada Buasane, Senior Sales
Executive Pattaya & Eastern Seaboard from Savills.
(L to R) Krittiya Thongkamdee, Executive Manager of
Beli Slon Real Estate, poses with Suchada Wongin and Kanjana Phummanao from
Vehicle Spot Showroom.
