THE
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Story and Photographs by
(Information for this article was compiled from material made available by the HDC)
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao-tzu.
The Human Development Center is
an integral working unit of the Catholic Archdiocese of Bangkok, operating under the
auspice of His Excellency Cardinal Michael Meechai Kitbunchu.
Father Joseph H. Maier has been
its director since 1973.
It has always been the intention of the Center that their efforts, and the solutions for
which they strive for, would be realized not only by the Catholic minority, but shared by
all people living in Bangkok's slums. The vast majority of Thais, in urban slums as
elsewhere, are Buddhist. With the exception of emergency situations, the HDC aims to
provide guidance and leadership, rather than hand-to-mouth donations. Twenty-five years
ago, the Center was simply a safe place of refuge in one slum. In the time since, some
500,000 poor have benefiited directly from the Center's work.
MERCY CENTER
HDC's Mercy
Center has existed for five years. When it first opened it was designed as a shelter for
young homeless boys. The main goal was to intercept street kids and redirect them before
they fell prey to the lure of prostitution, drugs and commercial sex.
HDC soon realized that while some boys and girls at risk can be identified, and
successfully deterred from a life of commercial sex, the majority of street kids proceed
undetected into the worlds of drugs and prostitution. Thus, they have had to adapt and
change the Center's focus. Mercy Center has expanded its services, and now helps
those caught at every stage of this self-destructive cycle. Once primarily just a safe
house for homeless boys and girls, Mercy Center now takes in anyone in need.
Mercy Center moved from its original location (in a six-storey building on one of
Bangkok's most congested streets) in 1994, to its present location in Klong Toey's Lock 6.
Originally conceived as a "temporary solution," the new Mercy Center has become
a fixture in the slums.
Built entirely with the funds and hard work of Christiani & Nielson, one of Thailand's
leading companies, and to whom the Mercy Center owes a huge debt of gratitude, the new
building is a substantial improvement over the old one. Thanks to the generosity of so
many corporations and individuals, they have been able to turn the complex into two
centers: Mercy Center for street kids and the Community Health Development Center, which
is used primarily for the HIV or AIDS afflicted.
There are thirty shelters for street kids in Bangkok, most of which care for between five
and ten children. Of these thirty shelters, Mercy Center is rated second by the Thai
Federation of Street Children. This rating is based on the overall services and
opportunities provided by each shelter.
Mercy Center is an ideal example of HDC's philosophy of "helping people to help
themselves." The emphasis at Mercy Center has always been on empowerment; they cannot
force anyone to change, but they can offer alternatives to drugs and commercial sex, and
give kids the power to choose to change.
Mercy Center has two separate, yet complementary, functions: first as a hospice, and
second, the Center operates an Outreach program.
HOSPICE
Mercy Center's primary purpose
has always been as a hospice, which functions as a kind of family for those who don't have
one. Residents live in an atmosphere of mutual respect and concern. Mercy Center has
enough beds to accommodate a "family" of 40, but the actual number of residents
changes all the time, because street kids come and go - they must have their freedom.
Each of the residents has a clean, comfortable and safe place to live, and each receives
three nutritious meals a day, in addition to free care at the medical clinic. The rest of
what a Mercy Center resident gets out of their program is really up to the individual.
HDC's team of social workers strives both to satisfy all of their residents emotional and
spiritual needs, and to allow them to take advantage of Mercy Center's many opportunities.
And what are these opportunities? We encourage the younger children to enroll in the local
primary school, and they pay tuition, books and other expenses. For the older residents,
the Center teaches them skills and helps them to find rewarding employment. They offer
interest free small business loans to residents whose situation prohibits conventional
employment. In the past, residents have bought push carts to sell fruit, videos to begin a
video rental library, and a motorcycle to use as a taxi. Of course the greatest thing they
offer a kid is simply the chance to be a kid - to skip rope, to play tag, to believe in
Santa Claus...
The available opportunities represent more than just career advancements. By offering them
the chance to learn new skills or continue in their education, Mercy Center hopes to help
its residents rebuild their sense of self-esteem and self-respect, qualities that are
often lost after living for years on the streets.
SKIP: THE SLUM KINDERGARTEN IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
In the early
1970's, when the HDC was first learning how to be useful, they saw that in a typical slum
family, both the mother and father were required to work long hours, at low-paying jobs,
just to make ends meet. In addition to this difficulty, the extended family that existed
back in the village, which typically included a grandmother or an aunt who could tend to
the babies, while older children went to school and parents worked in the field, did not
exist in the slum. Thus, a familiar image in Klong Toey was that of a five year-old
cradling an infant in his or her arms, and providing the best care that he or she could.
Forced to grow up fast, none of the youngsters received anything resembling early
childhood training. When they reached the age of nine or ten, they were put to work to
help the family survive.
The sad irony was that many parents had left rural poverty for life in an urban slum so
thattheir children would have the chance for a better life. However, at home in the
village, thechildren probably achieved basic literacy in the local school, primitive or
ill-supplied thoughit may have been. In the slums, on the other hand, it was difficult for
their children toreceive any education whatsoever.
Unquestionably, the SKIP program is the backbone of the HDC's efforts in the slums. Thus
far,more than 55,000 children have been educated in SKIP's thirty-one pre-schools. The
currentenrollment is about 4,000, taught by 110 teachers.
The original goal, which today remains essentially unchanged, was to teach basic literacy
andself-awareness to young boys and girls by teaching them each of the following: the
fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic; the history of their country and their
heritage; proper nutrition and basic hygiene; and good manners and respect, both for
themselves and others. But perhaps most of all, the HDC just lets them be kids so they
were not forced to grow up overnight. The SKIP program allows them to have fun every day
of their lives.
COST OF THE SKIP PROGRAM:
"TEN-BAHT-A-DAY SCHOOLS"
HDC's school system is directed
at the poorest of the poor, people who have virtually no other opportunities. The
government does not have a budget for pre-schools; most such schools are operated
privately and for profit. Fees for privately-run schools can be as high as 25,000 baht per
year and tuition at the so-called "exclusive" schools is much higher. The simple
fact is, without HDC's pre-schools, there is nowhere for young children to be all day but
in the streets.
HDC's first pre-school was known as the "One-Baht-a-Day School," and was for
children from three to seven years of age. After a couple of years, the fee was raised to
two baht, and it has continued to rise in accordance with both the costs of expanding
services, and the ability of the parents to pay. Those that cannot afford this amount, pay
what they can, while others pay nothing. No child who wants to go to school is turned
away.
OUTREACH PROGRAM
For those kids
they cannot convince to come to Mercy Center, they offer the Outreach Program. The
disheartening truth is that for every child Mercy Center takes in there are thousands
still living in the streets... thousands who will never believe in magic, who will never
go to school, who will never skip rope. For these kids and for commercial sex workers, HDC
sends out a team of social workers. Sometimes they just talk, sometimes they administer to
emergency needs, and other times they offer some informal AIDS education.
Street children are by far the hardest target group to reach in Mercy Center's Outreach
Program. The first challenge is trying to have consistent contact with same kids. Street
children do not stay in the same place for very long, making it fairly difficult for
social workers to find the kids with whom they have already had contact. Nonetheless,
whether it is the social worker's first or hundredth contact with a given child, the
objectives are always the same: first, to attend to emergency needs, and second, to
introduce the child to Mercy Center.
Working with street children is a very demanding, and often frustrating, job. It takes a
long time to earn a child's trust. Time is not on the social worker's side; that is, the
longer the child stays on the street, the more likely it is that he or she will turn to
commercial sex or drugs for money.
Commercial sex workers present a somewhat different challenge for HDC. Their social
workers are neither moralistic nor condemning in their approach, which is geared towards
explanations of what the Center offers. Often a Mercy Center resident, who formerly
serviced sex, accompanies the social workers to bars. Despite this approach, it is never
easy to convince commercial sex workers of the "good life" at Mercy Center. For
this reason their social workers implore themto practice safe sex, if they intend to stay
in the sex business.
THE GIRL'S HOME
Five years ago
HDC described their Girl's Home as a "fledgling venture." Happily, they continue
to provide a home for a number of girls at the Center. The objective of the Girls' Home is
simple: keep young girls off the street, and provide them with a safe place to live. They
also provide them with an education, and thus a chance. The girls come to them battered
and bruised, and in desperate need of care and love. HDC does its best to give them both.
All of their girls attend school full-time, and are provided with three meals a day. Each
of the girls has specific tasks to perform around the house, to help ensure that the house
runs smoothly. A housemother lives with the girls at the Center, and cares for them
"around the clock." Quite simply their Girls' Home operates like a family.
COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT & ISLE OF PEACE
Situated in an
adjoining building to Mercy Center, HDC opens its doors to all those who are sick. The
majority of patients are HIV positive, and HDC provides them with a comfortable place to
regain their strength. HDC has the only community AIDS center in Bangkok.
When it first opened, HDC had a number of difficulties with the Klong Toey Lock 6
community. The people in the surrounding slums were not receptive to the idea of having an
"AIDS Hospice" in their neighborhood. The community continued to deny that AIDS
was a problem, and did not want the sick and dying in "their backyards." With
the help of the Education Department, we have been able to ease the tension, and find a
niche within the slum.
HDC works with patients to rebuild their bodies, and whenever possible to involve their
families in the recovery process. Most families still refuse to associate with their
HIV-positive relatives, but a few have slowly begun to show some compassion, and to share
in the suffering of their sick family members.
The restoration of physical health is only part of what an HIV or AIDS patient requires.
Equally important is the mental and spiritual health of the AIDS patients. The emotional
needs of the patients are often great: severe depression, drastically reduced self-esteem,
and asense of hopelessness are all common.
To meet the mental and emotional requirements of their patients, HDC has started a program
called Isle of Peace. Twice a week, patients are encouraged, through meditation and
prayer, to regain a positive outlook on life. No efforts are made at conversion, but the
combination of meditation and prayer provide a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Through this
program, patients come to realize that people care, and there is a life, a worthwhile
life, after HIV infection and AIDS.
HOME FOR MOTHERS & BABIES WITH AIDS
Babies and their
mothers who have AIDS, are in the most difficult and vulnerable position of all those
afflicted in Thailand. If a man has HIV or AIDS, his wife will often care for him... But
if a woman and her infant child are infected, men will typically abandon them. Not always,
but usually. Support systems for these women and their children do not exist. Their is no
protection for them as their illness progresses.
HDC has a house that would be perfect for mothers and babies. The house is outside the
slums, in a quiet area of Bangkok, and it could accommodate 20 babies and their moms. The
house will provide them with love and affection that is so essential, but is absent from
so many of those with HIV or AIDS. HDC is currently working on cleaning and outfitting
this house, and it will soon be ready for use.
How do they find the babies and moms who are in need? Those in need are often "hidden
from view," because they are ashamed and scared to admit that they have AIDS. To
overcome this problem, HDC has a Slum Visitation Team. Sister Joan Evans has been walking
through the slums and visiting the sick for the past three years. She goes with them to
the government hospital for free medical care because the mothers and children she visits
have no money. They often do not even have food. As well, most are too weak to go by
themselves to the hospital. This program has allowed Sister Joan to identify the pressing
need for an AIDS home, and through her work, she will have no trouble finding mothers and
babies to fill it. If the HDC had more houses, they could fill them too.
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE
For many years,
Colgate-Palmolive has been sending HDC its "rejects" for distribution to the
poor in the slums and elsewhere in Thailand. Every month, many trucks filled with boxes
upon boxes of toothpaste, shampoo, soap, baby powder, and other assorted products arrive
at HDC's doorstep. Their staff sorts through the piles, packages the products in bags, and
sends them to those in need. The dental care products are an important defense against
tooth decay in the slums. The other products ensure proper hygiene, which helps fight
infection and the spread of diseases.
The HDC sends Colgate-Palmolive products as far away as Korat, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
The recipients include refugee camps, temples, mosques, and rural schools on a tight
budget.
For further info contact Father Joe or the HDC
at:
3757/15 Sukhumvit Rd
Soi 40, Phra Khanong
Bangkok, Thailand
10110
Tel: (66) 02 671 - 5313
Fax: (66) 02 671 - 7028
E-mail: frjoehdc@loxinfo.co.th
E-Mail: info@MercyCentre.org
Websites
www.MercyCentre.org
www.fatherjoe.org
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