Help the Moken People to citizenship
Donation protected
The Moken people
For years the Moken people have been ignored by the Thai and international society. They are hardly surviving with their harsh lifestyle on the sea. Give the Moken people a chance for a better future with higher education, legal work and health care as Thai citizents.
Solveig Lande and myself, Sandra Halvorsen, came to Thailand three months ago to work as volunteers for HDF Mercy Centre in Bangkok. Setting our daily life in Norway aside for four months to help with English teaching. In addition to Mercy's great work in the slums of Bangkok, they also have a programme in the south working with the sea gypsies, named Moken. This is where we are currently placed. On mainland, Mercy Centre provides a home where the Moken children can live so they are able to go to school every day. We are living with the children, we help cook food, play with them and arrange free time activities. When the children go to school, we travel out to their island. Here we work at Mercy Daycare Centre where 40 children greet us every morning. The people of Moken have melted our hearts and started a fire within us. Please help this wonderful group of people.
A community of ethnic Mokens has lived for generations on Koh Lao, an island located thirty minutes by boat from Ranong Province in Thailand. As sea nomads, the Moken people have never owned land. Though most Moken villagers were born on Thai soil, they still do not have full citizenship or rights to travel or work outside Ranong Province. This is what we and Mercy Centre are trying to change.
They have lived for decades without fresh water, electricity, toilets, or schools for their children. When Mercy Centre first came to Koh Lao, almost all of the 120 children living in the village were malnourished and afflicted with intestinal worms. Only rarely had these children seen a manufactured toy. Their idea of a toy was a short nylon string tied to a piece of wood.
As their moms and dads are often away on fishing expeditions or busy collecting clams for the next meal, the older children in the village did much of the parenting. Big brothers and big sisters shared food and hugs with their younger siblings were part of their natural day. This is not the situation today, due to the Mercy Day-care Centre on the island.
Following the 2004 tsunami, HDF Mercy Centre served dozens of devastated communities. To this day, HDF Mercy Centre continues to provide educational funding for Mokan (Sea Gypsy) children along with a day-care centre for the younger children. However, in order to have the same opportunities as their friends in school, the Moken people need Thai citizenship as well. Without, they will never be able to work legally or travel outside the province of Ranong. They will never be able to make enough money for food, proper housing or even for hospital emergencies.
By ensuring citizenship for the adults, their children will automatically have citizenship as well. We are currently working on getting citizenship for 33 adults. The process is started, but we need an additional
THB 500 000 in order to complete the process, this equals to roughly € 12 300, or NOK 100 000. Even a SMALL donation can make a BIG difference, if you have € 5, € 10, € 20 or € 100, please consider that the Moken people do not have any of this. All donations will go directly to the cause, no intermediaries.
By giving these people a citizenship, we can give the Moken people dignity, opportunities, and a future.
Read more about HDF Mercy Centre, please click
here
For years the Moken people have been ignored by the Thai and international society. They are hardly surviving with their harsh lifestyle on the sea. Give the Moken people a chance for a better future with higher education, legal work and health care as Thai citizents.
Solveig Lande and myself, Sandra Halvorsen, came to Thailand three months ago to work as volunteers for HDF Mercy Centre in Bangkok. Setting our daily life in Norway aside for four months to help with English teaching. In addition to Mercy's great work in the slums of Bangkok, they also have a programme in the south working with the sea gypsies, named Moken. This is where we are currently placed. On mainland, Mercy Centre provides a home where the Moken children can live so they are able to go to school every day. We are living with the children, we help cook food, play with them and arrange free time activities. When the children go to school, we travel out to their island. Here we work at Mercy Daycare Centre where 40 children greet us every morning. The people of Moken have melted our hearts and started a fire within us. Please help this wonderful group of people.
A community of ethnic Mokens has lived for generations on Koh Lao, an island located thirty minutes by boat from Ranong Province in Thailand. As sea nomads, the Moken people have never owned land. Though most Moken villagers were born on Thai soil, they still do not have full citizenship or rights to travel or work outside Ranong Province. This is what we and Mercy Centre are trying to change.
They have lived for decades without fresh water, electricity, toilets, or schools for their children. When Mercy Centre first came to Koh Lao, almost all of the 120 children living in the village were malnourished and afflicted with intestinal worms. Only rarely had these children seen a manufactured toy. Their idea of a toy was a short nylon string tied to a piece of wood.
As their moms and dads are often away on fishing expeditions or busy collecting clams for the next meal, the older children in the village did much of the parenting. Big brothers and big sisters shared food and hugs with their younger siblings were part of their natural day. This is not the situation today, due to the Mercy Day-care Centre on the island.
Following the 2004 tsunami, HDF Mercy Centre served dozens of devastated communities. To this day, HDF Mercy Centre continues to provide educational funding for Mokan (Sea Gypsy) children along with a day-care centre for the younger children. However, in order to have the same opportunities as their friends in school, the Moken people need Thai citizenship as well. Without, they will never be able to work legally or travel outside the province of Ranong. They will never be able to make enough money for food, proper housing or even for hospital emergencies.
By ensuring citizenship for the adults, their children will automatically have citizenship as well. We are currently working on getting citizenship for 33 adults. The process is started, but we need an additional
THB 500 000 in order to complete the process, this equals to roughly € 12 300, or NOK 100 000. Even a SMALL donation can make a BIG difference, if you have € 5, € 10, € 20 or € 100, please consider that the Moken people do not have any of this. All donations will go directly to the cause, no intermediaries.
By giving these people a citizenship, we can give the Moken people dignity, opportunities, and a future.
Read more about HDF Mercy Centre, please click
here
Organizer
Sandra Kristine Halvorsen
Organizer