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Sister Joan, a Presentation nun, has made it her life's work to help the poor in the port slum area of Bangkok known as Klong Toei.
"Most of the people I encounter every day are extremely poor." Sr. Joan said.
"There are times when some of the people are too poor to even have rice to eat. This is extremely distressing to me because Thailand grows more than enough rice to feed its population."
Sister Joan was introduced to Patty Powell, the owner of the statue, when Patty visited Thailand eight years ago. It was also on that trip that Patty brought the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Sr. Joan's work impressed Patty so much that she decided that any donations made to herself or the parish would be sent on to Sr. Joan. While donations were never asked for or even expected people left money at the parish.
Sr. Joan arrived in Thailand from Perth in 1991 and spent her first year in Bangkok learning the Thai language. It was in 1992 she began walking into the slums around the past area of Bangkok in order to help the large number of destitute there.
She said there would be around 150,000 to 250,000 people living in the area - most of whom did not have permanent employment, had little education and at times no food.
She works with the Human Development Foundation, based in Thailand and run by Father Joseph Maier. Sister Joan is primarily involved in the education of people in the slums, where she works with two other nuns from Australia. But as the sisters have become known to the slum community they have also come to be relied on for other things.
Sr. Joan said abandonment of children is a big problem in the slums and people often turned to them for help.
"Most of the time the children are taken in by local families, but they come to us when things get tough, when they are struggling and have extra mouths to feed."
Excerpt by permission of "The Record"

Father Walsh presenting
Sr. Joan with a cheque for
the Bangkok Slums Mission.