Food bags and Pattaya slums!

Having spent a week with Fred, one of Mercy Center’s directors, there are a handful of stories he likes to repeat. Like a typical grandpa, half the time you’re not sure where he’s going with his story, but endearingly, you listen along because inevitably, it’ll be a pretty good story…

“In the annual bed race,” Fred would say, “Mercy entered!” Confused, we later found out that various companies compete in a media-covered race within Pattaya. Each organization enters by decorating a mattress to race down a hill. Strangely, this race is another testament to how God has been blessing Mercy Center. Through this event, Mercy was able to get press to check out their orphanage and some of the other ministries it dips its fingers into.

With that, we rubbed shoulders with CNN as we handed out food packages in some of Pattaya’s slums. Although I never got to talk with this journalist, I admired his desire and purpose to covering Mercy. With the recent political crises that Thailand has undergone, there are many negative images of the country (so negative that people had previously begged us to stay away from Thailand during our trip). He wanted to document something different – a glimmer of hope in a torn country. And in Pattaya, Mercy is definitely an organization that stands for hope.

Early in the morning, some of the volunteers formed an assembly line making dozens of tightly filled food packages made up of rice, noodles and various canned goods. With sacks of food packages, we loaded them into the song thaew (pick-up truck with two benches!) and headed to the slums Mercy visits on a weekly basis. In fact, some of the kids at the center came from these slums – either abandoned, neglected, or their parents just did not have the means to support them. Getting to know some of the kids, it was really neat being able to visit where some of them came from.

Our first stop was the smallest of the three slum communities. We parked the truck so that its back faced the dirt pathway that led to a handful of homes. These shacks were made of flaps of scrap wood probably found on the roadside and pieces of corrugated tin that act as a roof. We arrived welcomed by a few people who were excited to talk to the Mercy staff. If there’s anything any of them need, the staff were available to help them in whatever capacity they can. Slowly, families would emerge from their homes to receive their food bags. One of the staff members would call out their names, and we would hand them bags. Each person would gratefully accept their pack and walk home.

As we drove in to the second slum, we met a few children riding their bicycles with their pants barely staying on playing a nice game of bumper bikes (attempting to collide into one another). Because there were so many kids here, we were able to hand out little bags of chips and chocolate milk drinks. It was incredibly cute distributing these snacks and watching kids smile and prompted by their parents, thank us by giving a wai (the Thai greeting of slightly bowing, palms pressed together raised at mouth-level).

Following the same formula, the staff would call out names and people would come up to collect their packages. Sometimes, parents would send their children to collect the food for them. We were so amused seeing these cute kids try and carry the packages. As soon as we would let go of the bag, the package would fall straight to the ground and the kids would try and drag the bag to their mom or dad.

At the last slum, the shacks looked similar and the community alike. One of the houses had a newborn baby inside. They invited us to see this beautiful baby. Like most homes at the slum, their houses are very modest and not any bigger than my bedroom at home. In this small space, a bed takes up most of the area, with their small piles of stuff pushed to the side not leaving much walking room. On this giant bed was this tiny baby – so cute and so still, with her father looking on adoringly. Above the bed was an opening in the wall that acts as a window. Beside the hut was an open fire where some of the members of the community were burning garbage. The smoke seeped in through the open window flooding the room in clouds.

We stepped outside the house and began distributing food again. As they called out more names and handed out packages, I saw an older lady crouching in her home. She sat peering outside her door so that half of her face was exposed, just enough to sneak a peek at us. Her friend collects her food for her. She smiled gratefully.

In our course of time in SE Asia, we’ve seen many slums and have heard many hard stories. Unfortunately, not all of these poor communities have many resources to assist in their living. Mercy has been in and at work with them, planning different projects to help further the people and get them out of poverty.

[Check out our video on this post coming soon!!!]