PATTAYA, Thailand -- Anyone meeting the remarkable Juergen (Gio) Lusuardi will not quickly forget, especially when they discover how many benefit from his energy building the Take Care Kids charity for those suffering in Thailand. I have been renting a villa in Pattaya so as to stay in one place for a change and finish writing a book.

 A friend brought Gio and his Thai girlfriend Noot for a relaxing afternoon around the pool. It was soon clear that Gio despite a Germanic Christian name could only be Italian! Although a native of Bologna Gio is an authentic ‘Gentleman of Verona.’ In early 40s, he is articulate, amusing and knowledgeable on many subjects in English, Thai and German.

  He told me in passing he worked for a charity for years. We learned we share a passion for Football. He is a fan of the Old Lady of Italian Football Juventus of Turin. I quipped that “I was not aware they are still a proper club after being relegated from La Liga to the second tier of Italian football for attempting to bribe a referee,” whereon Gio dramatically rose from his seat out of wounded pride.

  No offence was intended but, I said, surely an educated individual appreciates you can only be close to 21st century football’s soul through a smaller club untainted by bribery or ridiculous Russian or Arab cash. I suggested Gio transfer allegiance to mighty Yeovil Town in England’s League 1, making a valiant effort to secure a place in the Championship, just one level below the famed English Premiership.

 (I joined Yeovil supporters to watch them secure an emotional victory at Wembley to indeed secure a place in the Championship just one division behind Manchester United). Expatriate talk around a pool always eventually focuses on the host country. Gio was quickly railing against the bureaucracy and mind-set of the typical Thai government employee. Clearly he took personally any obstacle blocking him. Anyone who has to work with government employees anywhere knows about waste but Gio added intriguingly that ‘Our books are always open for anyone to inspect’ and ‘I don’t take any wage at all,’ prompting me to learn more about this likeable Italian.

 In following weeks Gio invited himself over to show how Spaghetti should properly be cooked, bringing an excellent aged parmesan cheese I learned Gio had founded the Charity that he worked for called ‘Take Care Kids’ -- a legally registered Thai foundation renting a four floored building to shelter abused children and their mothers. He has been with the charming Noot, for three years. Far from a ‘trophy ‘girlfriend, near fluent in English, she is learning Italian after visiting Italy twice with Gio.  I was impressed with their apartment bought a year ago for some 155,000 Euros.

  The fourth floor flat was quiet, spacious, overlooking a lovely pool. Property prices in Pattaya compare with Europe and are dearer than the USA. This is partly because of the strong Thai Baht (70 to the £ in 2005, 50 in October 2012 but now 43) . But also many businesses need accommodation for staff working in the Bangkok Pattaya ‘Corridor’ (Why live in hot, crowded, polluted and flood prone Bangkok if you can live in crowded Pattaya’s cooler coast?) Increasingly Thai professionals in Bangkok want a second home on the coast. Overseas buyers join the rush to snap up the apartments in 30 storey condominium blocks as quickly as they can be built as Pattaya extends southwards past Na Jomtien and towards Raytong, Thailand’s next boom town.

 Overseas buyers means Russian. Pattaya is no longer the city of sex and sin (those elements still exist) – it is a Russian city and shop signs all are in Russian. Expatriates from Europe consider Russians rude but I think they enhance Pattaya as it becomes an international resort of distinction.

  Back at Gio’s flat we watched the Chinese Grand prix. When Fernando Alonso won driving a Ferrari Gio stood to attention as the Italian flag was raised and his National Anthem played. Gio provided a non-stop commentary why Ferrari is the greatest motor racing team in the world in Italian, German and English.

  We left for the shelter that Gio’s charity operates on the other side of Sukhumvit on the famed route from downtown Bangkok, skirting central Pattaya and on towards Trat in Eastern Thailand and Cambodia. Gio first visited Thailand 20 years ago, returning annually since 2004, balancing journalism in Italy with Thailand voluntary work for 2 -3 months each year. The 2003 tsunami, causing destruction and loss of life, inspired Gio to found his charity in 2006.

  Gio returns to Italy each year to discuss plans with trustees, arrange fundraising events and visit sponsors to ensure funds flow in. The charity cannot pay Gio. He supports himself with income from two apartments in Italy and a third in Pattaya. He pays tax on his property income in Thailand to comply with Thai law. His upper middle class background does not prevent his 70-year-old mother in Bologna baking pastries market, another income strand for the foundation.

 The Shelter is a 5 minute motor bike ride from Gio’s apartment on a little road (Moo) running off the Sukhumvit Highway. The exterior of the whitewashed building, simple and functional like the interior, gives no clue to the benefits and love within. The ground floor has an office, kitchen, dining room and reception. Above are a common room, simple, spacious bedrooms and communal bathrooms.

 A flat roof has furnished a play area under a canopy for shelter from the relentless sun. It recently had new safety railings thanks to generosity from a local English Bar. It is home for seven mothers and 13 children. Each family has its own room. It was a Sunday when we visited. At the weekends Gio’s unpaid assistant Maria, also from Italy, cooks. She has been helping Gio for two years and evidently finds it rewarding and therapeutic.

 Monthly rent is 30,000 Baht ($1100). Around the house we came across boxes of toys, clothing, shoes, dried food and milk. Gio takes donations of everything, arranging for airlines to freight free from Italy for distribution in poor areas around Pattaya. Take Care Kids’ work is not confined to those in the shelter. In a house what is hanging on the wall and what books are on the shelves tells a lot about the inhabitants, their interests and motivations. Decorations do not need to reflect expenditure but they are an opportunity to display interests and achievements. The Take Care Kids shelter displays photographs of all inhabitants and has a display honouring sponsors.

 Gio told of the frustrations in raising funds so that one child can have a brain tumour removed in a private hospital. He is proud that another child who never attended school before coming to the Shelter is now top of her class. Entering the common room where the kids were gathered with their teacher caused excitement and cries of ‘Khun Gio’ ‘Khun Gio.’ Several kids race to hug him .

  Downstairs Gio talked to two Thais in our party and said ‘Are you sure you have to go back to your Village. Why not stay and work with me here. I can pay you’ but he has to be careful. He has received correspondence from people visiting the Take Care Kids website who are interested in corresponding with individual children who he suspects are paedophiles trying to make contact and being involved with the disadvantaged of Asian society Gio has many sad tales about those not protected by a Charity or Welfare Department.

 It is common for Pimps to ‘rent’ the children of impoverished families for an evening and then send the kids begging, selling flowers and even in some occasions for sexual services to overseas visitors who travel to Thailand and other Asian countries for this reason. However moved you may be by a poverty stricken mother, deformed kid or crippled beggar you achieve little by passing over funds on the street. There are scams by the dozen.

 In Nepal Tourists are asked to buy dried milk for a child’s family which is ‘sold’ by the store holder at an inflated price to the tourist who gives it to the kid. Ten minuteson it is back at the store and the profit split before the kid goes out and looks for another ‘mark.’ Indeed in Pattaya over the last three months I saw a very well nourished woman begging on the sidewalk in the same prime spot every evening. She was almost certainly making more than the average wage in donations. I saw her counting and putting funds away as I passed on my daily evening walk. To help ease the suffering in the Third World always donate through recognised, legitimate charities like Take Care Kids – hand outs on the street perpetuate rather than alleviate the problems of poverty, abuse and corruption. The beggar on the street might pass on their earnings to a ’boss’ rather than for the child in their arms. Gio and Take Care Kids work closely with other charities pooling resources where necessary as well as with police and local authorities.

  When the police find families and children in need of urgent assistance they will often call Gio to see if he can help. When Gio takes people in to live in the Shelter he makes it clear that Take Care Kids is neither a hand out nor a free ride. Many mothers, however, are simply the victims of extreme poverty, neglect, being abandoned or abused. Irrespective of their background Gio believes that the child and the mother must stay together and not separate. He practices “tough love,” spending hours with uneducated mothers, teaching them to take responsibility.

  After hours of explaining to a HIV positive, emaciated mother she may ask for a break so to go to Pattaya’s infamous Beach Road and look for a client as she has no cash. The mother and child can only stay at the Shelter if the Mother gets a proper job, opens a bank account and saves from her salary – drugs and sex trade work are not options if she wants to stay.

 The idea is to help people help themselves to rebuild their lives and acquire some discipline and responsibility to be able to eventually leave and re-enter society. Whilst respecting each individual’s religion he teaches the Mothers when their children are sick it is sensible to take them to a clinic and see a doctor rather than to the temple for a blessing from a monk. The more Gio talks about his charity the more passionate he becomes as he describes the difficulties and frustrations of having a western ‘can do/must do’ mindset and coming up against the Thai Buddhist mindset.

 But Gio believes that many of his frustrations in not being able to achieve more quicker is because Take care Kids is not a local charity and he faces unnecessary problems because he is a Farang (foreigner). I suspect part of the problem is that because his work is his life he will always want to achieve more. I also, like many foreigners living in Thailand, am frustrated by my inability to get a point over or because something can’t be done now. There are times when I am in urgent need of some Anger Management therapy.

  So be warned, a visit to the Take Care Kids shelter will be accompanied by a very Italian rant pointing out all the perceived and unnecessary hurdles facing a foreign managed charity in Thailand! It frustrates Gio when the Vice Squad has little credibility, when the Women and Child Protection unit is understaffed, when some local police are corrupt and when a lack of proper Sex Education in schools means having to arrange help for mothers barely in their mid-teens. Despite all this Gio and his crew do a wonderful job.

  My visit to the Shelter was a highlight of almost four months in Thailand.

  Learn more at www.takecarekids.org Gio makes sure that all donations received go directly to help children. If everyone who reads this was to donate an hour’s remuneration or income it would provide a lot of assistance.  http://www.takecarekids.org/en/come-aiutarci/donazioni.html

  Gio provides solutions for kids suffering at the sharp end of life’s challenges. He is also fun to hang out with. Visit the Take Care Kids Shelter if in Thailand -- less than two hours from Bangkok.

 You will receive a warm welcome from a man impressively determined to achieve and provide solutions for kids suffering at the sharp end of Life's challenges.

Michael Bromfield was the founder and Chairman of a major travel company for 31 years. He sold his company in 2011 and has been attending rock concerts and festivals regularly since he saw the Beatles and Stones live in the early 60s. He now devotes his time to writing and photography and divides his time between homes in Switzerland, Canada and the USA as well as spending part of each year in the Himalaya and Thailand. His photography is on permanent exhibition at the Global Images Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset, UK and can be viewed at www.globalimagesgallery.com. Michael writes a series of occasional articles on Remarkable People, Memorable Events and Fascinating Destinations from around the world at www.notesfromanomad.net. He can be followed on twitter@notesfromanomad

  © Michael Bromfield 2013