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Sports Club makes 600,000 baht donation to YWCA for scholarships
Dennis Willet (seated 2nd
left) and Bernie Tuppin (seated right) donated 607,000 baht to the Y.W.C.A.
Bangkok-Pattaya Center for the "Happy Family 2007 Project".
Nittaya Patimasongkroh (seated center) received the donated money on behalf
of the YWCA.
Narisa Nitikarn
Pattaya Sports Club has donated more than 600,000 baht to
the YWCA Bangkok-Pattaya Center, the money to be used for scholarships.
The presentation took place on April 3 at the Diana Inn
Hotel on Second Road, during the monthly YWCA meeting, when PSC president
Dennis Willet and the club’s charity chairman Bernie Tuppin handed the
funds to YWCA chairwoman Nittaya Patimasongkroh.
The amount totaled 607,000 baht, and will be used in the
YWCA’s Happy Family 2007 Project.
Nittaya said the donation would be divided into three
parts. One part would fund 40 scholarships valued at 10,000 baht each, a
total of 400,000 baht. A second part would fund 130 scholarships valued at
1,500 baht each, a total of 195,000 baht. And the final part of 12,000 baht
would help support the Blooming Love Flowers Day event.
The YWCA Bangkok-Pattaya Center receives continuous
support for educational scholarships from the PSC, which gives opportunities
for education to students who are good academically, but lack sufficient
money.
During the YWCA monthly meeting, Nittaya reported on
activities the association undertook during March.
These included participating in the 12th Pattaya Mail PC
Classic Royal Cliff Beach Resort International Regatta, and providing lunch
at the Juvenile Observation and Protection Center in Chonburi Province.
During April, the YWCA took part in the Young Tourism
Ambassador finals at Central Festival Center, which took place on April 5.
On April 14, committee members participated in a Songkran ceremony at the
Banglamung Social Welfare Development Center for Elderly People in Chonburi.
All of the elderly were given yellow shirts.
After finishing the monthly meeting, former YWCA chairwoman Sopin
Thappajug, YWCA chairwoman-elect Jitra Wantanasin, and YWCA senior secretary
Noreerat Noparatanaraporn conducted a Songkran ceremony with scented water
to bless the members of the committee.
Handmade silk paintings with an everyday purpose
Elfi Seitz
Léa Laarakker Dingjan, a Dutch lady artist who resides in
Bangkok, has been exhibiting at Ursula’s Antiques on Third Road.
 Léa
Laarakker Dingjan is exhibiting her work at Ursula’s Antiques on Third Road.
Léa is a colorful person, and not just because of the
ever-changing colors of her hair. She takes care of everything in person - well,
almost everything. She has many people helping her to prepare the basics of her
work. Villagers take care of breeding the silkworms, spinning silk filaments and
coloring and weaving the silk. This is when Léa finally steps in, painting the
cloth.
She makes use of a certain dry painting technique with
specific colors to paint a breathtaking picture. It doesn’t matter whether
applied as hangings, tablecloths, pillows or blankets - people are buying
something that may have an everyday use but is nonetheless precious.
Léa’s silk paintings can be purchased at Ursula’s Antiques or, if one
doesn’t mind the journey, at Léa Silk, Nai Lert Hotel in Wireless Road. Tel.
02 252 0623.
Deep subjects discussed
at PCEC meeting
The Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting on Easter
Sunday, April 8th at Henry J. Bean’s included
another speaker with whom regular attendees will be very familiar.
The PCEC recognises that there is a vast array of life
experiences amongst its members and actively encourages them to provide a
talk or presentation to share these experiences with others.
 Sig
Sigworth talks with the PCEC about Taoism, Zen and their relationship to
Enlightenment.
In place of Itthipol Khunplome, chief advisor to the
mayor, and prospective mayoral candidate who was unable to attend due to
scheduling problems, this week’s MC Richard Silverberg introduced board
member Harry Sigworth, better known as Sig. Sig has been studying and
practicing Zen for 30 years and the subject of his talk was Taoism, Zen and
their relationship to Enlightenment.
Defusing with a dash of humour what is undoubtedly a
serious spiritual subject, Sig appeared in traditional Chinese costume.
"What I will tell you now is kind of hard to comprehend, so you will
all have to turn your brains on. I will do likewise," he said, and with
the aid of a hidden blower, his traditional Chinese hat flew off.
He related that he became interested in the subject in
about 1960 when he saw Alan Watts, an authority on the subject, on
television. He became Sig’s church as he described Zen with a calligraphy
brush of Chinese characters.
Sig explained that in order to understand Zen it would be
necessary to forget about current logic. He said that if you take a simple
table, you would see a simple table. But Zen practitioners see not only the
polished surface and the shape and purpose of it, they see also the tree
that it was made of, the saw that cut it, the truck that transported it, the
machine that chopped it, the plane that smoothed the boards, the hammer and
nails and all the processes that came with the production of that table.
This he said can extend in infinite directions if you
consider the saw that cut the tree, its material, how it was produced, and
so forth. There is interconnectivity of all things.
Zen practitioners have an intensive way of thinking,
which leads to tranquillity and calmness and ultimately a form of inner
enlightenment if they strive towards it hard enough.
Sig certainly gave his audience reason to think hard, and
many left the PCEC meeting vowing to do something a little more meaningful
with their thinking time.
In keeping with club’s policy to invite the attendees
to participate in announcements, Paul Back provided the upcoming events.
Larry King described the activities of the Special Interest Groups and
remarked that a group met on virtually every day of the week. Larry welcomed
the formation of any further such groups.
It was reported that the latest club dinner held at the
Montien Hotel was highly successful and that photos of the event could be
viewed on the club’s website.
The regular Open Forum, mediated by Jim Jones, was then underway and this
proved to be the usual lively and entertaining session. For more information
regarding, not only the PCEC Sunday meetings but also the varied mid week
activities, please see the Community Happenings section of Pattaya Mail
or, for more details, visit the Club’s website at
pattayacityexpatsclub.com.
Pattaya Gay Festival makes donation to Mercy Center
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The Pattaya Gay Festival donated 100,000 baht to the
Mercy Center on April 2, the presentation being made by festival chairman
Richard Burk, with John Coughtrie and Steve Dickew also present.
 Standing,
left to right: Richard Burk, John Coughtrie and Steve Dickew from the
Pattaya Gay Festival donated 100,000 baht to Fred and Dianne Doell,
directors of the Mercy Center, to assist the center’s projects to help
underprivileged children.
Fred and Dianne Doell, directors of the Mercy Center,
received the funds.
Kitisarn Chalermliebthong, supervisor at the Mercy
Center, said the center assists underprivileged children in Pattaya City,
and also assists six communities in the Pattaya area. These are the Wat
Thamsamakee Community, the Soi Tan Community, the Soi 5 Thepprasit
Community, the Third Road Community, the Soi Potisarn Community, and the Soi
12 Naklua Community. Most communities are poor and the areas are not very
large.
Current projects include installation of a 4-meter deep tank at the Wat
Thamsamakee Community, and the building of two houses for underprivileged
people in the Soi Naklua 12 Community.
Hospital massages ease patients’ pain
At
Banglamung Hospital, staff are helping people feel at ease - by giving them
a massage.
The
hospital stressed that it is not easy to give a proper massage and people
should be wary of fake masseuses who do not know the correct technique.
Theerarak
Sutthatiwongse
Being in hospital is rarely a relaxing experience. But at
Banglamung Hospital, the staff is helping people feel at ease - by giving
them a massage.
Banglamung Hospital provides the service to patients or
relatives of patients who are tired. The hospital has divided parts of its
inpatients building into a massage area, with 4-foot massage tables and 5
massage beds.
Practitioner Wanna Jinda said that every day relatives of
patients come to use the service. Male and female massage therapists with
little free time also take a break there.
Pichai Khammulpong, 57, is one of the massage therapists.
He used to be in business but then decided to turn to giving massages to
make a living. He studied the art at the Ministry of Public Health and then
made a career from it. He ran a family massage centre and now provides
treatment at the hospital.
There are five massage workers at the hospital, all of
whom have been trained by the Welfare and Vocational Training Center for
Women. The center is open every day from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. The price for a
foot massage, oil massage, Chaloeysak, or tender massage, or treatment
massage is 120 baht for an hour. Most customers are aged 20-60, and are
mainly Thai.
We found several customers who had benefited from the
service.
Butsaya Chomdin, a 34-year-old housewife, used the
service eight months ago after a fall. Today her condition is much better.
Grandmother Fak Kedthong, 69, brings in a patient for
treatment and while waiting has a massage. She said the massage was much
better than the ‘fumbling’ efforts of other places.
The hospital stressed that it is not easy to give a proper massage and
people should be wary of fake masseuses who do not know the correct
technique. Done properly, a traditional Thai massage can ease your pain and
your mind.
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