Archive for February, 2010

Joining Songkran 2010 (14-18 Apr)

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

I know you guys are terribly excited to bring the village kids on this roadtrip! But yes, there are somethings that you need to know and pack so that this trip will be great fun !

13 Apr (Tue)
0900 -  Streetkids embark on a 8 hour roadtrip to Chiang Mai.
1800 – Dinner in Chiang Mai

14 Apr (Wed)
0800 – Breakfast with STK
1100 – Pick volunteers arriving via Chiang Mai Airport & Check in at guesthouse
1200 – Volunteers to meet STK !…. Outing Starts !

Broad Programmes
Elephant Rides/Water Rafting (if currents are moderate), Chiang Mai Night Market, Walking Street,  Chiang Mai Zoo, Waterfall visit…. and not forgetting 2 full days of water splashing action !

18 Apr (Sun)
1500 – Drop off for volunteers departing via Chiang Mai airport
1600 – Farewell. End of trip

19 Apr (Mon)
0900 – StreetKids depart for Phetchabun (8 hours)

Things to pack :

- Dark coloured tops/clothes/bermudas (at least 1 for each day)
- Towels
- Sandals
- Sunglasses/shades/caps/sun-block
- Cameras & Waterproof casings/bags
- Swim suites, bikinis & goggles NOT required !

Ok. So for those who have not signed up. Please do so immediately ! We can only have a maximum of 8 volunteers !

Cost : SGD850 (Land Only. Proceeds will go towards subsidising children’s trip expenses!)

A little about a little boy

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Max is a young Hmong boy who lives with his parents in a small and poorly ventilated house. During our needs assessment visit to Max’s home, we met both his parents. The father suffers from stroke and had been bed ridden for many months, leaving him out of job and his condition was not getting better by the day.

As we visited the home, his mother seemed nonchalant and sat beside a fire smoking on a pipe. The first thing we noticed was the strong smell. Later as we spoke further, we understand that the mother has been on drugs for many years and all their children had to find means to take care of themselves. Max was no different.

Going to school for Max was difficult, he has to endure with jeers from his classmates as he owns only 1 pair of school shorts and tattered slippers. To be accepted, Max slowly found himself in the company of glue-sniffers and street gangs.

Last month, we received news that Max father had passed away, leaving him under the care of his drug-addicted mother. RADION has received permission to take Max into on our StreeKIDS! programme and under this rehabilitation  and guidance programme, Max will have a shelter over his head, 3 warm meals and the opportunity to go to school.

Max needs a sponsor to support him through this programme. To support Max through this programme with just SGD98/month, please email Minwei at minwei@radion-international.org

RADION In 2010

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

After much deliberation and prayer, the management committee will be steering our outreach activities towards the following :

1 ) Strengthen programming  for StreetKIDS! (Shelter)
Over the past 2 years, we’ve had a high success rehabilitating children from substance abuse (glue-sniffing) backgrounds. The success rate stands at 80% which is already a feat with the little the resources we have.

But real challenges still remain outside the walls of our shelter, drug dealers, gang leaders and poor influence from families usually interfere with our work and result in some children to prematurely give up and leave the programme.

This year, we’re planning to employ professional psychologist and counselors to help direct our programming to not only better understand these influences but also teach the children to overcome the temptation to go back into their old lives.

This year, we need to commit more effort to look into small details in our children’s lives to we can bring about a greater sustained change.

2) Capacity Building Amongst Staff

Currently, RADION is operated by 2 groups of staff. The first professionals and second group are destitute womenfolk or victim who have suffered abuse from their husbands and are in need of assistance.

For the first group, we’re planning to employ 6 more staff to bring our staff base to 12 to balance out the heavy workload and enable the rest to focus on direct assistance outreaches.

The second group, we’re hoping to bring in more professional assistance to help these ladies regain their footing through basic counseling to starting up of support groups. This programming allows for greater community support amongst this highly marginalised group.

3 ) Regaining Of Supporters/Blog Readers/Corporate Sponsors
In 2009, we have done much groundwork by providing food & free medical aid to more than 2500 people and gave basic necessities such as toothbrush and toothpaste to more than a thousand needy children.

Ahead in 2010, we hope to follow-on with our groundwork by focusing on the ones that need help the most and give them that simple glimmer of hope to live on.

2010 is a challenging year and we’ll need to raise approximately SGD20,000(approx USD15,000) each month for operations. I ask each and every one of our sponsors, friends and partners to prayerfully consider supporting our work financially for the next one year.

My personal commitment to you is that every single cent will be invested into lives and mending broken dreams.

Come alongside us. Sign up for Core Support here !
http://www.radion-international.org/help/core-support/

Eugene Wee
Director/Founder
RADION INTERNATIONAL