Fire Escapes at the Pattaya Orphanage
30 Jan 2009 03:48 pm
On Tuesday of this week, I visited the Pattaya Orphanage. Since my last visit, a year ago, a factory on the site right next to the Orphanage had burned down completely. Sadly, it took with it the storeroom of the shop on the road frontage, which belonged to a very generous TCT supporter!
Of course the children had a great time, because no fewer than five fire engines came onto the Orphanage property to fight the fire, and firemen in full kit tore down part of the wall dividing the properties. Happily no-one was hurt in the blaze, so the children's innocent excitement was not spoiled.
But some hard thinking was done by Fr Weera at the Orphanage, and the result will be an extensive programme of rewiring, which is at present being planned, and the erection of two fire escapes, one of them paid for by Thai Children's Trust, which I went to see.
Fortunately looking at the fire escape occupied only a few minutes, and I was able to spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the School for Deaf Children, the Baby Room, and getting to know Fr Weera better. I enjoyed his infectious enthusiasm for his work at the Orphanage. Previously he was Vicar-General of the diocese, so there has been a marked cultural shift, but he plainly relishes the new challege. It was a very happy afternoon.