Street kids find refuge and hope in Pattaya
Street kids find refuge and hope in Pattaya
by Weena Kowitwanij
Run by Sister Woranuch Pranomjit, the Redemptorist centre is home to more than 150 children and teenagers. Thanks to it, they get food and shelter but also an education for the future.
Pattaya (AsiaNews) – More than a 150 kids have found a refuge in the Redemptorist Street Kids Home in Pattaya, a tourist resort area well known for its nightlife in Chonbury province. The youth centre is run by Sister Woranuch Pranomjit.
“These kids have had no luck,” the Sister said. “They should be the responsibility of their families and society. They should be helped to build a better future for themselves and develop their physical and mental skills to become honest and respectable citizens. This is why we hold ethics classes every day in the centre.”
“We gave them shelter and send them 18 different local schools based on their aptitudes,” she added. “A bus takes them to each every day.
“We do this for them,” she explained, “until they complete their education to enable them to build a professional future and become self-sufficient. Currently, two of our kids have gone to university. When they graduate, if they want, they can go back to their families.”
“Food, a roof over the head and health are the kids’ priorities,” noted Suchart Suthinak, a psychologist who works with the centre, “then comes a better quality of life through professional training.”
For him “it is important that the children and teenagers work [with the centre] and participate in their own development; otherwise, they might go back to what they were doing outside the centre”.
“Many kids come from Bangkok and arrive with a lot of problems, but in Pattaya they can survive,” Suthinak said. “They come with family problems, after fights, or are involved in sex, prostitution, law-breaking, drugs, HIV infections, pregnancies, abortions; problems caused by society’s and the authorities’ neglect.”
Yet, for Suwannee Sap-paem, who teaches at the centre, “it doesn’t matter how well they are at the centre, this ‘home’ cannot replace the love they might have had from their families”.
“I have been living at the Redemptoris home for 13 years,” said a girl. “My parents split up and my mom’s new husband is very stern. Quarrels are frequent. I left home and found a job at a Pattaya club. Here I had some problems with some of the other employees and so I decided to come to the centre and meet Suthinak. Now I am studying to become a hairdresser and hope I can make a living with this trade.”
The Redemptoris Street Kids Home was founded in 1989 and now houses more than 150 children, aged 5 to 19 years.
