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June 2014

The latest news from Sarnelli House is that the kids from kindergarten one to M. 6 are back in school, and life has settled down a bit. I myself head home on June 3rd (I hope, if the coup clamp down doesn’t get worse) and hope to spend some time relaxing, golfing and hunting down stray shekels. Our class will celebrate 50 years of ordination on June 19, at the Health Center in Liguori, MO. We had a small class for those days; 15 ordained. There are still 8 left, and only one has retired. We are a very close class, probably because we were always in trouble during our seminary days. (Or maybe I should admit that I was the one in trouble, and the rest of the class got the reputation). Anyway, with Father Ole, and Brother Keng, plus Kate the old pro who knows all things in charge, no one is going to miss me.

                We picked up nearly a dozen kids during the school vacation time. There were three young boys, plus 7 girls. Five of these girls did not have HIV/AIDS, but were given to us for safety from the various (three) provinces they lived in. They had been sexually abused by stepfathers and one by her own father. Their Welfare departments had them first, but then they asked us to take them as those who abused the girls were arrested. The girls felt abandoned at first, and were quiet and despondent. But we hauled them off to buy new clothes and all their school uniforms and gear. Now, they are changed people; happy, safe and love school. They are great girls, and rapidly making friends. Sarnelli House has over a dozen of these abused young girls, and there will be more to come. The government has no safe place for these teens, and we are ideal, since we do not live in a city, and villagers watch when strangers come in. Girl number 8 is a three year old girl with AIDS and TB. She is still in the Srinakarin University hospital.

El Nino has been hurting the climate in Thailand for several years now, but this year has really been bad. No mango rains in January, and this should be the monsoon season. The tractor and plow are greased, and we have 430 bags of fertilizer that the boys made, but no rain. We dug two deeper and wider fish ponds, and it does not look good. I don’t want the kids to be eating our seed rice, and just hope rains come soon. One can do all sorts of planning and preparing, but if God does not send rain, the situation for us and rice farmers will be grim. The political mess is bad enough, and if there is a drought in the north and northeast, I fear for Thailand.

Again, thank you for your interest in the children of Sarnelli. May the Good Lord bless you and yours!

Father Mike 

 

 

 

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