Dear All,

I am writing to you from Pattaya, Thailand. I have been helping the children both here and on the local island of Kohlarn by teaching them English to prevent them being dragged into the sex trade and to enable them to find work later in life. .

I have been doing this alone for the past three years and coping on my own low pension, but today I have so many children who count on me I cannot cope and worry each month if I can pay my own rent, yet I don't have the heart to just cut off from the children. They are so grateful.

So, at the beginning of February, I decided to offer a boat trip to the tourists (by renting a boat) and hoped the profits would keep me going. I am doing my own publicity by hand and still buying the books and often clothes for the poorest.

However my efforts are being sabotaged by the boat people as they take my customers when they arrive at the pier and ask about my trip. So all that I am spending on publicity plus my time away from the children to get my project on route is being wasted. So I really need a help in hand to get started.

Until now the customers say its the best day they ever had spent in Thailand, even those that live here or come every year, but because my customers are being taken at the pier ( I have no telephone for contact ) where I meet them, I finish up with less than a minimum of 12 persons to cover the cost of the boat and food and consequently use my rent to cover the cost, as I have to pay the boat once booked.

The whole project is to help all the Thai people as my customers return to the Island and ask about other trips like fishing, diving, which I pass on to the Thai people. I also propose my customers try the shooting range, water ski, parachute, banana boat etc, just to bring the people work and help them all, and if they speak English in the future then they will have more and more work because the tourists get very frustrated when they cannot communicate and often frightened.

However the Thai people are not very good at marketing or thinking about what it will bring them in the future and think only for today and laugh when someone complains or has been cheated, yet they are the first to cry and put their hand out to beg when they have no work and wonder why the customers never return to them, so I am definitely not trying to take their work, but bring them work.

At the same time they all respect me for what I do for the children (free) but again don't think of tomorrow when I can no longer do what I am doing. So as a last resort I write to you with the hope of a sponsor or even just a donation to continue until my project gets going.

I am writing to you from Pattaya Thailand where I have been teaching English to any child that wants to learn and even those who think that it is just play.

I am British by birth but of Irish origin, spent most of my life in Central Europe, and brought up my children single handed. I speak several languages (self taught) as I have no diploma's or high school education myself so I educated my self through life and know the hardships more than most.

However the struggle I managed single handed to rear and teach my own 3 children who were trilingual before starting school and had 4, 5 and 6 by the time they were 15 years old, even though the dislexia was a great handicap and unknown at the time.

But my Irish nobleness would never allow me to beg for help and have been fighting for survival all my life. I could just give up on the children here, but I am not sure if God would forgive me if I abandoned them, or maybe just couldn't forgive myself.

And this is what has finally pushed me to ask for help.

I am computer ignorant myself but admire what you do and your determination to fight for your rights and get over every obstacle that is put in your way and this is my reason for believing that you will understand more than anyone else as I know how many times you have been attacked by those who would like to bring you down.

I do follow your news through the TV media and papers (when I can read them) as my sight was damaged in a Hostel fire several years ago and I don't always have access to satellite TV to keep up with the world outside.

I do know Yahoo is very much appreciated by my children and my grandchildren's generation and that Japan has opened a free shop to help teach them about the internet, which is a must for every child and youngsters today.

I do have a Yahoo address but unfortunately can only use your service when someone is kind enough to help me. I would like to know if you would consider opening something like that in Pattaya as I once read that you were hoping to use a trilingual child from a wealthy family in Pattaya to promote a child 2000 project. So how about using the poor children and promote, sponsor or just a help in hand to my project, which again will help in the long term, to all the Thai's and tourists will return if Thai are not so frustrated as far as communication is concerned, and I assure you that it is a big big problem here. The tourism has gone down so much in this part of Thailand (apart from the tourists who don't seem to care at all for the children's well being.) and with Vietnam, Korea etc opening its doors things are going to get worse and worse here. So please help me.

I intend to contact the news media internationally and locally so people will know what I am trying to do and why. But I haven't done so yet because I would like a name like yours so they will take my project seriously and then I think many will come forward to help.

So I am asking you if you would be the first to donate a small sum and just one computer, printer, scanner etc. and one laptop so I can at least get me bookings for the boat trip and also a telephone number where the customers can contact me (Nokia or Motorola in mind.) without being poached at the pier.

I hope your response will be positive so others will follow your example as I need so many things and hope you will advise me how to go about it correctly because I am sure my letter is very unprofessional, but I am desperate and must start somehow, whether it's good or bad. I'm just doing my best.

I have thought about writing to people like Formula One motor racer Valentino Rossi who rides in the yearly "Race for Children" in the hope they can provide me with one or two tuk-tuks for transporting the children in Pattaya and Kohlarn.

Then maybe Hertz or Avis to offer free of charge an air-conditioned minibus for a day-outing that I take them on occasionally (in the past I did this with my own money that has now been drained dry.)

The same goes for their clothing even though it was only from the local markets. They were very happy and grateful, but don't understand why I can't do it any longer.

I also thought about asking companies like Nestle for their tacks and sweets like sugas, smarties and M & Ms that I have used in my method for teaching them the colours; if they get the colour right then the candy is theirs and the same method for counting (in English of course.)

Another thing I thought would help would be to ask all Airlines to write in their inflight magazines so the tourists would know about my mission to help the children and be taken seriously, but I need a fixed office or address with my own telephone number first.

Until this time I have carried out my work in the streets, sometimes. I would teach them at the pool in some of the condo's, but for short periods as they complain because I don't live there I have no rights to the facilities. I used to teach them on the Pier, which is so broken I now have my leg infected after splitting it open when the boards collapsed and I went through (for the second time.)

Other than that I use a restaurant on the beach of Kohlarn where they let me use the tables when free, but sometimes the children get noisy and excited and often wear out our welcome if it bugs the people eating. So now I have nowhere on a permanent basis and teach them where I find them or just buy the books and pencils and hand them out everyday to any child that is hanging around the streets, markets etc while the parents or sisters whoever are trying to work, often the kids themselves, or sleeping with exhaustion until the next customer wakes them up.

This is why I used to round them up and take them to the pool of a condo but first had to give them clean clothes, swimsuits and towels so they were not rejected by the security on the way in. Then each week I would take up to 3 or 4 to McDonalds as a treat and it encouraged them to work better and remember what I taught them (Maybe McDonald could help me out for this.) I no longer can.

So please answer me, even if your reply is negative, maybe you can advise me how to go about my future requests for help.

Many thanks for your time. I am more than grateful.

Ginny Dixon

My Project

Once I have made enough profits from the boat trips to pay 12 months rent on a large house in Kohlarn and Pattaya (They are not so expensive.)

House 3 or 4 bedrooms minimum. So I can invite teachers from all over Europe and the States, Canada, Australia for free holiday accommodation in return for 2 hours teaching each day during their school holiday for 1 or 2 months.

Or retired teachers for 6 months or more.

The downstairs would then be used by the children for their daily lessons.

The tuk-tuks will be used to pick them up at a meeting point or various pick-up points and bring them for their daily lessons.

The funds from my boat trip will pay the rent, water, electric, books, pencils & clothing etc.

My role will then be concentrated on the organizing and translating for the boat trip with the tourists to bring in the funds. Apart from that I will be there for the children, so they can confide in me for any problems they have and I will continue to be their mammy as in the past and take them on outings to park's, zoo's, etc and encourage them to work well and have fun at the same time.

Once my project gets going I will also provide lessons to many of the youngsters that work in the bars etc and often ask me to teach them English and many times join in with the children who are often kids abandoned by the sex trade.

On the island, the adults and youths, who work in the restaurants, shops and beach vendors will also be invited on a daily basis.

They ask me every day if I could teach them too, but unfortunately I've had to turn them down, but they so want to learn and are very happy at what I'm doing for the children.

LOVE GINNY
email: ginnyx2000@yahoo.com
web site: http://www.oocities.org/ginnyx2000