Salem Rotarians reach out to an orphanage in Pattaya

Rotary Club of Salem Young Town, D 2982, recently had its installation of new office-bearers at Pattaya, near Bangkok. Following a suggestion by Vutikorn Kamalchote, President of RC Jomitien Pattaya, an 18-member team visited Baan Jing Jai, an orphanage in Pattaya, and donated ₹50,000 to its manager for purchase of provisions and other material for the home. Presidents from other local clubs and few past governors of D 3340 were present at the installation ceremony.

The home provides accommodation, food and education for 150 children in the age group nine months to 18 years. “The manager Khun Pingta wanted our help in providing a toilet block for the orphanage and we have decided to work on it,” said the Club President Hari Baskar.

The orphanage visit is their second foreign project, the first one being delivery of educational aids to students displaced by the ethnic war in Sri Lanka.

A 25-member district team from four clubs led by Charter President C Thyagarajan visited Kilinochchi and Jaffna in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka after the island government opened the doors to foreign delegates and aid agencies in 2015, following a six-year interregnum after civil war. “With the guidance of local MP Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, we distributed school uniforms and textbooks worth ₹1 lakh to 300 children. The then DGE R Vasu was also part of the delegation,” recalled Thyagarajan, who is currently the District Chair of Public Image.

The club is now all set to build a toilet block for girls at a higher secondary school in Malliakarai village near Salem this year with the help of global grants, he said.