PATTAYA, Thailand – A memorial Mass was held at St. Nicholas Church on July 22 to honour the late Mr Ewald Dietrich, the founder and former president of the HHN Foundation Germany. The ceremony brought together foundation supporters, friends, management, staff, and children from the HHN Foundation for Thai Children.
Reverend Anek Namwong, Pastor of St. Nicholas Church, led the Mass, together with Reverend Veera Pangrak, director of the Pattaya Orphanage Foundation, Reverend Krissapha Sukphat, deputy director, and Reverend Sukhum Tanasingh, C.Ss.R., deputy chairman of the Father Ray Foundation.
Following the Mass, Radchada Chomjinda, director of the HHN Foundation for Thai Children, and Siromet Akharapongpanich, the deputy director, delivered heartfelt eulogies in memory of Mr Dietrich. As a tribute, priests, distinguished guests, and children laid flowers in front of his portrait.
About Human Help Network
Every day, countless children suffer from hunger, poverty, and violence. Their hardships are overlooked, their wishes ignored, and their rights unrecognized. A carefree and protected childhood, which every child should be entitled to, is denied to them. Human Help Network e.V. (HHN) advocates for these children in need and helps protect them from oppression and exploitation.
In our projects in Africa, Asia, and Germany, we offer children and young people new opportunities for their lives. We build schools and fight for the implementation of children’s rights in all our project countries; we help street children in Thailand and Germany, care for child-headed households in Rwanda, support young mothers in need, fund training centres in Uganda, and provide emergency aid where it is urgently needed.
It is important to us to sustainably improve the living conditions of young people. The key to this is access to quality education and training. We aim to nurture the abilities of boys and girls so that they can develop according to their potential and freely express their talents. Our goal is for them to later shape their lives independently, responsibly, and with social accountability.
The children’s aid organization Human Help Network e.V. was founded in 1990 by Ewald Dietrich in Mainz. In 1995, it was awarded the DZI Donation Seal of the German Central Institute for Social Issues for the first time and has been awarded it every year since. Today, the children’s aid organization has over 900 members and several thousand donors. Since 2003, Human Help Network e.V. has been supported by its permanent project partner, Stiftung Tagwerk, with the student campaign “Aktion Tagwerk – Dein Einsatz zeigt Wirkung” (Your Effort Makes an Impact).
About HHN Foundation Thailand (HHNFT)
Since 1992, Human Help Network has supported a child protection program in Thailand. In 2008, the NGO Human Help Network Foundation Thailand (HHNFT) was founded under Thai law and has since been committed to fighting child trafficking and child prostitution. Based in Pattaya, one of Thailand’s hotspots for child prostitution, the Human Help Network Foundation specifically targets the exploitation and trafficking of street children. The organization operates a child protection centre outside the city centre, providing street children the opportunity to grow up safely in a community and receive an education. A drop-in centre in downtown Pattaya serves as a contact point for street children, offering counselling, food, and a place to sleep. Human Help Network Foundation Thailand also supports education and prevention work for young people, especially in the slums of Pattaya.
Since 1992, Human Help Network Germany has supported an orphanage and a school for the deaf and mute in Pattaya, a task that Human Help Network Foundation Thailand has continued since 2008 with its own office on the orphanage grounds.
The HHN Foundation Thailand (HHNFT) is an NGO registered under Thai law, promoting sustainable human, social, and economic development. Founded in May 2008 in Pattaya, it focuses on issues related to children and adolescents. We operate the Child Protection and Development Centre (CPDC), the first and only fully privatized shelter in the Eastern region of Thailand, taking care of physically and sexually abused, abandoned, orphaned, and exploited children, including victims of human trafficking. Together with the ASEAN Education Center (AEC), a centre for equal opportunities for migrant children, these projects provide help, home, education, and a future for over 500 underprivileged children in Thailand. Our outreach work in the streets of Pattaya touches hundreds more.
Together with our partners, we focus on raising general awareness concerning global questions of development based on human justice and respect for the environment. We also promote voluntary work as a global learning experience and expression of personal commitment to a better world.
