Police armed with colors and coloring books reach out to these young children on their own RELATED VIDEO CNN's May Lee looks at how the program will help the children Windows Media 28K 80K

May 13, 1999
Web posted at: 8:28 p.m. EDT (0028 GMT)

From Correspondent May Lee

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- The country's worst economic recession in decades has left thousands of Thailand's children homeless, many of them abandoned by parents who can no longer provide adequate care.

Now, police in the Thai capital are bringing an informal education to homeless children who stay in and around the central Hualampong train station.

Armed with story books and coloring books, the railway police approach the children, careful not to scare them away. Once a rapport is established, the police put the children to work reading stories, drawing pictures and playing games.

In a few months, the outreach program will move into modified rail carriages donated by the railway authorities, which have been refurbished with recreation and drawing rooms, a library and a classroom.

"The purpose of the recreation center is to give them a place for recreation. At the same time, we can give them an informal education so we can improve their behavior before (they commit crimes)," said police Maj. Jarumporn Suramanee.

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