Polluted urban slum given a helping hand

At Saturday morning Kid's Club, Bic plays the guitar while the children sing and dart for places in a Thai version of musical chairs. Bic, 23, is a World Vision volunteer who spent much of his own childhood on the streets.

World Vision’s Street Children’s Project works closely with children and families in urban slums.

In Pattaya, Thailand, the project works in a slum that is wedged between a graveyard and polluted water drainage. Occupied by 30 transient families, this community is situated on a small strip of land that is overcrowded and exposed to many health risks.

The project aims to help these children stay at school and away from the forms of labour that place them at risk of prostitution and drug abuse.

Outreach workers visit almost daily to talk with community members about the problems they are facing. They bring first aid kits to treat minor infections and injuries in the children, and they take more serious cases to clinics and hospitals.

Attitudes in the community are changing, with parents starting to understand that staying at school longer gives their children more choices.