From our Vice-President:

Dear Ladies,

There are people you meet in life that you will automatically take a liking to.  Perhaps it is their smile, their warm handshake, the way they greet you with a kind word.  Whatever it is, you instantly feel welcomed into their world.  In my life, one such person is Peggy Wragge.

I remember when I first met Peggy and thinking “here is someone I could really, really like”.  Sure enough, I was right.  The following should explain to you the reasons why:

Connie:   Where do you come from in the U.S.?  What brought you to Pattaya; give us your first impression of Pattaya.

Peggy:   I was born in the U.S., in Michigan, just north of Detroit.  I was raised on an island at the mouth of Lake Erie.  I’m always quick to tell people, though, that Texas is my home, and has been since 1980.  I love everything about Texas.  But, when Ralph came home one day and asked how I felt about moving overseas on business, the wanderer in me, that is always just below the surface, kicked in and we found ourselves living in Israel about 6 months later.  3 1/2 years after that, we had a choice of going on assignment in either Saudi Arabia or Thailand.  Duh — and here we are, 14 years later.

It was so exciting when we first got here.  Everything was so inexpensive, the people were so nice, everywhere was so green (all of this in comparison to Israel).  Then the financial crash hit one year later.  Prices jumped up alarmingly.  I discovered that the smiles on the local faces were hiding a lot of different feelings, not all of them good.  And the green–well the constant heat and humidity has a lot to do with that.

Connie:   Tell us about Ralph and your “family”.

Peggy:   Ralph is a really good man with a strong sense of fairness.  He is kind and sensitive.  Unfortunately, not many people get to see that side of him, as he suffers, like many expat men it seems, with an overwhelming and unrelenting addiction to work.  He is the Technical Manager at Guardian Industries, a world-wide flat glass manufacturer.  Based out of Rayong, his job is to aid company facilities all over the world, so most of the time he spends traveling.

Almost 3 years ago, the world as we knew it changed when we acquired 2 Shih-Tzu puppies, Maggie and Sophie.  They are the happiest dogs and they’re our children, and woe to anyone who tries to tell us different.

Connie:   Tell us about your PILC activities and involvement.

Peggy:   A good friend of mine, Sharon Tibbitts, was PILC president around the time that Ralph and I were moving from Burapha Golf into Pattaya.  I’d avoided the PILC up until then, thinking that I had no place in a “ladies club”.  I was not a “lady who lunched”.  Well, it turns out, I am!!  Sharon persuaded me to join, and before I knew it, they needed someone to oversee the Used Books sales.  I did.  After that I just kind of fell into things.  I did newsletter distribution, helped with Raffle Ticket sales at the Bazaar, chaired the Trips and Activities, helped with the Garage Sale, joined others in getting the Library up and running, joined the book club, the bowling team, visited the orphanage, and made lots of friends along the way.  Currently I’m keeping the PILC website updated, making the Book~Keepers to sell at our functions in order to help support Dek Dee Nursery, and chairing the Trips and Activities again.

Connie:   Favourite hobbies/interests/sports?

Peggy:   Besides making the Book~Keepers, I also like to cross stitch, although I haven’t had time for that since I’ve had the dogs.  I’ve always had a keen interest in race cars, and am a die-hard Formula 1 fan.  I love reading, especially murder mysteries, and am a huge fan of Patricia Cornwell.  There are a lot of sports that I’m crazy about, but don’t really excel in any one thing.  My age is starting to limit my activities, as does this climate, but I still love to camp, fish, travel, kayak, anything on the water really, bowl and golf, darts and pool (both billiards and swimming), and my one claim to fame is being the first woman in Thailand to obtain an Ultralight Pilot’s license.

Connie:   How did you and Gillian Thom meet and click?

Peggy:   I was helping to host the PILC Newcomer’s Meeting at Casa Pascal when Gillian attended as a newcomer to Pattaya.  In talking we found that we lived in the same community, right around the corner from each other.  And the rest is history, we were NBFs.  We’re an unlikely pair in that we’re so different from one another.  But, with as much tact as either of us can muster, and a lot of patience on both sides, it works.  She’s like a sister to me.

Connie:   Tell us about your world travel experiences.

Peggy:   This is really a tough question because I do have so many wonderful memories that are dear to me.  But I’d have to say that everyone should try to visit Petra in Jordan.  This is also the mental snapshot that is always not far from the surface of my memory:

We were on horseback, riding just outside the entrance to the huge crevasse, or siq, that leads to the beautiful city of Petra.  From behind us we could hear thundering hoofs, and I didn’t want to look back in case my horse was about to be spooked.  As they passed, I saw that it was two Arab youths racing their horses at a flat out gallop.  The boy closest to me had on cotton pants and shirt, his elbows flapping high at his sides to urge his horse on.  A dark cotton jacket was unzipped and billowing in the wind of the race, as was the keffiyeh he wore on his head.  It was so thrilling, and so in the place and time — I remember the colors, the sounds, the smells, like it was just a moment ago.  (And anyone who knows my memory at all, knows how astounding that is!).

Connie:   If there is one thing you would like us to know about Peggy, what would it be?

Peggy:   That I am not cool, aloof, or stuck-up, as are common misconceptions about me.  The fact is that I am shy, and now that my memory is getting worse, it makes it all the harder to try to be less so.

Connie:   Peggy, just for the heck of it, what is your favorite cocktail?

Peggy:   In my lifetime, I’ve gone through a lot of different favorite drinks, but most consistently I fall back on a Rootbeer Float.  It’s made with milk (or cream), Galliano, and coke.  I’ve never really liked the taste of alcohol, and this drink really does taste just like a rootbeer float!

I would like to say “Thank You Peggy” for taking the time to allow us to know you just a little bit better.  It’s been a pleasure interviewing you.  You are such a delight.

Connie Kwok

Tuesday, August 3  -  10:30  – 2:00

This month’s luncheon takes us back to the delicious Trattoria Toscana on Beach Road.  Please join us in this warm and inviting atmosphere as we gobble up Toscana’s fine Italian cuisine.

Reservations are required, so please e-mail Connie Kwok and Jan Marek before Sunday, August 1st, to let them know you’re coming.  (You can find their e-mail addresses on the cover page of your newsletter.)  They will e-mail you back a confirmation.  If you’ve signed the sheet for this luncheon while at the Coffee Morning at the Coffee Club, there is no need to reserve again.

Trattoria Toscana is located on the north end of Beach Road.  Enter Beach Road at the Dusit, and follow it past the A-One Cruise Hotel and Soi 6.  Toscana is just before the Hard Rock Café.  For more detailed directions, please phone them at 038-723660.

photo by omar_chatriwala

Tuesday, August 17  -  10:30 am

No fooling around, Shenanigans is where we’re meeting for our Coffee Morning this month.  A great location at The Avenue shopping mall on Pattaya Second Road offers easy access to Baht buses, or song taows, as well as inexpensive parking.  (Bring your parking ticket to Shenanigans to have it stamped for the discount.)

Reservations are required, as always, so be sure to e-mail Connie Kwok and Jan Marek before Sunday, August 15th, to save your seat.  You can find their e-mail addresses on the cover page of the Tropics Topics newsletter, or in your PILC directory.  They will send you a confirming e-mail.

Shenanigans is located on the right side of Pattaya Second Road, just after Royal Garden Plaza/Marriott, and before Mike Mall.  They’re on the south side of The Avenue plaza, one floor up.  Remember to pickup your newsletter when you go.  See you there!

Crimes against children would rank high on my list.  Abuse – physical, mental, sexual – abandonment, maltreatment, neglect.  Just the thought of this makes me feel bad.  Children are born innocent, they are dependent of adult care and support, they need love and understanding.  This is the only way they can grow.

Naturally then, speaking to Teacher Tho at the Child Protection Centre is quite an upsetting experience.  Tho is one of eight teachers at the Centre which houses 45 children, ages 6-18, who have all been subjected to some kind of abuse.

“Many times parents will just drop the child off and never come back”, says Tho.  “Other times a mother or an aunt will bring the child and ask us to protect her from the father or some other male relative.” 

The staff also do outreach work.  Two or three times a week they go out in town and look for street kids, helping them where needed and building confidence.  “Our aim is to bring them in”, says Tho and tells of foreigners who give food, snacks and shelter, demanding sexual favours in return.  “It is very very common.  Children have always run away from home, but whereas in earlier times they would live in the woods or parks and fend for themselves, now there is sex tourism and drugs, and that makes everything so much worse.  Most of these kids have led very hard lives.”

Glue sniffing is a huge problem among children living on the streets.  The Centre tries to break these habits by filling days with activities – for example, when not in school, they learn how to cook, grow vegetables, take care of two black pigs and many chickens.  Fortunately also, the Centre is located far from everything, there just isn’t the possibility to pop out to the shop and by glue, cigarettes, alcohol or any other substance that they should not use.

The teachers live with the children in three newly built identical double storey houses with enclosed kitchens.  These were finished in October 2009, funded by the German and Swiss Embassies, and when I visit in late March four more houses are being built.  The teachers work 24 hours, 6 days a week, acting as parental figures and role models and continuously teaching values and necessary life skills.

The Centre was started in 2008 by Khun Jaa, who worked for many years with street kids at the Redemptorist Street Kids Centre.  Unfortunately, Khun Jaa is out of town the week I am able to visit, it would have been nice to talk to him, as I am told that he had a vision of how he wanted to work with these children.  When the Human Help Network in Thailand offered to fund his ideas he was able to make reality of his dream.  The Child Protection Centre was born.

“We hear so many tragic stories”, says Teacher Tho.  “Like the little Cambodian girl who was separated from her parents after they had all been trafficked from their country.  She was forced to sell roses on the Beach and was abused in more than one way.  No one knows where the parents are and soon the girl will be deported back.”

Every single child here at the Centre has a story.  45 cases of tragedy.

“Are they offered some kind of therapy or counselling if they need it?” I ask, and am told that yes, Chonburi Hospital will give them free therapy with a psychiatrist when necessary.  But it does not happen often.

The question of therapy is a funny thing here in Thailand.  One lady I spoke to openly said:  It is not the Thai way.  We prefer to be more spontaneous, more informal.  Teacher Tho expresses it differently, he says that it will often scare the children to go to the hospital and meet a stranger.  Thus, the staff at the Centre prefer to deal with it themselves, building confidence and giving daily support.  “We do have a social worker here day and night, a person they know and can confide in.  More like a friend.”

Over by the pond several children help out to collect green food for the pigs, diving in the water, raking up the wet weeds.  It looks like great fun, lots of laughing, splashing, screams.  Like any other kids.  Far from Walking Street and the Beach.

Maybe you will see a child like them the next time you go for a swim; a child walking with a nice man who has just bought him or her a soda or an ice cream.  Do you think you would be able to tell?  Would you do something to help?

If you do know of a child that is abused call Khun Jaa at 081-949-9349.

There were some lovely Chinese ceramics for sale in the foyer and some pretty silver and beaded jewellery which the ladies enjoyed browsing.

Anja made announcements and Peggy updated us with some exciting trips which are coming up.  You will find details of these of course, in this newsletter.

We welcomed one newcomer from Australia, Maggie Travis.  Welcome Maggie!

We also discovered that the Tamar Centre, which apparently has the best cakes in Pattaya, is going to be opening for meals very soon and are looking for volunteers to help them with some practice runs….sounds interesting!!!

Thank you to Stephane and his team at Woodlands for a delightful meal.

First stop is the plinth inside which is the museum.  Outside is a short climb up to the elephant itself.  The decoration and art forms, the use of pottery, broken or whole, could only happen here in Thailand.  An elevator takes you to the first floor where, if you get down on your hands and knees, you can peer out over Bangkok through a window in the belly of the elephant, then up stairs to the stars.  You really need to see this for yourselves, trying to describe it in a few short words, cannot do it justice.

Next stop was the Ancient City.  We had lunch in the floating market, followed by two hours on a tram which saw us travelling through the Ancient City with many stops to view the attractions, but it’s not a city, it’s a country: Thailand.  The whole layout is in the shape of Thailand, and all the buildings are in the correct part of ‘Thailand’.  The Preah Vihear has been built on a mountain just as it is on the borders with Cambodia.  Some of the buildings are recreated here, some have been removed from the real site.  If you take a bicycle you can ride around the whole of Thailand.  Or you can hire a golf cart and take yourselves to see the sights, or like us, go on the tram.

It was a very enjoyable day out, one that I will repeat:  I want to see the things I missed the first time.

Celia Picken

July 27  -  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Meeting to be held at the home of Judy Hoppe.

August 31  -  The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Meeting to be held at the home of Connie Kwok.

September 28  -  The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz
Meeting to be held at the home of Julieta Blanes.

October 26  -  The Mango Rains by Daniel M. Dorothy

November 30  -  The Twins by Tessa de Loo

December 14  -  In lieu of a Book Club Meeting, Rosanne Diamente will host a Christmas Party for the group.  Watch for more details.

January 25  -  The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

For more information, please contact Connie Kwok.

There is no obligation to join the club, you don’t have to be new to the area, and it’s a great way to learn more about us in a quieter, more relaxed setting than is our usual Coffee Morning or Luncheon. 

Please feel free to come and learn more:  4th Monday of each month – 11:30 am.  Hope to see you there.

Friday, July 30-  9:00 am                                      

If you can put on make-up and paint fingernails, the ladies at Garonyawet Disabled Ladies Home would love to see you for our monthly get-together.  Everyone will meet at Foodland at 9:00 am, and return there around 12:00 noon.  Please contact Marjolijn Bakker or Monique van Deursen to sign up.

Elisabeth is very artistic, patient and spends a lot of time preparing for her classes.  Outside school, Elisabeth enjoys wine tasting evenings and spends a lot of her time with Aussie and Kiwi friends, to the extent that she has adopted some of their phrases and sayings.  She loved the PILC visits to Garrunyawhet Ladies Home painting nails and putting on make-up, she also belonged to the PILC book club and held gem sales every few months.

Many people, especially the children at the Fountain of Life, will sorely miss Elisabeth when she leaves Pattaya and returns home.

Mary Pierce