Phantasanja Community Foundation
Note from the author: During my time in Thailand I have spent time living with and supporting the work of Phantasanja Community Foundation. I spent time living in the Communities in Phattalung and Phang Nga provinces. Since that time I have been based in Bang Niang at the Step Ahead training centre where I am teaching English. However I still continue to promote and support the work of Phantasanja.
Please email me on jo.butcher@gmail.com if you wish to know any further information about Phantasanja or items for sale.
There's so much I could say about the work of the foundation in Phattalung and in the Tsunami area but for now here is a brief overview of work of the foundation.
At present the work of the Phantasanja Community Foundation takes place in central Thailand in Bangkok and Southern Thailand in the Phang gna and Phattalung provinces.
The new projects look to building a new orphanage in Nong Khai to serve the North East of Thailand.
The new community in Phang nga is a growing project to help and serve Tsunami victims
A new project is being considered for Khanom in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province on the east coast to build new homes for Tsunami victims
The Gospel is being spread in all of these areas by the work of Phantasanja
(Anurak Poonoo and his family pictured left)
The foundation was set up by Anurak Poonnoo who felt led by God to set up an orphanage in Phattalung in Southern Thailand. At the time he and his wife were the only Christians in the area. Using some land he bought from a friend he built a community area to provide a home for abandoned, orphaned or abused children, whilst building homes for single mothers rescued from the streets. He also built a home for his family and planted a church. The community is now well known by those who live in the area and many attend Church there on a Sunday.
PHANTASANJA PHATTALUNG
The community houses are built from recycled wood and materials obtained by donation. The orphanage is in the Khuankhanun district in Phattalung set back from the village in the middle of rice fields and farm land. The area is tranquil and the community is an ideal setting with a wonderful atmosphere for taking in children and people who are wounded by life; emotionally, physically and spiritually. At Phantasanja the children are provided with a home, an education, love, parenting and the emotional and spiritual healing they need. God is using the people there to reveal his love and heal the hearts of the wounded.
Here are some of the kids in Phattalung:
PLOY
Ploy (right) was orphaned and living with her grandmother in a hut. At the age of 8 she was raped and physically and spiritually damaged. Anurak welcomed her into the community and together with love, counseling and healing her life has been changed. she is growing stronger and is a happy and loving member of the community. she attends school and will live at the community till she grows up. She is a very gentle and beautiful girl.
Tsunami 
Tsunami (left) was orphaned after the Tsunami and with no other family to care for him in the interim he was sent to Phattalung
The girls in this picture (right) are two of three sisters whose mother still works as a prostitute in Singapore. They were taken in to the community for care. They are 3 beautiful and gentle girls.
Moses (below) was abandoned by his mother in Bangkok at 10 days old. He was send by the emergency centre to Phattalung and is now a 1 year old boy.
Sam (below) has lived at the orphanage since the age of 4. He was previously physically and sexually abused. He was referred by the government office. He was aggressive and confused when he arrived but is daily becoming healthier, happier and able to receive love.
PHANTASANJA PHANG NGA - TSUNAMI AREA
The Tsunami caused wide spread devastation. The fishing village of Ban Nam Khem was hit terribly as well as the near by Koh Kho Khao Island. There is a stretch or road about 40 km from Nam Khem village through Khao Lak, towards Phuket, where the landscape - once full of hotels, bungalows and beach front restaurants and not forgetting the many many houses by the sea, is now bare land. Many reconstruction projects are underway with the help of many volunteer programs between Bang Muang and Khao Lak but there is still much to be done in terms of reconstruction - but even more in terms of the emotional and spiritual healing needed.
Here are some pictures of the area when I arrived here back in March -
The Tsunami relief and New community in Phang Nga
Phantasanja have list of Tsunami orphans and pensioners who they are sponsoring for the long term. Upon completion of the new community 20 widowed mothers, 10 orphans and 5 old people will be moved into the new community. In the second year these figures will be doubled.People who wish to donate to this cause can support specific orphans or they can donate to the foundation account towards the construction of the orphanage.
The commitment of the foundation to this project is a long term one.
The foundation opened a mother and baby care centre at Bang Muang temporary housing camp for the duration that Tsunami survivors were living there. The centre provided a safe environment for Mothers to being their children during the day but it also provided practical and material care for the families raising young babies at this time. Through donations to the centre and the foundation it was able to provide baby milk, nappies and other babycare goods to Mothers in the camp and also in the surrounding villages including Koh Kho Khao.
The centre also extended support to some local Morgan fishermen to whom many of the young mothers were married. These businesses were destroyed in the Tsunami and the families were left without a home or income. With the support of the foundation the families were loioked after but also able to restart business and support themselves once again.
Several handcraft projects were done at the centre to provide the Mothers with jobs while they came to the day centre. This included making jewellery and skirts. Depending on how well the products sold (to provide funding for wages) the mothers would be paid for their work and the profits used for the on going work of the foundation.
Nowadays there are only a few people still living in the camp compared with the 2000 that were there during March - July. Many people have now received new houses and are starting or seeking employment. Some handmade products (baskets and bags) are still being made at the camp be some older women who are still there. However some handcraft work has now been given to some poor families in Khanom over on the East Coast where Phantasanja have a church and possible new projects to begin there. Again proceeds for these goods go to help the work of the foundation in the Tsunami area. During the high season there was much interest in these products but the market has been very difficult to attract during the rainy season.
Please see the sales section to view the products made. This section of the work is run by Gai. She is the wife of Samruam (Anuraks friend and partner in the foundation). Under the same foundation Samruam pastors a Phantasanja church in Khanom (in Nakhon Si Thammarat province on the east coast) but spends most of the week in Phang Nga working at the site of the new community construction which will be a permanent home to some orphans, widows and elderly people who were left without family and hope after the Tsunami. It's this group of people who will be helped by the foundations long term community projects.
The orphanage projects are 20 year projects (and beyond depending on how God grows the ministry in to the future). The new community, at this time, will be specifically for Tsunami victims. Although in the future as the children grow older, it may be necessary to separate the boys from the girls between Phattalung and Phang nga.
This is the commitment of the foundation for the new community:
To provide long term care for widows and children, orphans and pensioners.To provide counselling and emotional care and support as well as spiritual support and healing.
To provide love, food and clothing, work and education.
To ensure babies and children are taken care of medically and provided with good nutrition.
To support mothers through work and childcare.
To support orphans until they complete the highest level of education.
To support pensioners permanently.
To bring the Gospel to those in the community and to the people in the surrounding village
Ways you can support:
- Most importantly - with prayer. This ministry is God’s work and needs faithful prayers. The ministry is bearing much fruit - but it can’t be taken for granted and as the ministry grows more prayer, funding and workers will be needed.
- You may wish to give financially to the foundation generally which may be on a regular or one off basis. Please use the contact details below. If you feel led to giving for the longer term you may contact the foundation and keep regular regarding the progress of various projects. (This giving may even be to the extent of sponsoring a project or the building of one of the houses…)
- You may wish to give financially to a specific area: - the construction of the new orphanage or the sponsoring of an orphan or any other area you wish to give to. Again please use the contact details to provide details of the amount you wish to donate and the intended cause so that we may keep in contact with you.
Please contact me jo.butcher@gmail.com and I can give you details on giving or put you in touch with Anurak or the foundation sponsorship centre in Switzerland.
Otherwise donations may be paid into the Phantasanja Communtiy Foundation fund at a Bangkok Bank branch.
Account Name: Phantasanja Community Foundation
Bank: Bangkok Bank
Branch: KhuanKhanun Branch, Phattalung Province, Thailand
Branch number: 454
AC. number: 4540291459
Swift code: BKKBTHBK
posted by Jo Soda at 10:52 PM
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