Thailand is not a poor country, but millions of people still live in dire poverty. People travel to find work, girls are tempted or sometimes forced into the sex trade in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.
Thailand ranks 17th in the world 'league table' of HIV infections. Over 600,000 Thais are infected; many of these are young people and children.
We sent over £750,000 to Thailand in 2011
But there is still much more to do - Please Sponsor Today
Bee likes art, she is a lot of fun to be around. Bee's drugs help keep her happy and healthy.
Bee came to us aged 3, desperately ill with AIDS. Shingles attacked her face, leaving her badly scarred. But she's one of the brightest kids you'll meet. Now well because of anti-retroviral drugs, she's great at art, picks up foreign words really easily, and brilliant fun to be around.
Kidnapped twice and forced to work. A difficult start doesn't stop Lynn from smiling.
Aged just 9, Lynn was kidnapped in the confusion of a motor accident in which her mother died, and set to work selling flowers late at night in the restaurants of Pattaya. During the days she was imprisoned and barely fed. Our outreach workers found her, and brought her to the orphanage. When her captors snatched her once more, this time from the school playground, this brave little girl escaped, came back to us, and then led the police straight to the criminal gang who had enslaved her.
Chenu's Mum was killed by a landmine, she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.
Chenu (aged 14) wants to be a doctor or nurse. Chenu's mother died after stepping on a landmine, her father was killed by one of the many armies who vie for control of the Karen state in Burma. At the Hsa Thoo Lei school, where Chenu now lives, the younger children draw pictures of exploding bombs, people being shot, women and men at the end of soldiers' bayonets. By providing an education Hsa Thoo Lei gives them hope of a better life, we stand between them and the fulfilment of that hope.
Got and Fang lost their parents in the Asian tsunami. Even today, they don't really like the ocean.
My mum was washed out to sea," says Got, "I still miss her." Got (aged 12) and Fang (aged 13) now live with 70 other tsunami survivors at the Baan Tharn Namchai orphanage.
Rotjana, the Thai woman who founded the orphanage emphasises how important the Thai Children's Trust support is. "My main concern," she says, "is to get food on the children's plates every day. You help me to do just that.
We stand between children and hunger, poverty, ill-health and death. Childhood should be a time of fun. The children we help are orphaned or abandoned, and without people like you would be destitute. You can give them a chance.
Areas in which we help:
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Children with
HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS children really do have a future nowadays. Anti-retroviral drugs keep the children healthy, and we ensure that they have love, education and hope. Our HIV/AIDS orphanages aren't sad places. They're full of lovely, lively, loud kids.
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Children with
Disabilities
Disabled kids in Thailand could end up at the 'bottom of the heap'. Instead, we make sure they have a place in the world, through education and the encouragement to believe.
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Refugee
Children
We care for refugee children fleeing the violence of rival armies in
Burma. They arrive in Thailand, many orphaned, all penniless, in need
of food, education, and a future. -
Children
at Risk
In Thailand, children daily face great danger. Whether the street kids who live in desperation, prey to drug dealers and sexual exploitation, or the orphans who would otherwise be destitute and uncared for, we step in with the promise of a better life.
Over 4,000 children rely on us for
home, education and a future
Thailand has over 1.4 million orphans, many are unsupported.
Just £1 per day can care for a Thai child.
For every £1 in sponsorship, we send £1.50 to Thailand.
That's why we desperately need more sponsors. Please, if you can - Sponsor Today
Baan Tharn Namchai Orphanage
Khao Lak
Helps Tsunami Children
Looks after children affected by the South Asian tsunami of 2004. Some are orphaned, some have one parent who can't care for them. The orphanage provides a safe, loving home and a secure future.
sponsor now
Camillian Social Centre
Rayong
Helps HIV Children
The Camillian Social Centre has been caring for children who are HIV+ for over 10 years, providing the best possible medical care and education. Older children are now graduating from College and going on to independent, adult lives.
sponsor now
Father Ray Daycare Centre
Pattaya
Helps Children at Risk
A warm, safe haven in Pattaya for 2-6 year old children of poor workers, who do long hours just to survive. Alone, these children would be prey to street-life, accidents and disease. At the Daycare Centre they get 2 meals a day, a shower, medical care and the chance to be children.
sponsor now
Redemptorist Drop-In Centre for Street Kids
Pattaya
Helps Children at Risk
Pattaya's street kids are at risk from the drug trade, sexual exploitation and sweat-shops. The Drop-In Centre is a chance to come off the streets. Often it can take abused children months to trust, but when they do, it's a first step towards normal life.
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The Fountain of Life
Pattaya
Helps Mothers and Children
Good Shepherd Sisters empower some of Pattaya's thousands of destitute and vulnerable women through training in hairdressing, languages, cooking, computing, typing and courses in health and personal development, enabling them to create a better life for them and their children.
sponsor now
Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Centre
Mae Sot
Helps Refugee Children
Provides an education for 780 children, and home for 200, whose parents are dead or still inside Burma. Refugee children stream across the border, escaping bloody, civil unrest, but arriving with nothing, and often nobody to care for them. Desperately under-funded, Hsa Thoo Lei is a sponsorship priority.
sponsor now
Mae Sot Lunch Farms
Mae Sot
Helps Refugee Children
Thousands of Burmese refugee children, fleeing from civil unrest, are in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. They are safe from the violence, but destitute: half are malnourished, one in ten acutely so. Lunch farms teach the kids to grow food, and provide a good lunch each and every day.
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The Pattaya Orphanage
Pattaya
Helps Orphaned Children
Where we started – the orphanage has provided a real home, love and education since 1972. Cares for orphans, children whose parents are impoverished, and the children of bar girls. A happy, loving place, a real, big family. Many former orphans are university graduates, and have grown up, married, and started their own families
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Sotpattana School for Deaf Children
Pattaya
Helps Disabled Children
Deaf children in Thailand qualify for a free state education if they have sign-language. But children from poor families don't learn to sign, and miss out. The Pattaya School gives them their chance, free of charge, providing the education that will enable them to escape poverty.
sponsor now
Redemptorist Children's Home
Pattaya
Helps Street Children
A haven for former street-kids, providing a permanent home for children who, orphaned, abused or abandoned, were living in the gutter, with nobody to care for them. If we can win their trust, then the Children's Home is the key to a real childhood, with food, fun, friends, an education and people who care.
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Sarnelli House
Nong Khai
Helps HIV Children
Over 200 children and young people, from babies to teenagers, find a home at Sarnelli. All are either HIV+, or have lost one or both parents to HIV. Medication keeps the HIV+ children well, and a dedicated staff provide love and real home. Sarnelli is a happy, vibrant place, full of lively, noisy kids.
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SAW Safe House
Mae Sot
Helps Children at Risk
Social Action for Women's safe house in Mae Sot is a safe haven for Burmese refugee children who have lost everything – including, sometimes, their parents. Provides love, security, education, and the chance of a future. The house survives on a shoestring budget, and desperately needs sponsors.
sponsor now
Redemptorist School for Blind Children
Pattaya
Helps Disabled Children
Education and vocational training that will enable blind children to grow up to a secure life and employment. The school is residential, but free of charge, so the poorest children, who might otherwise be without hope, can attend.
sponsor now
Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled
Pattaya
Helps Disabled Children
Teenagers who might otherwise be written off, learn electronics, computer science, IT and English. Caters for 200 at any one time, over 2,000 have gone on to secure jobs they couldn't have dreamt of. The school's motto: Education plus Employment equals Empowerment.
sponsor now
In her own words, Thai Children's Trust supporter Virginia Yip explains why she supports our projects.
Sponsor a child £18 or more per month to receive:
- Sponsor pack (inc.Thai photo frame)
- Regular child updates
- Newsletter about our work
- Access to your online sponsor news
- Visit, write or send cards to your child (e.g. Birthdays / Christmas)
