Phuket Plus TV program transcript - A Unique Pie Drive for Charity

A transcript of the Phuket Plus program is now available on Sister Joan's website.

See - Phuket Plus - A Unique Pie Drive for Charity.

A few excerpts:

GENEVIEVE BULLUSS: The pie drive came up over Christmas. I still hadn’t organised to get the pies yet and so asked her could we do it as a fundraiser. I had been working with Sister Joan a little bit and I knew she always needed money. Her big aim is to get the children out of the slums and into school.

SISTER JOAN EVANS: This is going towards education, education of the children, who are all very poor. It may contribute to the uniforms but, on the other hand, it will most probably go into books and school fees and even fares and food that will enable them to go to school every day.

ROD MCNEIL: Sister, can we say that this is an all Australian effort?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: I think it is an all Australian effort.

.....

ROD MCNEIL: It certainly is. Sister, you’ve been working to this same end for a long time now, haven’t you, in Bangkok?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: I have. I’ve been working with the children for 15 years now.

ROD MCNEIL: I suppose when people get to hear of your work, they really want to assist if they can.

SISTER JOAN EVANS: I think so. They seem to be moved by the fact that particularly children are being educated and given an opportunity. And they are the children of the poor and mainly the children of the very, very poor. Children that otherwise would get very little opportunity.

.....

ROD MCNEIL: One regular appointment comes on a Friday and it’s a great help to some of the young mothers in Klong Toey. Babies arrive by the armful.

Sister Joan’s supporters, usually from Australia and New Zealand, are there ready to assist with the record keeping as well as helping fund the supply of milk formula, mainly through their organisation, the Australian and New Zealand Women’s Group. The atmosphere is both friendly and helpful and life-supporting.

What’s it costing to set up a truckload like this to give away on one morning?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: A truck load of this would be about 24,000 baht - 25,000 baht.

ROD MCNEIL: Is that how much is here this morning?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: That’d be right, yes.

ROD MCNEIL: That’s quite a lot to give away in one morning isn’t it?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: It is. It is.

ROD MCNEIL: Has it taken a lot of organisation to get this flowing in a proper manner?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: Well, it’s grown. To begin with, I used to carry the milk, just in a bag. In a bag - to the mums, two or three and then four and five. That goes back to about 1992, 1993.

ROD MCNEIL: So then you devised this system where they would come here.

SISTER JOAN EVANS: We’ve had various venues. They come every two weeks. I can’t afford milk every week. We had a book one year, a big exercise book. We’ve had other sorts of cards other years. But now we’ve come down to this.

ROD MCNEIL: So you’ve really got a proper record of what’s going on, haven’t you?

SISTER JOAN EVANS: Yes, we have and we need that because people donate the money for the milk and it needs to be spent properly.

.....

Copyright 2007
Phuket Plus
Capital TV Group