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Blog posts : "Stories"

The importance of sport and activity

As the Covid 19 numbers increase, the likelihood of more school closures appears imminent in the Nongkhai province. This means our school age children will have to learn online and be restricted to their houses. This presents a challenge for the …

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A home to call his own

As our children grow older, we try to prepare them as best we can for the outside world. Ideally, all Sarnelli House kids will one day be able to step away from our care and build a life of their own. As a result, a lot of time and effort is goin…

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Visit from Ruamrudee International School


This past weekend was Ruamrudee International School's (RIS) annual visit to Sarnelli House. RIS has always been a great supporter of the orphanage, and this year, sixteen students, accompanied by Ms. Alex, Ms. Shirley and our very own Fr. Ole, spe…

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Unexpected rice harvesting!


The rains have been inconsistent all year and as a result, we planted our rice late, more in hope than expectation. We scattered the rice this year, which meant more weeding to be done at the back end of the process. However, much of the crop grew …

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Latest News from Sarnelli


As the year progresses and the pandemic continues around the world, Sarnelli House in little Donwai village remains mostly unaffected by the deadlier effects of the pandemic. Life goes on for our kids and the hardworking staff.

The weather is ra…

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A SPECIAL APPEAL

Sarnelli House has been very lucky to have escaped the horrors of Covid 19 which have afflicted so much of the world. Thai people have done very well adhering to the guidelines of face mask wearing, social distancing and hygiene. Local government…

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Education update

Thailand has done a very good job in keeping the impact of Covid 19 to a minimum. At the time of writing, there have been 58 deaths, which is very sad, but compares well to other parts of the world. The Thai people have been very good at heeding …

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Outreach story

An eleven year old girl from the Outreach Program, who was born with HIV, lives with her grandparents. Her mother died from AIDS four years ago and her father died last year. The girl herself was very sick with AIDS as a toddler but recovered aft…

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Christmas parties

Christmas has been and gone at Sarnelli House, but it required a great deal of preparation and effort to carry out the celebrations for all the children, staff and guests. Parties were held at various locations in the two villages where the child…

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Farm update (part 2)

As Sarnelli House hits its 20th year, we hope that all our building is done. We have had two construction projects in the past few years. One was forced upon us when we had to urgently relocate our house for junior high school girls as their exis…

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Farm update (part 1)

2019 has been hard on Sarnelli House in a number of ways. As Fr Mike has written about, we lost a cherished member of staff in Grandmother Wan, and now another long serving house mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sarnelli House is a…

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Asian Kidz Support - Fun game day


We had a visit last week from Angela, Joop and the rest of the board of Asian Kidz Support, a Dutch charity which helps children throughout SE Asia. Angela and Joop had been to Sarnelli House before but the rest of the group were making their first…

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School holidays underway

The school holidays began last week and with their end of term exams over, the children are enjoying their free time. They have been busy too, with many activities going on at Sarnelli House. We have always been blessed with great guests and voluntee…

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In memoriam - Yai Wan

Anna Nuwan Beng-In (1954-2019)

Sarnelli House lost our best house mother on September 20. Yai (Grandma) Wan was a quiet, good humored lady who was in charge of our 23 girls at Jan & Oscar House. She was one of those persons people take for gra…

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Rice planting begins

Enough rain has fallen for our farm staff to begin the laborious task of planting rice. The paddy fields need about a foot or so of water in them before the tractor can plough and the waiting staff can wade in. The work started last week and the …

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Bang Fai festival

At the beginning of each wet season, people from the Isan province celebrate Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, a centuries old festival to celebrate and encourage the coming of the rains. These days it comprises elaborate floats, dancing, music, costume and…

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First day at kindergarten

The children headed back to school this week, after two long months of holidays. Some were happier than others but the most excited of all were the four little girls who had their first day at kindergarten, joining seven other toddlers from House…

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Holiday activities

We are halfway through the long school holidays and the temperatures continue to climb. The forecast is for 41° (105.8° F) for the coming weekend, and with a sports camp scheduled, we will need to have plenty of liquids on hand for the participan…

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Graduates young and old!

This time of year is a happy and exciting one for many of our children as they accomplish another of life’s milestones, a graduation. Most of the kids living at Sarnelli House had, at best, uncertain starts to life and the notion of celebrating a…

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Pimali Foundation

The enormous impact Fr. Michael Shea and Sarnelli House have had on hundreds of children and families is well known by all visitors, friends and supporters. Through travelling to see us in the northeast of Thailand, following the website or readi…

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20 blog posts