Sister Joan Evans spent 25 years living alone in the middle of Klong Toei – Bangkok’s largest slum. 7 days a week, she assisted the youngest, not so young and the old with determination and urgency. Making sure that she doesn’t provide everything but just enough so “they can learn to help themselves” as she liked to say. She never spoke about her religion focusing every day on solving problems big and small. Sister slept little as her services were needed almost around the clock, from an early morning bus fare for someone whos late for school to midlle of the night emergency ride to deliver a sick person to a local hospital. People kept knocking on her door every day. She worked alone but more and more volunteers kept coming to help as years went on.
Sister modeled compassion and commitment to the less fortunate ones, all day, every day. She created projects that relied on volunteers but fine tuned them to allow any person to jump in and accomplish the task. Her designs are still used and no volunteer spends more then a few hours a week on their work in Klong Toei.
Sister Joan is a member of Western Australia congregation of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM) order. She was a school teacher in Perth, Western Australia where she was born in 1932. When she retired at 60, she decided to move to Bangkok, Thailand to help the poor in the spirit of Nano Nagle – the foundress of Presentation Sisters order.
Sister started a number of charitable programs in which she would enroll, register and support members of several different communities of Klong Toei. She provided milk formula to young moms that couldn’t breast feed, regularly gave hundreds of children cash for food and bus fares so they wouldn’t drop out of school, bought them shoes and mandatory uniforms throughout their education, sponsored students in their university efforts, delivered sick to the hospitals, gave elderly biweekly food packages and assisted anyone from Klong Toei in assisting themselves. Her programs worked with registered recipients, all needing help and receiving it on yearly cycles.
Sister Joan returned to Perth, Western Australia in 2016. A group of volunteers are continuing the Milk Run and the Rice Run programs as well as sponsoring young and promising students’ high school and university efforts through the School Run program.
In 2018, Sister was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia, “for distinguished service to the international community of Thailand through humanitarian assistance programs for the disadvantaged, and to improving the lives of women, children and the elderly.”
More information about Sister Joan Evans can be found below:
- Wikipedia page
- One of many Bangkok’s Nation newspaper articles
Photos of Sister and her work over the years (if you have photos you’d like to add, please email them).
