Take Care Kids

When you decide to visit a public hospital in Thailand, the one where the poor people go, you will face the most incredible and heartbreaking situations.....you will see a reality that no tourist will ever see. So we decided to spend a few hours there and give the children some toys we had formerly collected in Italy. We met Tip, a 12 year old girl who tried to commit suicide (for the fourth time) because her uncle has been raping her for years and she is ashamed. We met Am, who was born with a rare brain disorder, but who is lucky enough to have two grandparents who love her (her mom ran away).

Then we met An, born severely premature and fits into the palm of my hand. Then we came across another girl, Vivien, 7 years old, who was bitten by a small cobra while watching tv. "It came from the rice field" she said when she showed me the bitten hand, very proud of the fact that she was going to be fine.
We had a small gift for each one, and a little bag with two sweet snacks and fruit juice (thanks to Annamaria and Francesco). It was a joyous moment! The kids were pulling my Santa beard and some where startled to see this Santa Claus tripping through the 40 little hospital beds. These kids were not as lucky as our little friend An, the little girl we took to the Dentist for a "new mouth". She had one last tooth to pull out and then she would have gotten her reward....A huge ice cream!!! All went well, and now, every time I see her, she showes off her new clean teeth and her tentative though extremely happy smile.

These are all small but extremely important things we do. They give a chance to children who would otherwise have none. And all of you, my friends from TCK are the ones who made this Christmas a very special one. All I can do is send you their kisses and hugs, and most of all their smiles.In the meantime, Giorgia our Secretary flew in from Italy and we went to Koh Chang, the island where the Cambodian kids live. We went to the school and met the president of the organization who makes sure they get the chance to study. We made a partnership in order to work together, and to give these kids, who have no access to education and social welfare etc., a better future. So a new partnership has started between the Dutch organization Proudly Open Minded and TCK which will hopefully (and with you help) meet these children's needs. Giorgia wanted to meet all the kids, and she was fascinated by them because of their beauty, their longing to be together, their joy for life, but most of all for something you rarely find in Italian or Western children these days; the joy of studying and knowing. We have made a commitment for the future which will bring us great satisfaction even though dark clouds cross our horizons due to political tensions between countries. It's a challenge, but we love these kinds of challenges. We will, in the near future, redo the roofing of the school in the forest, and we will also make the storerooom bigger in order to fit a kitchen, so they can cook their daily meals. We left Koh Chang with a long term commitment, and we will carry it out. As soon as we got back to Pattaya Giorgia met all her little friends from the orphanage and immediately got to playing and having fun.......but we will talk about this next time. A big hug to all of you.....

TCK