Hello everyone!
In my last blog, I chatted about the backstory of Thailand for my family and touched on the busy-ness of Pattaya in particular. I also listed some places that we have visited and would highly recommend.
Today I will be talking about another, very different, experience I had in Thailand. We as a family are aware that Thailand as a country, have been working towards reducing poverty for many years. According to MacroTrends, in 2021, the country had a poverty rate of 12.2%, which was a 2.9% decline from 2017. With this in mind, we had spoken to my grandparents about what organisations were in Thailand to help support people in poverty or with poor family situations.
We then got involved with the “Take Care Kids Onlus and Thailand Foundation”. This is an organisation, based in Pattaya, which is volunteer based. This group was created to establish safety and protect children and also single mothers with children from violence and different types of severe abuse. The aim of this group is to help them rebuild their lives and have a new future, safer and more secure than their current circumstances.
My parents, grandparents, sister and I all had felt that we would like to volunteer with this group while we were on holiday- as we feel Thailand is like a second home to us, and these people should be treated like our family! We then got in contact with the amazing founder of the group, Gio, and began to volunteer while we were in Thailand in 2017.
While volunteering, we arranged events with a much loved beach front restaurant and hotel, that we often visited during our time there. My grandparents provided buffets from their restaurant, and worked with the hotel owners to hire entertainment for the kids, such as magicians, DJ's, face painters and singers. We also provided swimwear and toys for the children in the organisation, which allowed them to play and enjoy their days on the beach. Over the years, we have continued to donate to the Take Care Kids Organisation and provide gifts during holidays, while my grandparents work all year round to help and support them, by holding fundraisers and having donation boxes in their restaurant. My grandad was also able to reach out to a dear friend Tommy Dee, who is the host of the well-known "Fabulous 103FM" radio station in Pattaya, and he has been supporting and spreading the word of the organisation from the beginning too! This was such an eye opening experience for me, as we live in a country which has much more of a support system in place than Thailand. It made me realise that so often, I took things for granted at home. This opportunity to volunteer gave me a new perspective and made me more appreciative of things in life which I would have taken for granted - such as my family.
When I return to Thailand again, I would love to spend more time volunteering with the Take Care Kids Organisation. This organisation appreciates its volunteers and the love and care we bring to those families, but they will never realise quite how much of an effect they’ve had on me and my family, and the place they each hold in our hearts. ❤️
If any of you guys are planning to travel Thailand in the near or late future, I highly recommend that you pay a visit to this organisation. It is an amazing, and heartwarming experience that you will never forget!
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed 🫶🏼
Comment below and stay tuned for the next blog - all updates are posted on my Instagram,
Ellie xx
Comments
Post a Comment