Was he psychic or just making a good guess?

Prolific author, Jake Needham was speaker for Pattaya City Expats Club for the 2nd of February. Jakes eighth mystery, The Dead American, will be released in September this year.

Was he psychic or just making a good guess? Author Jake Needham, spoke to the Pattaya City Expats Club on February 2, pointing out the similarities and dissimilarities between events in his book “The World of Trouble” and today’s political situation in Thailand. Jake is well known for his mysteries, including “The Big Mango,” “Laundry Man,” “Killing Plato,” and “The Ambassador’s Wife.” His eighth, “The Dead American,” is due out in September 2014.
“The World of Trouble” is his fourth book in his Jack Shepherd series, an Expat lawyer living in Asia. He embarked on this series, he said, because he wanted to write about the experiences of an Expat living in Thailand. Further, in his first book of the series, he gave his protagonist an Italian girl friend to differentiate his character and the novel from the many “bar girl” novels that seem to dominate the Thailand Expat experiences being published.

Lawrie McLoughlin thanks Jake for his very insightful talk, presenting him with a Certificate of Appreciation.

In this respect, he commented on the fact that some westerners view Thailand in a cliché type view, i.e. a place to get easy sex or, worse, a haven for perverts. He said, “I find that when I am abroad, if I say I am from Thailand, people start a conversation based on this view and I don’t really want to go there … So, I say I am from Singapore instead. That usually kills the conversation dead.” Jake says he and his Thai wife split their time between the USA and Thailand. Jake added, “When my wife is asked where she calls home, she answers, ‘Singapore Airlines’.”
In speaking about Asia, he mentioned that one of his novels, “The King of Macau,” takes place in that city. Jake described Macau as “the only place in Asia where we haven’t bulldozed the past.” He said that the old city in Macau is like the Asia of the end of the 19th century, which makes it one of his favourite places in Asia.

Board member Judith offers tickets in a gift hamper to raise funds for club projects.

Jake said it was a bit ironic that he was speaking to the club on an election day that has seen much controversy between the “red” and “yellow” shirt groups. The novel, which is set against the backdrop of Thai politics, is about a clash between these groups and one of its characters is a female Thai prime minister. Another character is a very rich Thai man living in exile in Dubai. His website comments on the novel states, “Shepherd could certainly have done a lot worse for himself. Charlie Kitnarok is the world’s ninety-eighth richest man. He rules an international corporate empire and controls billions in personal assets. But he’s also a former prime minister of Thailand now living in exile in Dubai, and when he’s not making money he’s plotting his return to political power.” (http://jakeneedham.com)
Although this all sounds very familiar to current events involving Thailand, Jake says the book was written several years ago, before many of these current events took place. He emphasized that he has to constantly remind readers that his books are just novels and that everything in the books is an invention of the author. When he was writing the book, he said when he told people one of his characters would be a female prime minister; everyone laughed and said that would never happen in Thailand.

Jake then gave his views on Expats living in Thailand noting that they are never really sure if they are welcome here. “Just look at the rules for extended stays; people don’t know what their status will be in 12 months, or three months or six months (whenever they need to renew their permission to stay at Immigration).” Over the course of his presentation, and particularly in the question and answer period, Jake made various comments on the current political situation in Thailand, including, “It is a conflict between two very different views of how the world should develop” and “One of two things will happen: The situation will drag on and on and on - which is what usually happens - or something very bad will occur.”
After Jake’s presentation, Master of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on Roy Albiston to conduct the Open Forum, where questions are asked and answered about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya.
Learn more about the Club’s meetings and other activities by visiting their website at www.pcecclub.org.

Women With a Mission advancing opportunities to young people through education

Visiting children in Myanmar.

Roseanne Diamente
Women With a Mission, now the original team of 3 along with a core group of dedicated local volunteers are making positive change to the lives of both migrant students on the Thai Myanmar border, and younger students with disabilities here in Chonburi.
After a recent trip to the CDTC Learning Centre in Mae Sot to interview year 9 students who would otherwise be finishing their education through lack of opportunity now have hope to receive scholarships to continue their schooling.
Another group of 9 students who are already on scholarships to attend year 10 are excited at the possibility to continue on to year 11. These students all come from impoverished backgrounds, some are without parents, and without WWM support would be working in factories, as labourers in the construction industry, or agricultural workers.
Their ambitions are high, to complete their schooling and attend trade school, or continue on studying to have a profession. All value education and understand how different their lives will be from that of their parents.

WWM are working with Baan Khun Boon Choo, specifically with young students with autism, cerebral palsy, and Down Syndrome

Locally, WWM are working with Baan Khun Boon Choo, specifically with young students with autism, cerebral palsy, and Down Syndrome, through the funding of a special classroom, a specifically trained teacher to give students one on one learning. Support from volunteers qualified to work with these wonderful young people has given WWM the opportunity to extend the program, and bring joy to these students as they master actions and movements we might take for granted.
WWM partnering with local groups and organizations enable these programs to continue, Pattaya International Ladies Club making a major contribution to fund the teachers salary at Baan Khun Boon Choo, Pattaya Sports Club and Jesters Care for Kids helping to establish the classroom needs.

Women With a Mission are working together with the PILC to fund a teacher’s salary for the Baan Khun Boon Choo centre in Sattahip.

Women With a Mission are working together with the PILC to fund a teacher’s salary for the Baan Khun Boon Choo centre in Sattahip. The centre, which caters for students with autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and other similar disabilities relies on donations from the community to operate, and so the level of care these young people receive is dependent upon the community.
Women With a Mission visited the centre in 2012 and realized that while buildings and daily nourishment were being taken care of, there was no real individual attention for these young people to develop and grow. The urgent need for a teacher with special needs training was identified, and through WWM a trained teacher is now employed to work at the centre, developing individual training programs. More training is being spearheaded for the carers at the centre for 2014. Women With a Mission along with trained expat women like Hedi Sizoo and Laurie B. are also working to develop programs for individuals.
PILC’s contribution is 12 months of salary for the autistic teacher at the center.
Pattaya Sports Club have also joined as a community partner to support computers with special learning programs for the students, and special learning tools to assist the teachers. Jesters Care for Kids are assisting with the ongoing training for the staff at the center.

It is a joy to visit the centre and see the changes in these students each week.

Wow, does that make for a great group of people to be a part of the development of these wonderful young people. It is a joy to visit the centre and see the changes in these students each week. Children who were not speaking a year ago are now excitedly repeating words!
We were able to get a Blind child (Khun Oui) into the School for the Blind in Pattaya in Oct. 2013.
Women With a Mission who are spearheading this project know that individuals can make a difference, and are dedicated to providing children of all ages, social and cultural backgrounds the necessary tools to receive a proper education.
Now a new team of 4 women are working hard to prepare for the exciting Pattaya Family Bike Day an upcoming event on March 9th, at Thai Polo Park. Funds raised will allow many of CDTC and CDC scholarship students to continue their education. Mark your calendar and do not miss this great day!
FLYER

PILC introduces 2014 board members, themed luncheons

The Pattaya International Ladies Club 2014 governing committee and members.

Helle Rantsen
The Pattaya International Ladies Club unveiled its 2014 governing committee and themed lunches for the coming year.
Ninety women turned out for the 4th of February 2014 annual general meeting and luncheon buffet at the Montien Hotel to say goodbye to board members stepping down and greet the club’s new leaders for 2014.
President Helle Rantsen, who will retain her position this year, thanked all the committee members for their hard work in 2013. “Without a committee and someone willing to give their time to PILC, there would not be a PILC,” she said. “PILC is such a fantastic club because of all its members and their warm and friendly manner toward all who would like to join.”
Joyce Aldridge was named vice president and welfare chair. Christine Roos will serve as the membership chair and Nicola Taylor will be secretary.
Other new committee members included Nancy Aly-Hegazy as special events chairwoman, Ros Coleman as treasurer, Ananya Welland as trips and activities chairwoman and Ann Winfield as newsletter editor. Hospitality will be handled by Sue Tait. Welland served as president in 2012 while Winfield organized that year’s successful holiday bazaar.
Helle said PILC is all about getting together and creating a social networking environment for women in and around Pattaya. To that end, the luncheon meetings in 2014 will all carry a theme, starting with the Latin American lunch March 4 at the Havana Bar at the Holiday Inn Pattaya.
She added that on April 5 the club will join with the Tiffany Show and Pattaya City Hall in a charity concert to raise funds for the club’s Hand to Hand project.
“We only need to sell 900 tickets and with your help we can make it happen,” she said.
The club next will host a coffee morning at Pan Pan on Thappraya Road, Jomtien Feb. 18. For more information, e-mail Rantsen at [email protected].