In 2009, I participated in Cathay Pacific Volunteer group with The Qantas Cabin Crew Team to visit Bangkok, Thailand to help whatever we can for the HDF Mercy Centre and the slums in Klong Toey. For more information on what the Mercy Centre do for the community, please visit their website.
After visiting the slum and helping the poor. I felt even deeper on how little things could help them so much. We repainted the fences, put concrete flooring for some houses and created some art works on the wall in the centre. The children and the people from the neighborhood were very thankful and this is something won’t be the same by giving money.
Three years later, I visited the slums again. The paint on the fences have faded, but still in good shape. The surrounding is very much the same even though there were storms and flooding in the past. The major change in the centre is that they closed the AIDS hospice. Read here why.
I spent an hour at the centre, knowing that more children are getting their education. Really grateful for the centre to keep their effort to provide their care to the slum children. It is rewarding to see their beautiful smile and laughers as you walk pass.
Giving effort to visit the centre is a life lesson for myself, and I will do the same whenever I visit Bangkok or even other cities. Travel can be more than just spending time on tourist attractions. :)
Entrance of the Mercy Centre
Children at kindergarden
Children artworks
Centre surrounding
Community worker, handmaking clothes
Slums surrounding
P.S. I’m a bad writer