austraLasia #2033

Outstanding Person in the Field of Disability - new award for Director of Skills Development Centre for the Blind

BANGKOK: 22nd January 2008 --  No stranger to recognition of the wonderful work accomplished by the Pakkred Skills Development Centre for the Blind, its director, Fr Charles Velardo, a long-time Italian missionary in Thailand, has demurely accepted yet another - "Outstanding Person in the Field of Disability" for contribution given to the betterment of the quality of life of the disabled of Thailand.
    It is a fitting recognition for a man who has guided this Centre so energetically and creatively over the years, and follows in the wake of the July 2006 Royal award, the Gold Medal of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn.  The most recent award comes through the Thai Government, and encountered some delay initially until a number of political matters were sorted out in Thailand, which has gone through some political upheaval in the past year.
    The nomination was forwarded to the Commission for Youth, Women, elders and Disabled, in the Legislative Assembly, and the Commission accepted it.  Only two persons previously have been given an award of this kind.  Initially intended to be given in December, it was postponed until 18th January, and presented by the deputy President.
    Fr Velardo has featured a number of times in austraLasia, in a way that indicates his versatility!  This time last year  (#1388), he took on the role as virtual chaplain to some 500 Italian chefs around the world.  In addition to his work at Pakkred (which includes, readers might recall from #1997, entering blind cyclists in the Tour de Thailande), Fr Velardo is also Provincial economer for Thailand.
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Title: australasia 2033
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces THA Thailand Pakkred Skills Development Centre for the Blind
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2033