Before the  end of 2015, Against The Grain was excited to continue its support to orphans and underprivileged children. Many thanks to Yui Yudhanaraweesak for purchasing and distributing the supplies and gifts for the children on ATG’s behalf. Here is her account of how her visit went as well as photos of the happy recipients.

“The first orphanage I visited was Pattaya Orphanage. I have visited this orphanage numerous times in the past and, from what I see, it is a very well organized and well-kept orphanage. The children look healthy, clean and happy and very cute. It seems they do well with managing their donations and the many newborns they have there. There have two separate rooms for newborns to 10-month-old babies, 10-month to 18-month babies and classrooms for the 2- to 3-year-olds.

Photos were taken by the orphanage and posted on their website.

At the moment, the Pattaya Orphanage has a total of 170 kids in their care, from newborns to university students. Around 50 of them are aged 0 to 3.

I bought items based on the orphanage’s requirements, including food, hygiene, general consumer goods, toys, snacks, infant nutrition and medical supplies. In total, I purchased THB 53,547 ($1,500) in goods.

The second orphanage we chose was Phayathai Orphanage [photos above], which is in the suburbs of Bangkok. The home has around 400 kids ranging from age 0 to 6 years old, including some children who have HIV. The facility is quite big with many housing units since there are so many orphans there, as you can see in the pictures. The have many play areas for the children and was very well kept.

We bought a lot of diapers, infant formula and some other necessities for the children totaling about $800 worth of goods. You can learn more about the orphanage by visiting http://www.phayathaibabieshome.go.th/.”