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Father Legaspi’s healing powers bring relief to the sick
Elfi Seitz
Father Corsie Legaspi, the Catholic priest with the
healing hands, came to St Nicholas Church in Pattaya to bring a cure or at
least a little hope to the sick people of the parish.
 People,
many of them too weak to stand, receive healing blessings from Father
Legaspi.
Bishop Laurence Thienchai celebrated Mass in a church
well filled with people looking for health and well being. People with
discomfort in their arms, which they couldn’t lift because of hard work;
people who had difficulties with walking, and people suffering from cancer
put their faith into the healing hands of Father Legaspi. Many of them were
rewarded for their beliefs, and like a miracle several of them could walk
normally again or lift their arms up high over their head without pain.
Father
Legaspi healing the people one by one; here a woman who can’t lift her
arms.
Father Legaspi found that he had healing powers many
years ago, when his mother was suffering from lung cancer. He was told she
was in the terminal stages of the disease. Sitting beside her bed, he
prayed. The next day he saw his mother, who had previously been so weak she
had to be fed intravenously, sitting at a table and eating breakfast.
From then on she improved day by day, and after some weeks an X-ray of
her formerly eroded lung showed no signs of cancer. She was healed by
God’s grace, and by the healing hands of her son. Of course this news
spread very quickly, and soon people were queuing to be healed. Father
Legaspi now travels the world to deliver his gift of healing to all people.
Foundation stone laid
for Sattahip’s first mosque
Boonlua Chatree
The first pouring of cement for the main pillar of the new
Al-Huda mosque at Ban Taothan, Sattahip, was celebrated on April 9 by a ceremony
at which Sunthorn Suree, of the construction committee, and Sawat Sumalasak,
senior Muslim advisor, officiated.
Sunthorn
Suree, of the construction committee, and Sawat Sumalasak, senior Muslim
advisor, ceremoniously poured the first cement for the main pillar at the new
Al-Huda mosque in Ban Taothan, Sattahip.
The new mosque, which is the first in Sattahip, will have two
storeys and cover an area of 200 square wah. Both floors can hold a total of 250
people. In addition to a place of worship, the mosque is designed as a study
centre and conference venue, a separate building to the side of the mosque being
designed for these activities. Construction budget is 7,877,000 baht.
Sattahip has one of the largest Muslim communities in
Chonburi, with a particularly high number in the armed forces. At present, it is
reported that between 500 and 600 Muslim conscripts from the South are training
in the Royal Navy. To date, however, Sattahip has had no mosque of its own, and
worshippers have to attend a mosque almost 30 kilometres away.
The possibility of building a mosque moved towards reality when a parcel of
land was donated by Mrs Som Thongnok. Amongst those providing financial
assistance were Salim Isa Assahi, United Emirates Ambassador to Thailand, Kuwait
Ambassador Kalid Muhammad Abdul Lorsahal Sauni, Wanmuhammadnor Matha, an
honorary advisor at the Al-Hulda mosque, and Sawat Sumalasak, advisor to the
Muslim leadership in Thailand.
Young sailors awarded for achieving basic sailing knowledge and skills
Patcharapol Panrak
Admiral Taweesak Somapha, ex-commander in chief of the Naval
Forces and president of the Thailand Sailing Association, recently awarded
passing results to 87 of 108 students who passed the recent Youth Sailing Basic
Training Project at the Samut Sport Centre in Sattahip.
The association, under the patronage of HM the King,
organizes basic sailing training for students in the Sattahip area. The idea is
to publicize, support and develop sailing and encourage young people in Thailand
to take up the sport.
A total of three schools participated, and out of the 108
students who enrolled in the course, 87 of them passed the examination on
sailing knowledge and skills.
PILC and Marriott Hotel donate towards kitchen project
at Fountain of Life Women’s Center
Helle Rantsén
PILC welfare chairperson
On April 6, Sister Supaporn from the Fountain of Life
Women’s Center met with 2 employees from the Marriott Hotel, Anna Wilkinson
and Somsak, both involved in the hotel’s “Spirit to Serve” program. Also
present were PILC president Sharon Tibbitts and PILC welfare chairperson Helle
Rants้n.
(L to R)
Anna Wilkinson, Sister Supaporn, Helle Rantsén, Sharon Tibbitts, Somsak and
Sister Joan at the presentation from the Marriott Hotel’s “Spirit to
Serve” program.
The reason for the meeting was a donation from the Pattaya
Marriott Hotel’s Sprit to Serve project to go towards the kitchen project at
the Fountain of Life Women’s Center, also now known as FOL 2.
The FOL 2 is a center that warmly welcomes about 250-300
women and girls on a regular basis. The women and girls can drop in if they are
in need of information regarding visas, going abroad and most importantly to
educate themselves.
At the center the women can learn to read and write Thai and
English. They can learn hairdressing or massage or take part in the center’s
kitchen/cooking project.
All this gives the women a new direction where a life of respect and dignity
is possible. Because of the success of the FOL 2, the women have just recently
(January 10, 2005) moved into new facilities on Naklua Road in Pattaya, with the
help from many different benefactors.
Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2005 scheduled for May 7
Pattaya City is nowadays without hesitation a world-renowned resort city for
its amazing diversity of attractions, facilities and modernity. For the past 30
years Tiffany’s Show has been part of the successful growth of Thailand’s
most popular resort city.
The press
conference was conducted by (l-r) Siritorn Kraivisutsap, Director of Marketing
Communication, Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya, Alisa Phuntusak, Asst.Managing Director,
Tiffany ‘ s Show Pattaya, Asst. Prof. Dr.Seri Wongmonta, Chairperson-Board of
Directors, Chanatpong Juabmee Deputy Pattaya City Clerk, Artthaporn Vannakit,
Asst. Director Tourism Authority Of Director Thailand Central Office, Region 3
and Rachata Sajjarak, Asst.Manager, Sungrace
The Miss Tiffany’s Universe contest, held once a year, is
receiving more and more attention especially since it is broadcast live on
National Thai television with an average of 10 million viewers.
International exposure of the contest, as well as its
contestants, is booming since the Miss Tiffany’s Universe winners were sent to
USA for participation in the “Miss Queen of the Universe” contest and won
first prize!
With such world wide media coverage as BBC, CNN, and CCTV,
Tiffany’s Show has always been proud to use this opportunity to promote
Pattaya City as well as to improve Pattaya’s image abroad.
Tiffany’s Show is regularly taking part in charity events
for the less fortunate within the local community and again this year’s
contest will be a great opportunity to support HIV infected children; a charity
program which Tiffany’s Show has been part of for many years now.
In addition, the Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2005 objectives
are to promote Pattaya as a major international tourist destination and show off
the reinvigorated and revived beaches of Pattaya Bay. Promoting a positive
transvestite image to the local and international public is also one of the Miss
Tiffany’s Universe 2005 goals.
In order to follow the successful path, Tiffany’s is proud
to reiterate another exciting evening with the Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2005.
The contest will be held on May 7, 2005 at Tiffany’s Show
Theatre. Tickets, at VIP 1,200 baht / seat and economy 800 baht / seat, can be
arranged from Tiffany’s Show Pattaya, 464 Moo 9, Pattaya 2nd Rd., Nongprue,
Banglamung, Chonburi, tel. (6638) 429642, (6638) 421700 to 5; fax: (6638) 421711
to 2. www.tiffany-show.co.th www.misstiffanyuniverse.com, e-mail:
[email protected]
Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2005 will receive the following:
Honda Jazz, 100,000 baht cash award, Official Miss Tiffany’s Universe Crown
and Trophy, and round trip airfare overseas.
First Runner-up: 40,000 bahr cash award, official crown and
trophy, and round trip airfare to a major city in Thailand.
Second Runner-up: 20,000 baht cash award, official crown and
trophy, and round trip airfare to a major city in Thailand.
Miss Best Costume: 10,000 baht cash award.
Miss Photogenic: 10,000 baht cash award.
Miss Congeniality 10,000 baht cash award.
Every award winner will receive many others gifts from main sponsors (to be
announced).
Where ignorance is not bliss
Tanes “Nate” Rianglaem
I was selected by the Thai government and UNICEF (the United
Nations International Children Emergency Fund), Thailand, as one of the two
young Thai representatives to attend the ‘Children and Young People’s
Forum’. The forum was entitled ‘Young People Taking Action for their
Rights’ and it was held in connection with the 7th Ministerial Consultation on
Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from March 21 to 23. About 19 countries
attended this conference, which was hosted by UNICEF. It was divided into two
sections, one for adults, the other for young people.
Nate (left)
with new friends from Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
I am deeply grateful that I was selected for this great
opportunity. It was the first international conference that I have attended. I
had many opportunities to talk and share ideas with the many delegates that had
come to Siem Reap from around East Asia and the Pacific Region. I was, of
course, in the young people’s section of the conference, in which we discussed
the problems of rights, especially as they relate to children and young people.
On the first day of the forum, we discussed children’s and
young people’s problems in our region. After that we divided the problems
raised into five categories. These were: youth participation, education,
HIV/Aids, unemployment, and the media. The main points made were:
* Youth participation: young people, especially people in
rural areas, have little or no opportunities to participate in the way their
society is managed.
* HIV/Aids: this problem is serious in our region, because
more young people are getting infected every day.
* Education: access to education is still not available to
all, especially to disabled people, people with learning disabilities, minority
groups and people living in remote rural areas.
* Unemployment: not only can many young people not find a job
while they’re studying to help pay their tuition fees, but they can’t find
one after they have graduated.
* Media: the media influences and affects young people more
and more, but what can the media do to improve our lives?
After brainstorming these issues, all the youths from the 19
participating countries had to choose one of the five topics for discussion and
the topic I chose was HIV/AIDS.
In the HIV/AIDS group, there were young people from
Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. We came up with many
HIV/AIDS problems. This is not surprising, because young people form the most
risky group to get infected. Some of the reasons for this are a lack of sex
education and difficulties with communication (in Papua New Guinea there are 800
different languages to contend with!). One of the most difficult and unpleasant
problems is the discrimination faced by many HIV infected people.
On the second day, we searched for solutions to those
problems. I told my group that in my opinion education is the best way to
protect the target group from HIV/AIDS. Education should be like a window to
face the real world. I think that in order to protect people from HIV/AIDS, we
need to have effective sex education in order to provide adequate knowledge
about HIV/AIDS. Young people should understand how HIV is transmitted. This
knowledge should automatically decrease the rate of discrimination against HIV
infected people, because people will truly understand how HIV is actually
caught. People will stop believing that breathing in the same room as
HIV-infected people and eating at the same table is risky. With education, they
will know that these ideas are false. At the same time, they will be able to
protect themselves from HIV/AIDS by having safe sex and by avoiding drugs. “We
cannot stop people from having sex, but what we can do is save their lives
through education. Education is one of the best ways to solve these problems. We
all know that prevention is better than cure.”
Education is good, but I think that the peer-educator program
may be one of the most effective ways of preventing people from getting infected
with HIV/AIDS. ‘Peer-educator’ is a program in which young people consult
with young people providing knowledge about HIV/AIDS, What it is, how it is
transmitted and how we can prevent infection. I also feel that young people
should receive training from young educators through such organizations as the
UN and the World Health Organization (WHO). The educators should be given a
planned teaching strategy using appropriate teaching resources (visual aids,
movies, etc). I think such a program would be very effective, because young
people feel more comfortable talking with their peers. They may feel
uncomfortable talking about sexual matters with adults while adults may feel
uncomfortable responding to these problems. This program will also provide the
positive peer pressure to young people to do the right thing.
Parent workshops are also interesting. It is a program that
provides understanding to parents and advises them on how to consult their
children properly. After all, the family base is important. Unfortunately, we
live in a competitive environment where many parents have no time for their
children. We need to work together to protect children and young people from
harmful elements in society.
In the forum, I had the opportunity to introduce these three
things: sex education, the peer educator program, the idea of a parents’
workshop. Many people agreed with me that we should encourage and help implement
these strategies in order to decrease the rate of HIV/AIDS, especially among
young people. On the third day, we discussed how to bring these things about in
an effective and acceptable way and planned the process whereby this could
happen. I was then selected by my group to present our discussion about HIV/AIDS
to Ms. Carol Bellamy, the executive director of UNICEF.
On the last day of the forum, at the closing ceremony, I was
again selected to present my group’s ideas to many of the leaders at the
conference. It was my good fortune to meet and share ideas with other people
from many different regions. It became clear to me that the only way of solving
our problems is to work together. I hope that the voice of young people can
change the world and improve the condition of our society. After all, young
people represent the future of the world and we would like that future to be
bright.
Tanes was an exchange student in Adelaide in Australia and Wisconsin in the
USA. He studied at Samutsakhonburana Secondary School, Samutsakhon. Currently,
he is a first-year BA student at Asian University, Chonburi.
Dr. Somchai keeps an eye on Pattaya City Expats Club
The special guest at the Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club was
Dr. Somchai, from the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital, who had been invited to explain
something of his Super Sight procedure now available at the hospital’s Eye
Center.
Dr Somchai
and some of the staff from the Super Sight center pose with Mats-Erik Karlsson,
the Swedish coordinator.
This new refractive procedure is capable of reducing or even
eliminating the need for bifocals or reading glasses for certain categories of
patients. Basically anyone who is farsighted, with over +3.00 correction, and
poor close vision and over 50 could benefit from this Super Sight procedure. Dr.
Somchai is one of the few eye surgeons in the country who is experienced, and
qualified in this procedure.
He explained that when he began work as a surgeon in eye
specialization the only options he had to offer people with Presbyopia were
reading glasses or bifocals. With 1 billion people in the world with this
particular disorder and 100,000 people reaching the age of 45 every day, it was
a problem that was not going to go away very quickly.
The Pattaya City Expats Club meets every Sunday at Henry J.
Bean’s Restaurant in the grounds of the Amari Orchid Resort on North Pattaya
Beach Road at 10.30 a.m. Buffet breakfast is available from 9.30 a.m.
For more information about the Sunday and weekday meetings log on to www.
pattayacityexpatsclub.com
Rotary Club of Jomtien Pattaya and PILC join forces to feed children healthy vegetables
Helle Rantsén
PILC welfare chairperson
Henny Vermey
and Jan Abbink
Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya Community Service
Fresh and tasty organic vegetables should ideally be part of
an every day diet both for adults and children. It had been a dream of the late
Father Ray of the Redemptorist Organisation for a long time to create such an
organic vegetable farm. Now this dream is becoming reality thanks to the Rotary
Club of Jomtien Pattaya, the Pattaya International Ladies Club, Rotary Club
Eagle Hawk Australia, Rotary Club Watford-Nord England and Rotary International.
The total budget is 1,355,000 baht.
 The
farm will be looked after by a professional team of gardeners who, under the
supervision of Khun Bic, will guarantee the success of the farm project.
The farm is situated on a 23-rai plot of land just behind
Lotus on Sukhumvit Road, which is owned by the Redemptorist Organisation. Around
3 rai will be utilised for growing vegetables and on the other parts of the land
there will be fruit trees, juicy mushrooms and several fishponds.
All the products from the farm will be for consumption by
children and teenagers which are under the care of the Redemptorist
Organisation, such as children from the Orphanage, Street Kids Home, the School
for the Blind or Deaf among others.
The children and teenagers are not expected to work at the
farm as they all have their schools to attend. But in their free time they will
come for visits to work a bit in the fields and to learn more about farming or
just to relax in the beautiful surroundings.
The farm will be looked after by a professional team of
gardeners who, under the supervision of Khun Bic, will guarantee the success of
the farm project. Currently a water sprinkler system is being installed and the
land has been prepared with organic cow dung. The first vegetables should be
ready for consumption in the beginning of June.
April 2 was indeed a day of joy when work officially started at the new farm.
Not a miracle, but still miraculous
Dr. Iain Corness
The last six months have been particularly momentous for
Jan-Arel, a Norwegian rehabilitation patient at the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.
Jan-Arel is resident at the Ban Sabaijai village, which has been set up to
receive Scandinavians with all types of physical problems, and Jan-Arel
certainly had more than a few.
 Jan-Arel
has made some momentous strides in his recovery.
Nine years ago, he suffered a drug overdose, and when he
finally came to, he found that he was virtually a paraplegic. He could not walk,
talk, lift his arms, feed himself or scratch himself. He was a living vegetable
who looked as if he would spend the rest of his days in total care, and in total
frustration.
He exhausted the rehabilitation procedures in his home
country and that drug overdose looked as if it was certainly going to kill him
in the end - exceptionally slowly!
However, he heard of the facilities in Pattaya, and six
months ago arrived in his wheelchair. His abilities were few, other than one -
an enormous desire to get back on his feet again. That desire brought him to Ban
Sabaijai and the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. That desire also brought him to
intensive rehabilitation, which resulted in his first being able to control his
spoon well enough that he could feed himself again, a wonderful boost to
self-respect.
But Jan-Arel wanted to walk, and every day he struggled
through the parallel bars, in a harness to keep him upright, as he learned again
how to move his feet and legs.
Eventually he could dispense with the harness, and this last
week made a momentous purchase. He bought a pair of shoes! The first pair of
shoes he has purchased in the last nine years.
He still needs to hang on to the balustrades, but with his seemingly
indomitable spirit, and now some new shoes, he is well on his way to
independence. A silly mistake nine years ago that he has been paying for, but
one from which Jan-Arel is now making a miraculous return.
Dusit Resort Pattaya hosts traditional Songkran evening
Suchada Tupchai
Dusit Resort Pattaya hosted over 300 guests for an evening of
culture and tradition to celebrate the Songkran festival. The Chaba pool was
decorated and an international buffet was laid out for all to partake on
Wednesday evening.
The evening began with the Heartthrobs Band playing Thai and
international tunes before various performers took to the stage to display
Thailand’s cultural heritage with dancing and singing. Guests were treated to
the “rum fonphutai” and the “red ant egg” dances as well as long drum
performances, with many guests being ushered onto the stage to dance alongside
the performers.
With hotel management and staff attired in traditional costumes, the warm and
friendly celebrations were aimed at giving visitors from abroad a look into the
Songkran festival from a cultural perspective.
Guests join
performers on stage during the “kala” (coconut shell) dance.
The “red
ant egg parade” (cherng kai mott daeng).
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