Help Educate Children Living in Poverty inThailand

In the 1st quarter of 2018, we have been busy. We finished off the Thai school year strong and had a couple of short-term interns complete some great projects. We once again worked most closely with The Community Development Center (CDC), by painting their classrooms, organizing first aid workshops and helping them grow their bio-garden!

In addition to our regularly scheduled English, School Garden, and Healthcare classes at CDC, we found time to paint a mural in the halls of the school. In an underfunded school such as the CDC, the children have bare classrooms with few opportunities for peripheral learning. We will continue to steadily build a rich, stimulating environment in which the children can flourish. At the height of growing season here, our school garden finally began to produce results. In our inaugural season we didn’t manage to produce enough food to feed the school, but it was sufficient to thrill students and show that a more organic approach to gardening could be as effective as one reliant on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. We will build up our facilities in the upcoming rainy season, hopefully constructing a structure to protect our crops from the coming storms and use what we have learned this year to increase yields.

We have held a week-long chili-challenge in the second week of January, where the volunteers ate dishes with stronger chilis every day. We managed to raise 145.77 GBP, which will be used to buy new plants, seeds and gardening tools for the CDC.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gviphangnga

After consulting local community members and officials at the district hospital, we have decided our most immediate and impactful health intervention is teaching community members first-aid. Long term strategies can focus on healthy behaviors such as proper nutrition and avoidance of drugs and alcohol This quarter, a healthcare intern put on a two-day first aid workshop for upper level students at the CDC. The students practiced illness and injury assessment, bandaging, splinting, and slinging.

We have had one-off projects with our partners as well. The GoSoNo Non-Formal Education Center in Takua Pa asked us to help with a 1-week intensive business English class in February. 3 of our volunteers put together 25 hours of English lessons focusing on retail and restaurant English for 20 adult learners. We also began summer vacation in mid-March and put on a 2-day summer camp at Ban Bang Theep school with the help of several conservation volunteers. Activities included sports/exercise, first-aid stations, and arts & crafts. Along with our regular classes at the Ban Nam Khem school, we also helped the older students prepare for their O-NET exam, their version of the O-level exam.

Our second quarter will bring fundraisers to continue to support our three main partners, the Camillian social center, the CDC school and the BTNC Foundation Kindergarten Classes.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our great cause this quarter, please follow us this coming quarter as well.

All the best,

Team Phang Nga