A STRABANE girl who embarked on a mission to help hundreds of orphans in North East Thailand earlier this year, this week spoke of her amazing journey.
Aisling Doherty (23) of Lisnafin Park made up part of a 12 strong group of Irish volunteers who recently spent six weeks in the Nongkhai area of Thailand, helping children affected or infected with AIDS. The voluntary pilgrimage was organised by SERVE, a Cork based initiative aimed at tackling world poverty.
To qualify to take part in the life changing trip, Aisling had to raise ¤2,500, which was then taken to the Sarnelli House orphanages. Opened in October 2000 by Fr Michael Shea, Sarnelli House encompasses four orphanages and cares for over 100 orphans aged from just over one year to 17 years of age, all of whom have lost their parents to AIDS. The only institution of its kind in North East Thailand, Sarnelli provides a home and proper medical care for the youngsters. While the Thai authorities regularly bring children to the orphanages, it receives no financial support whatsoever from the government there.
Speaking about her trip, Aisling said that while it was hard work, it was well worth the effort.
She said, "I got involved because a friend of mine did the same thing last year and she really enjoyed it. I'm studying social work at Magee College so I thought it would be a good learning experience for me."
Explaining what greeted the volunteers on arrival and the day to day operation at Sarnelli, she continued, "It was a big culture shock. Everyone out there is so poor and have absolutely nothing. They have to share everything, even their shoes. It is hard to believe that people actually live like that and it was a bit hard to take in.
"Our day normally began at around 7am when we went to the House of Hope orphanage and played with the children and did general duties like the laundry. We stayed there for a few hours and in the afternoon we went to the main Sarnelli House building. There are about 60 children in the orphanage, mainly from about 6 years old to 10. Altogether there are over 100 orphans and to be honest, all they want is to be loved. Even the language barrier didn't matter because all the kids wanted was to be shown affection.
"It was hard going at times but I would urge anyone who can to get involved because SERVE are a great organisation. All the volunteers have to go back to Cork shortly for an evaluation day when we will learn just how all the money we raised is being spent, so I'm looking forward to that," she said.
