Having heard about concerns for the welfare of the Laos Hmong Refugees who are imprisoned in the Immigration Detention Centre in Nong Khai and whom Yvonne Ziegler visits regularly, I decided the St George Society should get involved. On her last trip, Yvonne had made contact with an Australian nurse volunteer, who was fund-raising to equip a new clinic at Sarnelli House Orphanage in Thabo.  This sounded interesting to me, so I decided to accompany Yvonne on her July visit.  It also made a good opportunity to personally hand over cheques from both the St. George’s Society and the British Women’s Group as both Groups, considered Sarnelli House (www.sarnelliorphanage.org) a worthwhile project to support.

To optimise our time, we left on a Sunday on the first flight to Udon Thani, in order to be able to meet the children at Sarnelli House, and caught a minivan into Nong Khai.  Yvonne had pre-booked a guest house on the bank of the Mekong River, called Mut Mee (www.mutmee.com), which is where Kate Introna, the Australian nurse, was waiting for us. After a quick break we set off to Thabo, which is a few km from Nong Khai.

Upon arriving at Sarnelli, we were welcomed by the children themselves, in the midst of being entertained by a group of volunteers from Bangkok who visit monthly, bringing fresh faces and ideas at weekends, when the children are not at school. I can report that the 148 children (aged from 2 months – 17 years) are happy and healthy, and the daily cocktail of antiretroviral drugs enables the ones with HIV/AIDS to lead normal lives. 

We were shown around the ‘Houses’, all clean and tidy, one of which, built from money donated by a Swiss mother in memory of her two sons lost in the Tsunami, was called ‘’Jan and Oscar House’’, then watched the local women and helpers folding the laundry (a mammoth task) before being shown the new clinic building, which was nearing completion.  This will serve the local community as part of the “Out Reach Programme” (many families are affected in some way by HIV – grannies take care of grandchildren where parents have died, providing food, medicine etc.) and those needing hospitalisation can receive extra care here. 

I was impressed with the whole set-up at Sarnelli,  it takes very good care of the needs of the children of all ages, besides fostering self-esteem in the older children, who help, and become involved with the fish farming, rice cultivation, vegetable and pig farming. We bade farewell to the toddlers and babies in the ‘House of Hope’ home as they were chasing bubbles being blown by one of the older ones , feeling happy that such good work is being undertaken by truly dedicated people.  

During our stay (2 nights, 3 days) we also visited the Laos Hmong Refugees a couple of times but were only allowed to stay for a few short minutes as the police told them to tell us to leave, citing fears of the spread of H1N1 Flu virus.  We took some supplies for which they were extremely grateful, but there is no easy solution to their situation.

Whilst in Nong Khai, I knew I must visit the Good Shepherd Sisters or else suffer the wrath of Sister Louise!  Many donations have been made over the years by BCTFN  (British Community for the Needy) raised via the annual “Ploenchit Fair” which have enabled them to maintain, expand and improve with the times.  Our intention was to call in to say a quick, “Hello” and see what they had in their shop to compare with that in Bangkok, however we were greeted with delight by EVERYONE!  And were then shown around the sewing and work rooms, though many of the ladies were out in the fields planting rice, the hand made goods were lovely.  The Good Shepherd Sisters have established a Law Centre where local people can receive advice and have legal documents checked before signing, as it has been known for them to unwittingly sign away property!

We were then driven out to the ‘farm’ which is called the Garden of Friendship and there we saw the ladies in the fields planting rice, accompanied by some Irish volunteers who were thoroughly enjoying themselves despite being hot, wet and filthy.  On this site is a clinic where those who become ill with HIV spend time recuperating, alongside new brick-built, functional houses for some of the workers and their families, which give the occupants much joy living in such a lovely place.

The surrounding area contained many other buildings within the Village Vocational Training Centre, the main one being the Friendship Centre where paper and cards are made, once again the women were out in the fields, planting rice, however the designs we saw were really original and obviously poignant to their lives.  In a corner was a photograph Memorial Board for those who had died of HIV/AIDS, it was quite emotional to see so many lovely faces displayed there, once again with antiretroviral drugs, the majority of affected people can lead a near normal life and they are luckyto  have the help and support of the Good Shepherd Sisters, who also run an out reach programme for families affected by the disease.

We were quite overwhelmed with all we had seen, besides the workrooms and Law Centre, other activities being undertaken were weaving, fish and mushroom farming, pottery and jewellery and fertilizer production, rice growing, fruit and vegetable cultivation. Whilst these communities are not completely self-sufficient, the sales from all the goods and produce they make, goes a long way to help. However the drop in tourists affects their income and as a result they have plans to open a noodle shop at the side of the main Hand Crafts shop and offices in Nong Khai.

On our return to the Convent (rather hot and sticky from the heat, rain and walking through fields) we were greeted by Sister Mary who is nearly 90, and who has been the ‘guiding light’ for nearly 30 years, whilst she might be frail in her body, her mind is extremely bright and we had a lovely chat, telling her how amazed we were at everything that is being done by the team.

Yvonne and I were totally exhausted, but elated, from our trip having seen such amazing work carried out by dedicated people to help so many in the community. This report has been hard to write as there is so much more that these people do by being there and giving the poor people something in life to look forward to.  It certainly restores your faith in human nature when such things are witnessed at first hand and makes you feel very humble knowing the hardships some people have to endure.   I just know we will have to visit again ……..watch this space!