Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Our Rose of Klong Toey, a Christmas baby
Life, Father Joe Maier, Published on 23/12/2021
» At Christmas, deep in the heart of each of us is a "broken alleluia". So often, almost always, in the slums of Klong Toey and here at Mercy Centre. The whispers, tears, the silent gestures of the children say so much about sadness and being dumped, left alone in an abandoned building or a bus stop. That's the broken part, and the alleluia is the joy of Christmas, of being loved. Being found.
When others turn away
Life, Father Joe Maier, Published on 06/04/2020
» Temple kitchens are always off to the side, unnoticed unless you are part of the kitchen staff -- those devoted ladies who cook and clean for every ceremonial meal. Auntie Grannie is one of the selfless. Not surprisingly, she is also someone who will always stand by your side when others turn away.
Magic in the name game
Life, Father Joe Maier, Published on 21/10/2019
» Most folk around here believe in the power and sacredness of a given name. And maybe that's how Master Ohm survived on pilfered leftover noodles -- by the sacred power of the sacred name pounded into him by the nasty but pious noodle lady who works from a stall parked next to the sacred shrine.
Slum justice
Life, Father Joe Maier, Published on 12/08/2019
» Her screams saved her life. Lordy Lord that girl could scream. Never heard such screaming.
The lost scavenger
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 13/05/2018
» From the second floor window of their flat, Pretty Molly sees her slum scavenger husband returning from a day of foraging. Her snippy stray mongrel barks excitedly as Pretty Molly begins shouting out the window to him.
Christmas legends of Klong Toey
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 24/12/2017
» Our kids love to tell the story year after year, Christmas after Christmas. Tell their version, the way their grandmothers and great-grandmothers told them. These are the oldest Catholic people still alive in the slums. Way back in the old Catholic slaughterhouse area of Klong Toey, you can hear the living legends told.
Klong Toey's future finest
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 01/10/2017
» He's 10 months old now, Master Tack. Happy, good-natured, smiles a lot, not afraid of stray cats and scavenger dogs. They like him; he likes them. It all works out. At night he doesn't cry. You'd love him. A great baby. Well, not totally "great" just yet, but give him time. He will grow up to be one of Klong Toey's finest. Just watch.
Money can't buy Miss Tip's love
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 07/05/2017
» We never knew mum when she was young and not yet ravaged by cheap booze and hard hot years under the Southeast Asian sun doing unskilled sweatshop labour, living wherever there was work on the decks and holds of rusty out-of-date cargo ships in the Bay of Bangkok.
Gone to the dogs
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 29/01/2017
» It's not one of Klong Toey's finest hours. In fact, it's an ugly moment -- a monster moment. Stray dogs attacked and almost killed a two-year-old child. This all began at midnight in a particularly dark alley of Klong Toey in Bangkok. Auntie Dang, a 62-year-old grandmum, got the call to go to work. "Come quickly," the voice on the mobile phone demanded. "The game is about to start. We need a dhon tang."
Ducking for cover
Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 20/04/2014
» Let me tell you a story of Master Gan — a new child at Mercy Centre — he’s Songkran and Easter, all at “a mighty five years old”. Right now, he’s not at his mental and physical peak because he’s got chickenpox — but he’s almost well again.