Sarnelli House Foundation, Thailand

Happy Halloween from Sarnelli House!

The runts are deep into their school vacation, and they have had some short excursions. This past Sunday saw them at St. Eileen church in the Nongbualampoo mountains. This is the place they will go camping over New Year’s. The folks up at St. Eileen had a church festival, and it was very successful. Fr. Inthi, the pastor, worked very hard to organize the meals and the entertainment. Our older girls did graceful Thai Classical dancing during the meal.

One of the types of work we do is the Outreach Program. We have been doing a lot with AIDS-infected people downriver. I returned downriver on Monday October 19. The lady I was picking up to take to Khon Kaen died early that morning. She leaves behind a little boy who has so far tested negative for AIDS. I need to get that little guy checked again, and I also have a bike for him. There is an Irishman named Tommy Kelly who is staying here for a month, and he is supplying kids with new bikes, as the need arises. I picked up three girls and two boys to take to the AIDS clinic in Srinakarin hospital in Khon Kaen.

We just had a visit from two women from the Thai Children’s Trust and they are very satisfied with the progress of the children. This is a British based charity that gives us roughly $8,800 a month (300,000 baht). Last year I traveled to Merry Old England and then to Ireland to thank the folks and attend a fund raiser. They have helped for over a year now. Sponsors are dropping off everywhere, because of the economy. We pray the Thai Children’s Trust will stay successful. We would be not able to cope without them.

At the church festival in Nong Seng (St. Eileen), I took the opportunity to check out a family who live in a two sided shack. The Outreach Program is going to buy them two rai (one acre) of land and build them a house, thanks to generous donors and the Thai Family Outreach of Arcadia. The baby boy Kaen (Can) was born there 7 months ago and now lives at the House of Hope. His mother gave birth before she was 15 years old, and poor little Kaen has trouble with convulsions and sleeplessness. He is a cheerful little guy despite this. He loves to be held and cuddled. His cousin Mum, is a happy little 3 ? year old girl, and lives at the House of Hope. I am hoping to put the girl/mother into the Good Shepherd Training Program in Bangkok.

All in all, the Good Lord continues to watch over us and gives us kind and generous friends. Some of these friends have collected and sent over Halloween masks, so the kids are raring to try Trick or Treating. All they wind up doing is scaring the hell out of the wee ones at the House of Hope!

The kids all send their love!

Fr. Mike