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BACKGROUND OF TEMPLE
The Brisbane Thai Temple is a spiritual and community based organization that administers to the spiritual, moral and cultural needs of the Thai community. The Temple is a pivotal component of the community offering spiritual services including religious guidance, support in times of illness, counseling services, marriage ceremonies, funeral processions, language and cultural classes. Daily Lunch Ceremonies are held every day where the Thai Community offer food to the monks who are unpaid for any of their work, relying totally on their parishioners for all of their needs. Between 6-10 people attend week days and up to 20 to 40 on the Weekends. On special religious ceremony days (four each year), between 2,000 and 3,000 people from the Thai and local community attend the Temple.
  
Special ceremonies
The Buddhist calander has many special ceremonies. We have 4 very special ceremonies which include, Buddha’s Day (Makha Puja Vesakha Puja and Arsanha Puja), Mothers Day, (Thai Queen Mother) Thai New Year and Robe Offering Ceremnony.
Currently we have more then 500 registered member families who are actively involved with the Temple and approximately 2000 non-members who reside in southeast Queensland and use the Temple’s services and attend during festivals and other celebratory occasions.
  
Providing a free service to the whole community
Wat Thai Buddharam provides a valuable service to the community. The population of Thai people who were born in Thailand but live in Queensland is 3,050. Approximately 2,000 of this population reside in South East Queensland.
Wat Thai Buddharam developed the cultural program to strengthen ‘mixed’ families and to support migrant Thais with non-Thai spouses. The program helps to make the Thai parent feel looked after and gain benefits from their children’s cultural understanding of the Thai way of life. This aims to produce an empathetic family experience. Wat Thai Buddharam has also been pro-active in ensuring the immediate and future welfare of the Thai community in Australia and their families.
Wat Thai Buddharam is profoundly involved with the local community as it serves as a focal point for all Thai people in our community.
Thai Language school
Our program assists and encourages our youth and adults to learn Thai as a second language. This greatly benefits the wider community as it may in the future facilitate cultural exchange essential in a globalizing community. This has benefits that stretch from our local community out into our national community.
· Children are taught to read, write and speak Thai free of charge every Sunday during the school term.
· Non Adult Thai’s are taught the Thai Language culture and meditation
· This helps spouses and step children to communicate with their Thai side of the family both here and in Thailand.
· People traveling toThailand for work or pleasure are keen to learn as well.
  
Benefiting everyone
Our festivals and religious events provide an opportunity for isolated members of our community to develop friendships and meet other members of their same culture and language.
The Thai and local people benefit from all of the services that the temple provide. This includes
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Counselling and support to assist people to deal with individual crises
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Language and culture program to bring together Thai-Australians on a social level and assist their children to learn Thai culture and language and more specifically their own Thai heritage.
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Raising local awareness of Thai culture, and providing an opportunity for the broader community to learn about Thai people and Thailand . For the broader public this means greater understanding of diversity and cultural exchange.
Improving relationships in family’s & communities
The benefits of our programs will echo throughout the entire community. Benefits such as:
• A strengthening of the entire community through its youth oriented focus. Flow-on effects extend directly to the families and the broader community.
• Children will be connected to their Thai cultural heritage and will feel more accepted into the Thai community
• A reduction of the social isolation associated with newly migrated Thais. This will assist adjustment into Australia and help create happy households.
• An increase in our children’s self-esteem and their pride in a ‘mixed’ cultural identity
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