Thailand: Agape School - home to 300 children

Pastor David in the playground

Agape's Head Teacher, David Min Naing, is known as Pastor David. He had a good job in Rangoon, but gave it up to come to the Thai Burma border to help children. Agape - the Greek for unselfish love - is a school and a home. Some 300 children attend the school. A third have no parents and live in the boarding house. Most come from desperately poor communities where violence, stealing and smuggling are routine - and many have been found living on the dry river-bed which separates Burma from Thailand.

There is huge demand for places so David has to prioritise. "First priority must be orphans; second abandoned children: third, children with family problems like divorce. Last, we take children who are very poor and live a long way away."

David is constantly on guard against people who claim to be relatives; who want to take children. Families in huge poverty sometimes want to put children to work to earn a few baht, sell them for cash or traffic them to Bangkok.

David believes that prayer and song at the start of each day help the school function as a community and liberates them from their tough home lives. He is a Baptist, but his school is truly inclusive of all faiths. They pray together every morning, each in their own way, and they share a singing session - leaving them receptive to a happy school day learning and playing.

The Thai Children's Trust is sponsoring a feeding programme for children at the Agape School. A donation of £3 will feed a child for a month. For more information go to: www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/hungerbusters/