Therapeutic Fun!

Volume 12 Issue 2

CENTRAL THAILAND MISSION

April — June 2014

Stretching and stepping out of the comfort zone — That’s what happens when we overcome our own fears

& perceptions of what we can or cannot do. For the kids from the Emergency Shelter and the Thanksgiving

Home, this has happened with some of the excursions organized by CTM over the last few months. We

took our non-typical kids (abused and developmentally-challenged) to unventured territory in order to help

them overcome fears, to forge ahead with new confidence. We have exposed them to new activities, chal-

lenges including boat cruises, horse-riding, carnival 'rock-climbing', rodeo-riding, and body-surfing!! Every-

time they overcome their initial apprehensions & fears, a new layer of self-esteem, confidence is added. This

mends the hurts, trauma and barriers caused by past abuse, abandonment, disability and failures. Thanks to

the management of Flow House ( an ingenious idea to have this surfing facility right smack in downtown

Bangkok on Sukhumvit 26!), we didn't have to go too far to find this new experience of beach fun. With

three incredibly-talented surfing instructors. the kids took the plunge, got on the boards, and with a little

coaching, they soon got into the zone and enjoyed the rides!

It was quite a feat, especially when even the littlest guys, were able to eventually ride on their own. Thank

you Khun Apichart & the Flowhouse team for arranging and accommodating us !! After the fun, we had a

nice spread for lunch generously supplied by McDonalds' -- with their signature rice-meat lunch boxes and a

variety of burgers. Thank you, McThai! What a day, what a memory, what an experience that will stay with

each one -- the day they overcame and rode the waves!

During the recent long school holidays, CTM

planned a series of activities aimed at giving the

kids from both the Emergency Home and the

Thanksgiving Home an opportunity to enjoy fun

experiences that would also be therapeutic in

stretching their confidence . One of these was the

chance to try horse-riding. On two different days,

the children from both Homes took a step out of

their comfort zone & enjoyed a morning of

equine excitement at the Little Bit Horse Club in

Lumlooka. Khun Meow, her trainers and staff

showed a wonderful understanding and aptitude

in helping our non-typical kids overcome various

fears -- of animals, of letting go, & leading them

on to a new experience, a new challenge -- all in

one morning of horse-riding! Most of them wel-

comed the experience & quickly got up close and

personal with their new friends - Pocky, Casper

and Roti. Trainer Jo arranged the exercises ac-

cordingly, with simple trots, stepping over bars,

riding behind the saddle, riding backwards, ball-

dropping while riding...all appropriate for the dif-

ferent physical limitations of the kids. After the

rides, we had sack races and the fun of 'Pin the

tail' -- in this case, the kids had more fun fooling

each other to walk into the stables or to others

instead of to the drawn horse. After this, the kids

were given carrots to

feed the horses . Af-

ter being coached

and convinced that

the horses will not

bite off their hands,

they all happily fed

the horses. On top of

the experience and

fun, Khun Meow &

her team also gener-

ously gave out toys

& gifts to the kids .

Above right: Nong Ngan from the Thanksgiving Home, a little boy with cerebral palsy, was very apprehen-

sive and stayed clear of the horses in the beginning-- not even daring to pet one when carried upclose. The

transformation began after he went for a few rounds on Pocky. By the time he got off, he was asking for

more rides! Khun Meow, the owner of the Club, sweetly obliged. He confidently sat through all the exer-

cises by himself, with just one trainer leading the horse. Nong Ngan was beaming -- smiling and laughing

as he went through the different paces.

The two villages of Teenubay,

right by the Mae La Refugee

camp in Thasonyang district in Tak province have

approximately 130 households. Many of them

farmers who fled the persecution & destruction of

their homes & livelihood in Myanmar by opposing

factions/ armies, have found refuge in this com-

munity. With a spartan lifestyle in houses made

out of the leaves and wood from their only re-

source of the nearby forests, these displaced

Karens are exposed to the elements, especially the

threat of mosquito-borne diseases. They were

most grateful for the mosquito nets and clothes

which were distributed by Rachen, our coordina-

tor friend who ministers to the hilltribes. Thanks to

our dear friend, Jason Clary, we were able to buy

133 nets (each big enough for four persons) . We

were able to send 100 to these villages and the

rest of the nets went to the Feed My Lambs Shelter

for the children there. The boxes of clothes were donated by students and families from KIS international

school as well as Webster University city campus. Thank you all for helping to make this difference!

Log in to:

www.centralthailandmission.com FACEBOOK : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Thailand-

Email:: centhai@gmail.com CTM, Box 77, Sai Mai P.O, Bangkok 10220

Being an essentially volunteer effort, we would not be able to take on many of these projects as well as cover the basic operating costs of running a centre. To this end, we would like to thank the many friends & corporate partners who have so kindly supported us with gifts, services and contributions. These include:

Angie Watts of Angliss Singapore Fast Cheetahs Singapore

D. Morales & B ouygues-Thai Golden Foods Siam

Hester Chew Tong Garden

Kamthorn, Surachet, & Somsak Thai Air Asia

Central Thailand Mission (CTM) is a

project under the Thai-registered

Haven Foundation (under the Wel-

fare Committee of the Interior Minis-

try of Thailand), which has affilia-

tions in Australia and the UK. At

present, Haven has 23 project part-

ners all over Thailand in 10 prov-

inces. CTM is also recognized & is

one of the selected humanitarian aid

projects that come under the Ameri-

can human service agency – Family

Care Foundation – which is a non-

profit, IRS-approved 501 (c )(3) pub-

lic charity with 70 such special pro-

jects in 49 countries. Based in Bang-

kok for the last 20 years, CTM works

to help the disadvantaged in many

ways.

Being the bridge between peo-

ple with the needs & those with

the resources

Supply of basic essentials of

food, water, clothes for destitute

communities

Initiating the sponsorship of

major needy projects eg. Provid-

ing water supply, installing aq-

uaponic system, solar panels, elec-

tricity for villages

Providing assistance to interna-

tional volunteers who want to

give of their time, talents or re-

sources to help others.

Giving God’s love, spiritual

strength & comfort to those who

need & seek a purpose & direction

for a meaningful life.

Central Thailand Mission is a

non-profit volunteer

organization. ALL projects &

activities are possible through

contributions from corporate

partners as well as caring

individuals. Please contact us if

you want to participate or

sponsor the work we do.

There’s a lot MORE!!! Due to limited space on these pages, we are unable to

fully present the activities in report & pictures. Please check out our website &

Central Thailand Mission on Facebook, for more about each project.

CTM hosted an event for resi-dents at the Emergency Home

to bring on some Songkran smiles, especially for the older & pregnant residents who don't have much of a chance for spe-cial outings or activities With help from our friends including Cremo with their yummy Cremo coconut cream pop-sicles, & the parent association of KIS international school who helped sponsor the prize

money for the inhouse Talent contest, we had a blast! For more fun, we invited every-one for a good splash with water balloon toss. We also invited everyone to choose from the donated clothes – the catch was that whatever they took, they’ had to show it off in a catwalk! When the music

came on, the girls and women took on the pretentious ‘glamor’ of the catwalk, and sashayed down to the hit “Happy”. They had fun! All the ladies who participated were

given a box of eye-shadow makeup plus a chance to select their choice of bed-sheets or towels.

Afterall that activity, we finally settled down for a nice Isaan lunch of kai yang, somtam and khao niew, which was simply saap ileeee (isaan lingo for

delicious!)