Maria House

 Year 2011 to Year 2012

 

4 Sisters arrived in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2011, to learn Thai and English language for a year. The Sisters were directed to start a new community in Chiang Rai province and settled in the district of Chiang Saen. This land near the Mekong river is well known as part of the Golden Triangle, an area in Thailand that borders Myanmar and Laos. This remote and sparsely populated area is home to many different ethnic and tribal groups who have settled in numerous villages all over the land.

Understandably, the 3 governments face numerous challenges maintaining control over this relatively large and underdeveloped area. Many villagers live in a state of neglect and abject poverty. Illegal activities such as opium and heroin trafficking are rife. The incidence of drug abuse and addiction, crime, vice and violence is disproportionately high in this area.

Many girls in these remote areas become mothers before they can finish school and many do not even have any education. Many fall into the trap of poverty, drugs, prostitution and incarceration. For many young girls, the Providence Foundation is the only way out of an impoverished life with no hope for the future.

 

 

 Year 2013 to 2014

 

Like their founder, the Sisters had no apparent means for subsistence at the start of their mission. They had to seek shelter and even food in the beginning. Through Divine Providence and the generosity of the Thai people, they soon had a small, sparsely furnished rented house to begin their mission. Maria House thus became the first Providence centre.

The Sisters were immediately entrusted with 16 girls from another shelter. The girls were given a daily routine to follow, to instill values such as self and communal responsibility. They washed their own clothes, cleaned the premises and helped perform daily chores such as preparing meals and washing up.

The Sisters made special arrangements with nearby schools to enrol the girls, as many were stateless and were not entitled to enrol in the Thai public schools. Again, it was the generosity and compassion of the Thai donors that paved the way for all the girls to attend school.

 

 

 Year 2015 to 2016

Needing a permanent place to cater to the increasing needs to shelter more girls, a piece of land was donated to the Sisters of Providence through kind benefactors.

Construction work began in 2015 and Providence Centre was completed in 2016.