Sarnelli House Foundation, Thailand

School has started !! and with the new Thai school commencing  Sarnelli House has had a bit of a reshuffle and kids and staff have been moved around to save money on fuel for school transports, to separate the boys from the girls and to streamline the kids learning and homework.  Also the children with HIV/AIDS are all mixed in with the children who don’t have HIV. The kids have lived many years close together and they don’t discriminate against each other and so there are no special houses for kids with HIV just houses for kids. The  houses have children of the same ages in them. Sarnelli House for example is home to 36 boys from 5 years to 14 years old. The previous girls’ dormitory at Sarnelli House sleeps boys from Grade 7 – Grade 9, and the boys dormitory at Sarnelli House sleeps little boys from Kindergarten to Grade 6 – a total of 36 boys. One of the ways to manage their excess energy is every afternoon after school  from 5-6pm they go out on the big grassy, dirtfilled football field and attempt to play football. The boys are divided into teams   -Team 1 - with their shirts tucked in and team 2  - with their shirts hanging out! This seems to work  ....and Fr Ole and Br Keng are coaches, referees, big brothers and policemen and have their work cut out.

Jan and Oscar House  is still home to teenage boys from Grade 7 – Grade 12

Our Lady of Refuge home for Girls is home to girls from Grade 7- Grade 9

Nazareth House is home to girls from Grade 7 – Grade 12  who attend school in Nongkhai.  

House of Hope has the babies and preschoolers

St Patrick’s formerly for  home for boys is now home to 13 girls (picture on the top of the page) from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Each school morning they are encouraged to put some of their spending money that they have been given for the day – usually 10 baht into a piggy bank to save for the future. They also have to recite their multiplication tables before they leave for school.  They are so happy – there are no boys to tease them and they have goats, turkeys and chickens to amuse them as well as a doting grandmother (Mother Wan) to care for them.