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Tags: community service, international, winter-2009

UQ graduates Alvin Tan and Linda Lua with the Samuel

A chance encounter with a homeless boy at a Thai bus stop has sparked a vision for a global network of children’s homes for four University of Queensland alumni.

Caroline Cavanagh and her husband Shaun, together with Alvin Tan and Dr Linda Lua, all UQ graduates, have established a children’s home in north-eastern Thailand and plan to use it as a model for similar homes around the world.

Ms Cavanagh said the idea for Samuel’s House, which takes in orphaned and abandoned children, began to take shape after visiting Thailand on a campus student group trip in 1998.

“We found a little boy at a bus stop in Khon Kaen who was homeless and we were able to find him somewhere safe to live through our Thai contacts,” Ms Cavanagh said.

“Meeting him had really impacted on me and I knew there were more like him but didn’t know what I could do.”

Through Thai friends Hannah and Nehamee Pawcome, Ms Cavanagh realised just how many orphaned and abandoned children there were in Thailand.

When Ms Pawcome emailed Ms Cavanagh in 2006 saying she and her husband had begun to take in homeless children to their basic farmer’s shack, the four graduates decided to band together and help. Lending both financial support and organisational skills, the group raised funds for a solid house, new beds and a new kitchen.

“In June 2007 we officially launched Samuel’s House in Australia to a grassroots network of friends, family and colleagues,” Ms Cavanagh said.

“We now have a diverse support base from many nations.”

Thanks to this support base and a child sponsorship and scholarship program, the 12 children who live at the home are well looked after and attend private school, an opportunity Dr Lua said would help Samuel’s House to have a far-reaching impact.

“Without the opportunity and second chance given to them, they would otherwise be roaming the streets, not have an education or be in the child slavery trade,” she said.

“These children are the ones, if given an opportunity, who have the potential to contribute immensely to society and make a difference in their country’s future.”

Dr Lua hoped Samuel’s House was the start of a global network of homes for orphaned and abandoned children.

“Our aim is to empower, enrich and equip the locals at Samuel’s House to enable them to manage and run the children’s home themselves in the near future,” she said.

“We hope to develop our children’s home model to a stage where we can set up other children’s homes in Thailand and other countries to meet the enormous needs.”

Ms Cavanagh said Samuel’s House was becoming more self-sufficient through starting small businesses such as selling hand-made greeting cards and farmed pigs.

Donations throughout 2007 and 2008 bought water tanks, new bedding, helped build a new building to house more children and renovated a functional kitchen. Work is also being expanded to improve the lives of villagers in the immediate community.

“We are delighted with the progress of the children since the project started in 2006. The love and joy that radiates from the kids is abundant and genuine,” Ms Cavanagh said.

“The kindness and compassion they show one another and visitors, their gratitude and the respect for the house parents, are things we have never witnessed before.

“The progress we have made in such a few short years seems unbelievable. It is without a doubt attributed to the hard work of the team, the on-site workers who have loved these children to wholeness, the generosity of many supporters, and the gentle hand of providence that guides us each step of the way. It is truly a privilege and a blessing to be a part of it.”

By Tegan Taylor

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