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  • News & article

    Jesus in Klong Toey

    Life, Father Joe Maier, Published on 25/12/2020

    » Baby Jesus was too young to travel but there was no choice. It was either life or death. His parents -- blessed Virgin Mary and carpenter Joseph -- had to run from the bad guys. It was either flee or die. The angel had jarred Joseph awake in a vivid no-nonsense dream saying that they are going to kill baby Jesus and that means you and his mum too because we angels know you will give your lives defending infant Jesus.

  • News & article

    Getting to graduation with leaps, rebounds

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 22/04/2018

    » Dressed in graduation cap and gown, pink ribbons in her hair, Miss Pu Glin posed for her first-ever official photo looking regal and confident. She even had a hint of swagger.

  • News & article

    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.

  • News & article

    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.

  • News & article

    A dance to fix a granddad’s broken heart

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 20/03/2016

    » She said, “I think I was dreaming. I was sleepy, but I mean, I sort of remember, and it wasn’t scary. Mum in heaven whispered ‘Ahh — ree — sah — rah ... my daughter, you’ve got to mend granddad’s broken heart and stop the pain in our family. Please do this for me, and I shall rest in peace. I didn’t mean to, but I hurt him so much.' ”

  • News & article

    A hair-raising tale from Klong Toey

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 11/10/2015

    » The "three grandmothers" is the most famous story in the old part of the slum known as the Klong Toey slaughterhouse. The kindergarten kids love the story and ask the teacher over and over to "tell us again" before their afternoon nap at school.

  • News & article

    Branching out in Klong Toey

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 09/08/2015

    » There’s a really big tree with roots all over the place and beautiful deep green leaves shaped like a Valentine’s Day heart. It's a nice tree, but it’s slightly unkempt. However, Auntie Gung and our children say it’s fine for a sacred tree to be unkempt. And this is a sacred tree with a sacred spirit, or angel. It's called a dhon pho tree in Thai and it’s in the back of the Klong Toey slum flats.

  • News & article

    Just for a while

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 06/07/2014

    » Miss Tang: she’s one of the happiest girls I have ever met. And you can just close your eyes and visualise her — a super kid at the top of her game of life. Hasn’t lost a battle yet, although she’s been battered and bruised much too often for any teenager.

  • News & article

    Slum pioneer swept away to victory

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 01/06/2014

    » Auntie Boon Mee looks and carries on in life pretty much how you’d expect a high-class Klong Toey slum pioneer woman to look and carry on.

  • News & article

    A sprightly angel and a sacred tree

    Spectrum, Father Joe Maier, Published on 09/03/2014

    » Lovely Miss Sprite. Angel of the week — second year of kindergarten — winner of the colouring contest — elegantly going on five years of age. She has a voice pitched between the song of an angel and a chirping baby bird sitting on the edge of the nest, not quite ready to fly. Likes to put a leaf behind her ear — picked from that Sacred Tree behind their slum shack. Her mum used to do that too. Lovely features, she has a smile that could stop any herd of wild elephants that might be visiting the neighbourhood. As for her innate beauty? You would immediately pick her out of a crowd. There was a problem: orphan girls fetch a pretty price. But we dealt with that.

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