Happy mothers day to Asa and Ader!

Thailand celebrates Mothers Day on Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s birthday, to honour her as the Mother of the nation. August 12th is a national holiday which begins with ceremonies giving offerings of food to Thailand’s saffron-robed Buddhist monks. Thai schools host a Mother’s Day ceremony in which mothers are invited to come to a special assembly where each child kneels at her feet and pays respect to her. It is a joyous and proud moment for mothers and children alike. 

Asa Jupoa, founder and general manager of the RMFC, and Ader, our house mother both attended this special ceremony at the Hufai school, and were honoured by all of the 51 children that they love and take care of. These two women are incredible mothers and we would like to thank and honour them also for all of their love, their hard work and the sacrifices they make for our RMFC children. 

Asa surrounded by children from  RMFC who she is a mum to.

Ada being honoured by her  son Tawaii, as well as Namoo and Nomiyu who she is house mother to.

Michael and Melissa Adamson from Victoria are long-term supporters of Rescue Mission for Children, who recently visited Thailand and met up with some of their former sponsor children.

"We spent the day with these four magnificent young ladies who are the product and an example of the amazing work done at Rescue Mission for Children. They are professionals who run businesses, parents with great children, business owners and international travellers. Congratulations Jampen, Supap, Sarinya and Pratana for being such a blessing to us and and showing the world what can happen when a few people give up much and give their lives to make a difference for others."

Michael and Melissa sponsored these girls right through to high school and we are so grateful for the part they played in giving them the opportunity to thrive and succeed. 

This is a photo of Toonai in 2014, his first year at Rescue Mission for Children.

Four years later in 2018, Toonai has grown into a gentle and responsible young man.

Toonai's dreams

Toonai is 14 years old, in Grade 4 this year and excelling at school. This wasn’t always the case, when Toonai came to Rescue Mission four years ago he had never been to school before and he found it very difficult because of his age and his language skills. He only spoke Akha and had to learn the Thai language for his education. He persevered and has worked hard to achieve a grade point average of 3.72 out of 4.

Before he came to Rescue Mission, Toonai was living with extended family who didn’t want the responsibility of providing for him. He was fatherless and his mother could not take care of him.He has thrived at Rescue Mission for Children and as the oldest boy he is responsible and a great role model for the younger boys who look up to him. He loves playing soccer and ping pong, and is a talented guitar player. He likes to work alongside our house father Aga to keep the mission grounds looking neat and tidy by using the whipper snipper and doing general maintenance jobs.

Toonai has another two years of primary school but he thinks he would like to be a soldier in the future. The education he has received thanks to his sponsors means that he has multiple options for work, instead of being limited to manual labour for minimum wages. The Rescue Mission for Children plans to partner with Toonai to help him finish high school through distance education while exploring a trade apprenticeship until he is able to apply for the army. 

Toonai had little hope 4 years ago of realising his dreams but now with his sponsors help he has a bright future.

The RM4C Child Sponsorship fund is a three tier structure that provides a home, shelter, three healthy meals per day, clothing, medical care, and an education for the children in our care. This is the very core of our existence as a mission to rescue and protect those children who are at risk.

Tier One Child Sponsorship:

$45 per month will provide food and educational fees

Tier Two Child Sponsorship:

$35 per month will provide health care, uniforms and all other essentials

Tier Three Child Sponsorship:

A monthly amount of your choice will be put towards providing facility maintenance, electricity, water filtration and transport.

To find out more about sponsoring a child like Atian (who currently needs a Tier 1 Sponsor), please click on the link below: 

Child Sponsorship Information

Annual General Meeting 2018

On a chilly evening on the 18th of July, the Rescue Mission for Children held its Annual General Meeting at Genesis Church in Carrara. Asa Jupoa skyped in from Thailand and we heard reports from the President, the Child Sponsorship Coordinator, the Treasurer and our Fundraising, Health and Wellbeing and Newsletter Coordinators. It was a celebration of a wonderful year, a blessing to be together as supporters and we were delighted to have a number of members and friends fly in from interstate. All of the reports will be made available on our website, but here are some of the high lights:

• We now have 51 children living at the RMFC
• Our annual Financial Audit shows we are in a healthy financial position
• We have improved our health and wellbeing procedures and policies for the children
• We have plans to improve the educational program for our older students, with higher education pathways and job skills training
• An online English language program has been implemented on site
• We had three volunteer trips serve at the mission, completing a new kitchen, the installation of a hot water systems and performing much needed maintenance.
• Volunteer doctors and dentists performed health and dental checks on all chidlren, and medical files have been updated on each child
• The children have become fully immunised against preventable childhood diseases
• Risk assessments have been updated, approved and implemented 

We said farewell and thank you to Susan Manns, who volunteered as Treasurer for the Rescue Mission board and did a wonderful job!

Trevor and Ira Turner from Victoria, Frank and Lyne Lyle from NSW, Mike Adamson from Victoria all caught up with Asa Jupoa, our general manager in Thailand, over Skype. 

We have been incredibly blessed by ECBD Website Developers, who have fully donated the creation of a brand new website for the Rescue Mission for Children! Our old website desperately needed some updating, so we are extremely excited to launch this new website this month.

Please check out our brand new website for more information about the Rescue Mission for Children, and for ways to get involved!