Visitors at Mercy

One of the great advantages of working here is you got to meet VIPs ( Very interesting People) from around the world.

Last Friday, a band of Irish singers and musician came to sing for the Mercy kids. With their unique traditional music instruments such as Mandolin(little guitar), Banjo, Fiddle(like the violin), Bodhrán(goat-skinned hand drum),and the bag pipe from scottish music, we clapped our hands to folk songs like "Old Mcdonalds" ( the kids were laughing so much when they made the animal sounds!) ,"Amazing Grace", and other Irish music sang by the two singers,the Burns sisters.

The climax of the performance was perhaps the part where the band taught the kids to sang ( Twinkle-twinkle little stars) 'seperately', meaning they were seperated into groups and start singing in a different timing, but somehow form a harmonious melody all together.

That evening, we sat around by Father Joe's living room, listening to live music, recalling Father Joe's childhood times when he learnt his first songs( He is half Irish).It was the most down-to-earth encounter-with-singers/musicians I have ever had.

Then yesterday(Tuesday), we had a group of journalists who are attending the Bangkok Media Conference from (East-West Centre) visiting Mercy. (More information about EWC) 20 of them came from various countries including USA, Hong Kong, Australia, China, Phillipines, Cambodia , Japan etc. I was startled to see so many reporters and editors at the same time learning about Father Joe's work.

Have you seen journalists at work? They write fast, listening to English, but writing in Chinese( or other language) on their little note pad; Always know what to ask; Usually with big cameras(:P); Good language proficiency(duh?)...

Actually by listening to Father Joe, I learn more each day about his work and the Mercy Centre. It enables me to explain to the next person (he or she wil be lucky) haha, so forth. There are a lot of reason on how to tackle different cases. For example if a child is abused, they made he or she speak about the "Teddy Bear" instead of themselves, then they could open up and tell about their stories....

Oh well.... What a day!