The Street Kids Home

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"The child is dressed in a man's pair of pants, but he did not get them from his father. He wears the shirt of a woman which is not from his mother. Strangers have clothed him in these hand me downs out of charity. picture of street kids
Yet he does have a mother and a father. But his father has never thought of him. His mother has never loved him. He is one of those small creations of God so deserving of pity above all others ... He who has a mother and a father but none the less is an orphan.
This child is never happier than when he is in the street. For the pavement is not as hard as the heart of his mother. His parents have kicked him out of life and he has simply taken flight."
Victor Hugo "Les Miserables"












The Pattaya Street Kids Home

The Street Kids Project provides a home, cheerful surroundings, guidance, the ability to go to school, and just a safe place to children who, for whatever reason, no longer think that they have a home.

These kids are often runaways. They may have been forced into male prostitution and may be ashamed to recontact their parents. Often, they have left home because their parents did not provide a good home for them. In all cases, these kids have no where to go. Have been living on the street and have no one to turn to.

The city of Pattaya

The beach resort of Pattaya has been for many years the focus of government efforts to develop a thriving tourist industry. Since the late 60's, with the arrival of American military personnel on R&R from the war in Vietnam to the present, it has been one of the most lively resorts in Thailand.

The Problem

Along with the normal recreational tourism has come the full range of social problems associated with lots of tourists in an underdeveloped region. Among the most notable
Prostitution
both male and female, adult and child
Drugs
Illegal sales and usage of heroin, marijuana, and the newer designer drugs.
Aids and HIV
A problem affecting not just the immediate sex industry but babies of the prostitutes as well
Homelessness
Pattaya serves as a magnet to countless numbers of poor who see the city and the "wealthy" tourists as their means of escape from the grinding poverty of their own lives. Their dreams are seldom realized. Their hopes are usually dashed by the exploitation, crime and disease which inevitable arise from such conditions.
One of the most difficult problems resulting from this general social degradation is the problem of the Street Kids. They are composed of children forced, from whatever set of circumstances, to fend for themselves, homeless and penniless. From South America to Asia, the problem has escaped a solution. Hardened by years of living a loveless life, forced to beg, steal, or prostitute themselves, the chances of these children escaping from such an existence is close to non-existent.

The Street Kids Home

Father Brennan has sought to provide whatever help he can to such children. One result of that help is the Street Kids Home. Because of the street hardness of these children, experience showed that they must be segregated from the children at the Orphanage. So a separate home for them was established.

The children receive food, shelter, clothing, medical assistance and counseling. If possible, they are encouraged, never forced, to return home to their parents. If this is not feasible, the home tries to get them into the local school and then the kids commute from school to their Street Kids Home every day.

In some cases, the children have not attended a school for several years. Special tutoring is provided for those children.

The staff try to help the each child adjust his or her life style. No judgments are made on the children. Encouragement and love are given in order to help them respond. These children come from another world than that to which we are accustomed, so different to that of normal experience that it is almost impossible to appreciate the problems and choices which they have faced and are still facing.

The clear objective is to try and provide a good path for the children to follow in their lives. Many times, this proves unsuccessful, but sometimes we are rewarded with a gratifying achievement. Most of the children stay at the center for only short periods before the urge to return to the "freedom" of the streets returns. We have found jobs for some of the older children. We have succeeded in convincing lots of kids to return to their natural homes. There is no clear method of gauging success in dealing with the problems of the Street Kids. All that can be said is that a stable support system has been provided for the child along with love, kindness and advice. Hopefully some advice has been heeded!











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