No more kicking up the dust

As the sun starts setting in Thailand, children all over the country can be seen playing ‘Takraw’,  a popular game similar to volley ball where the players don’t touch the ball with their hands but with their head, feet or any other part of the body. The children love leaping high into the air to punt the ball back to their opponents. 

On a recent visit to our Children’s Crisis Centre on the Thai-burma border,  our Field Assistant Satawat Sriprakarn had the opportunity to see the children enjoy a few matches of Takraw in the evening. He said “I saw them playing on the cement field that we made for the Crisis Centre instead of playing in the dust and getting dirt on their clothes”. 

The cement court is one of the new facilities that have been built as part of our renovations to the Centre in the last 10 months. The renovations have focussed on improving sanitation for the 75 children in the centre including new flushable toilets and a bathing area. 

For these children keeping clean is vital, but we’re fairly convinced the new playground’s appeal lies in the extra bounce it gives to their ball games rather than the extra clean appearance it gives to their clothes! 

The Children’s Crisis Centre was set up to support refugee children fleeing the brutal regime in Burma. Many of these children arrive in Thailand having been separated from their parents. Without parental care and support they are vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation, many have suffered traumatic experiences and have little or no access to food and education. 

The Centre provides much needed shelter, food, education and trauma councelling for these children. Where possible we work to re-unite children with their parents. We are thrilled to be able to make these improvements to the Centre this year thanks to the generosity of our supporters. 

Please feel free to find out more about our Children’s Crisis Centre and consider supporting the project by making a donation.  

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