Pattaya Patriots – Liz and Lhen Lhen

I am using the term Patriot for a series of articles to feature in the magazine. Firstly because I love the alliteration, and secondly because

I wanted a word to describe some very special people who live amongst us here in Pattaya. Sometimes given a military connotation, the word patriot actually describes someone who deeply loves, supports and defends their country (or, for the purposes of this article, their city).

They often demonstrate loyalty through service, sacrifice, or civic engagement. True patriotism goes beyond mere pride—it involves striving to make improvements for all, for freedom, and for progress.

Last month I wrote about Margaret Grainger of The Hand to Hand Foundation.If you missed this article you can still read it online at pattayatrader.com.

For this month’s article I went along to Mercy Pattaya (just behind Big C) to get involved in the monthly food bagging. Some members of the Pattaya International Ladies Club were also there volunteering their services as they do every “Last Thursday of the month ” when the bagging is done Liz calls this the “Mercy Alternative work out” which I can attest to as I decided to get stuck in to the rice bagging part of the production line. Quite the upper body workout I can tell you! Each of the prepared bags has 5 kilos of rice, 10 eggs, 1 bottle of oil, and 2 tins of fish. Mindful of adding more protein to the offer, Lhen Lhen tells me that the extra eggs have replaced noodles which used to be part of the contents.

Every end of the month Thursday between 80-120 of these bags are prepared for distribution the next day. Everything has to run like clockwork because there is no storage at Mercy,the rooms we were working in have to be vacated in preparation for the education classes that are held there. “As soon as it comes in it goes out” the duo tell me. It’s really lovely to see how many different nationalities join in with this work. On the day I attended we had English, South African, American, Filipino and a charming couple from Poland. They had walked into Mercy Pattaya to ask if they could help in any way as they have volunteered at charitable foundations everywhere they have lived.

After we had finished our bagging work, I spoke to Elizabeth Shepherd and Khun Thaipinay, usually known as Liz and Lhen Lhen. It seems impossible to me to say one name without the other, so long have this dynamic duo been working together. I know them both through the raffles they hold at PILC’s monthly lunches and coffee mornings. They have both been here a long time. It was 33 years ago that Liz Shepherd first came to Thailand with her husband who was working in Asia in the manufacturing industry. They spent 8 years in Bangkok and then 6 in Myanmar.before his work called him to Pattaya, which being a keen golfer he found greatly to his liking.

Liz joined a church here and quickly became involved with their charity Mercy, which is where she met Lhen Lhen who had arrived a couple of years before her. Lhen Lhen tells me she came to Pattaya to visit her mother and never left.The friendship between her and Liz is extremely touching. As long as I have known Liz there has always been Lhen Lhen, who rather endearingly calls her “Mum”. She proudly tells me “Yes I started it and now everyone calls her that”. They also tell me that in 2015 Mercy became autonomous of the church and Lhen Lhen became its director. Both she and Liz are members of the Pattaya International Ladies Club and in 2016 they volunteered to work as part of the committee on

The food bags are distributed the next day to unfortunate local families and to a group of 80 families who meet together on the last Friday evening of the month behind the Thai Church, Pattaya, where Mercy also provides a hot meal and some music. ”We bring fizzy drinks, which is a rare treat for the children as well as little gifts and prizes from whatever has been donated”. It’s a monthly event that both Lhen Lhen and Liz really enjoy as it provides some respite from what is a very hard life for the people who attend. They come together to share food, music, time with the community and family time.

What else does Mercy do? I ask, and am shown the board which explains it all.They bring hope and change lives through activities and community service. Education is key and many children have benefited from scholarships that Mercy Pattaya has been able to provide them through the donations they received.

There are also special initiatives such as the one happening this month when children will colour some drawings of shoes, boots, slippers, in fact any type of footwear. These can then be individually sponsored by well wishers the money raised from used to provide actual footwear for the children. Before leaving I see some bags of toothpaste and toothbrushes which have been donated by an American gentleman who contacted Mercy to see what he could give.These are always welcome as are cleaning products both soaps, shampoos and such as well as laundry and detergents, often too costly for both poor families or orphanages to buy as they usually have to spend their funds on food rather than such items.

If you would like to get in touch with or donate to Mercy Pattaya Their Bangkok Bank Account No is 4844 210 387 Swift Code BKKBTHBK.

For more information email, message the FB page or go to the website https://mercypattaya.com/ Email: [email protected]