From the 9th to the 29th of November, 2008, I visited the Province of the Daughters of Charity in Thailand which includes Cambodia and Laos, as well as members of the Congregation of the Mission of the Philippines Province who are stationed in Thailand with the desire of expanding their mission into Cambodia and Laos, God willing.
I first visited in Cambodia where the Daughters of Charity have two houses. I was struck by the poverty of that country; but even more, I was impressed by the good work that the Daughters of Charity are doing with any number of persons who are in marginal situations. For example they work with the blind, they work with patients with HIV/AIDS and they work in a women’s center. They also have a center for children whose parents work in factories.
The interesting thing about the Daughters of Charity in the Thailand Province, including their works in Cambodia and Laos, is that they are all community-based operations; they have no institutions They go out to the people and they train others in order that they might be good teachers and caregivers in institutions, but they themselves are not locked into institutions. It is something that caught my attention because it allows them to be mobile, to come and to go, as Saint Louise envisioned the Daughters of charity coming and going from here to there always available to serve the poor.
When I was in Cambodia as well I had the opportunity to meet with some young people from the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul which seems to be the only major Vincentian group organized there besides the Daughters of Charity.
In Laos the Daughters of Charity have one Community. Because of the government control, they are very limited in what they are able to do and must restrict their pastoral ministry to the compound of the Catholic mission. Although the Sisters did tell me that they are able to go to visit the elderly and the sick without calling attention to their actions on the part of anyone.
And in Laos, there are many young people that the Daughters of Charity are working with, but they are not able to organize themselves because of government controls. They do work in conjunction with the two Sisters of the Community of Saint Joan Antide, a large community of Sisters in Laos from the sister community of the Daughters of Charity, Joan Antide Thouret herself having been a Daughter of Charity.
From Laos we drove to Thailand across the border visiting a number of the works of the Daughters of Charity there and the new seminary residence that the Congregation of the Mission has bought. I am impressed with the desire on the part of the Philippine Province of the Congregation of the Mission who want to expand their mission.. From Thailand they are doing vocational promotion, inviting young men to come and to see our way of life. At present there is one Thai confrere who will be ordained a deacon and there are a number of students in formation, one in philosophy and the others in the process of discernment.
Just before we blessed of the Saint Vincent seminary in Thailand, I had a meeting with the major heads of the Vincentian Family in Thailand. They were present, two members of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, two members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal, three members from AIC, two Daughters of Charity and two members of the Congregation of the Mission. Presently there are no members of the Vincentian Marian Youth. When I asked why not, I was told that the young people are so mobile that it is hard to do any form of process or promotion and therefore the different steps that are necessary to adequately form the young people for the Vincentian Marian Youth; they are just too mobile to do that.
We had a blessing of the new seminary, and from there we went on to Maesot to visit a refugee camp on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. The experience in the Maela refugee camp in Myanmar border was impressive. Fifty thousand people are in this refugee camp; many have been there for up to three years, some have just arrived, and all trying to find homes in a third country. It all depends on who you know and what kind of money you have. Unfortunately, even though the refugee camp is supposed to be under the guidance of the United Nations, there is much corruption. Hence the people themselves stated that, if you have money you can pay the officials and therefore you can get registered more quickly than others.
We had the opportunity to meet with a large group of young people in the chapel. I was quite impressed with their sincerity in sharing with us their stories. Many have no interest whatsoever in returning to their country which has rejected them because the tribes that they belong to have traditionally been marginalized.
After leaving there I traveled back to Bangkok and there met with a good number of the Daughters of Charity and perhaps 98% of the 50 that are in the province. And I had the opportunity to share the Eucharist and dialog with them together with Father Ginete, delegate of the Vincentian Family and Brother Adoy.
I was impressed with the different groups of people that I had the opportunity to meet in all the places that I visited with the Daughters of Charity. Many were children, either Thai and tribal children that were born there, Burmese children and children as well who are Muslim.
Thailand itself is a developing country and you can see the richness, but it is obvious that it is built on the backs of the poor many of whom work in sweatshops; the Daughters are trying to address their needs. Many are young women and women with small children who are forced to work in these factories in order to make a living for their families. And of course the wages are low as they would be in any sweatshop.
I also had the opportunity, when I was with the confreres, to meet the professors and the rector of the major seminary where one of our confreres, Father Vic, works as a professor of English and of other courses. Vic himself has now taken on the responsibility of doing vocational work for the Congregation of the Mission in order to promote the evangelization of the poor in Thailand on the part of the Congregation.
The total number of Daughters of Charity in the Thailand Province is fifty and the number of confreres in the mission at this time is 6. One is the Director of the Daughters of Charity, one is a formator of our candidates, one is a professor and formator in the major seminary for Thailand, one is Brother Aloy and one is another young confrere whose work in Thailand will change but who is presently forming himself to work in Cambodia by learning the language. The others are our only Thai priest confrere who is presently in our CIF program in Paris and a young Thai who is to be ordained a deacon and will return to Thailand after his studies in the Philippines
Video 1 (1’08 min) 
Video 2 (1’48 min.) 
Video 3 (5’6 min)
