Just open your arms

Take part in the 'Give Me a Hug' project and make abandoned children happy

If you love to help underprivileged children but lack money, don't worry. Sharing your warmth with children at the Rangsit Home for Babies will not cost you a satang. The abandoned babies and children are just awaiting a hug from you.

People are being invited to generously take part in the 'Give Me a Hug' project.

"What I've witnessed during my first visit to the orphanage pushed me to initiate this project. Many of the children crowded around me, asking, 'Hug me, please'. I felt so pitiful for them," says DJ Maitai Noppakosol, the project's initiator and caretaker.

Director of the orphanage Suwanna Pinkaew says there are very few babysitters and one babysitter must take care of 1215 children.

"The babysitters can't hug or spend a lot of time caring for every child. That's why our children are crying out for hugs," Suwanna says.

Every Saturday afternoon

Maitai says ten volunteers are needed every Saturday afternoon for about oneandahalf hours to give children aged between one and two hugs.

She has run the project for six Saturdays and aims to continue it until six months.

Children look upbeat when they meet volunteers; they are excited and enthusiastic to play and chat and you can hear peals of laughter from them, a babysitter says.

"Hugging makes children feel good and warm and helps them not to act aggressively," Maitai says.

Suwanna has noticed that children joining the project are more sociable and livelier. They play and chat with volunteers more.

Senior child psychiatrist at the Mental Health Department Benjaporn Panyayong says research has found that hugging children together with telling them a fairytale, singing to them, or playing with them stimulates their brain, resulting in better learning.

"When hugged, abandoned children feel secure, control their emotions better and mix more with others in society. It would be better if the project is run continuously for about a year," Benjaporn advises.

Police cadet Koravic Jaruparutch is a volunteer who has visited the children twice; he has also invited his friends to offer their hugs.

"I've witnessed the problems abandoned children face. We have more opportunities than they. Providing a hug is not a hard thing to do, and you will  see the result on their  faces," Koravic says.

Business owner Pusanisa Suepan, another volunteer, promises: "I'll visit, hug and play with them as many times as possible when I get free time."

Want to join the project? Call 025772347 or 025771172

Thick clothes to protect the children from being hurt by sharp objects are also needed.