Hi Everyone,

Next summer I have been privileged to be given the opportunity to travel to Thailand and spend 6 weeks volunteering with orphaned children with disabilities in either government run or privately owned orphanages.To be able to do this I need to raise £600 for the charity 4Life, all money donated to this site will go directly to the charity and their extremely worthy cause.

4Life simply exists to bring life to the hundreds of disabled children living in Thailand. These children are abandoned, living in poverty, malnourished and uncared for. 

 

Some Background:

There are an estimated 2000 children living with disabilities in state run orphanages in the region of Pakkred, Bangkok but in reality the figure could be much higher. The atmosphere in these orphanages is of utter despair and is truly heart breaking; each ward has 2-4 caregivers in charge of between 60-70 children. They provide as much care as possible but as you can imagine they can only provide vital care such as being showered, fed and their nappies changed. The children are left in their cots all day every day; unstimulated and just merely existing. CCD at the moment can only help about 600 of these children and young adults but are constantly looking for ways to help the others in desperate need.

 

The children at the orphanages have an array of both physical and mental disabilities from Cerebral Palsy to Downs Syndrome. Some of the children have minor disabilities such as a cleft palate or a missing finger but due to the lack of appropriate care and stimulation their disabilities have worsened. Some children with what we would see as minor disabilities deteriorate due to the lack of appropriate care and stimulation.

 

The majority of the children that end up in the orphanages have been abandoned by their families due to the stigma surrounding disabilities in Thailand. Many people in Thailand strictly abide to the Buddhist culture, which believes in reincarnation; disabilities are seen as a punishment for doing bad things in a previous life.  They are traditionally regarded as unemployable so it is left to family members or organisations like CCD to provide support for them.

 

 

The 4Life group reaches the disabled of Thailand in three main ways:

- Firstly, Rainbow House which is a specialist residential home for up to fifty children. The children here are given the opportunity to lead a more normal life with the excellent facilities and staff; with the eventual goal of reuniting children with their families or where that is not possible arranging adoptions either in Thailand or overseas.

- Secondly, there are the day care centres where children go to be educated, stimulated looked after and loved.

- Lastly, in the poorest provinces there are community-based rehabilitation centres providing support for families emotionally, financially and educationally.

 

This is a fantastic cause which really reaches and makes a difference to these childrens' lives

So please help me to make a difference and dig deep and donate now. Thank you. Your contributions WILL make a difference to these children's lives:

 

£3 can provide a 'learn to write kit'

£5 can buy a 2 hour teaching session

£5 can buy a baby care kit providing the essentials; milk, nappies etc.

£8 can buy two horse riding trips

£10 can provide specialist medical care

£30 can provide one month's eduaction either in mainstream schools or one to one tuition

 

For more information visit the 4Life website.