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  • Comment on The Foundation by John
    Hi Selwyn, In case you don't see this I will email you direct also, early this week. I think the best i can reccomend is that you contact the RICD(Royal Institute For Child Development) (http://www.ricd.go.th/) close to Mae Rim. This is an excellent facility with expert Doctors , social workers and all the access and knowledge of the sort of help you ar […]
    John
  • Comment on Another Special Sunday by Mum/Grandma/mama
    just seen your last three updates,with all the hard work done by everyone it was good to see there was also time to relax and have fun, thankyou to all who made this possible xxxx […]
    Mum/Grandma/mama
  • Comment on The Foundation by selwyn wilson
    Hi John My name is Selwyn Wilson a soon to 66 year old UK pensioner. I have been the only carer of 10 year old Arissa Sompamit from Omkoi since she was struck down with JEV in September 2009. She is brain damaged and has all that accompanies this Disease.I met 2 Thai ladies at the Mc Kean rehab centre where I have taken her for Occupational Therapy until Mar […]
    selwyn wilson
  • Comment on Spaghetti and Meatballs Curtesy of Ray and Tak by RAY& tAK
    sO hAPPY THAT YOU CAME BY..... WE WILL DO IT AGAIN […]
    RAY& tAK
  • Comment on Volunteering by Innovative Management Group
    My brother recommended I might like this blog. He used to be totally right. This post actually made my day. You can not consider simply how a lot time I had spent for this info! Thank you! […]
    Innovative Management Group

 

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‎"telling someone what they have to learn is a long and tortuous road, often ineffective; giving someone the opportunity to explore what their brain finds particularly interesting at the time opens the gateway to optimization of that individuals potential" anon
 

Single Mattress

Up until now all the children have been sleeping on the basic “cardboard” filled matresses.

These are adequate enough for the younger children but our teenagers are now in need of better quality support for their health and welfare.

They are now getting to the point where the present mattresses won’t support their weight which leads to sunken mattresses which I am concerned will then lead to possible back problems.

There are many outlets in Chiang Mai selling basic , good quality mattresses at very reasonable cost.

Please consider helping us replace at least 5 of our presently used mattresses.

 

Today has been a full day for our Volunteer Emilie. She arrived here at 8.30 and after breakfast of brown rice and chives got involved in a ball came in the yard with most of the children.

Shortly after 9 we all went up to the Foundations land to carry on clearing the overgrowth.

Emilie pitched in with the kids, clearing the straw already strimmed earlier in the week, whilst Tai took over strimming duty again.

With the heat of the day increasing we called it a day a at around 10.30. Tai however insisted on staying on with the strimmer.  Leaving Zak with him we allowed him to carry on whilst we took the others home.

I returned shortly after and was amazed at the amount he had got done and he wouldn’t stop until shortly before midday.

I’m very grateful for that extra effort as it reduces the amount left for me to finish over the next couple of days.

Back home, after lunch Emilie interacted with the children in a variety of games and activities, using the opportunity to encourage the children to practice their English language skills through play.

The children’s daily duties were not neglected either and they even found time to change the fish pond water.

Super Sunday :)

 

We seem to be getting a good run with Volunteers as we have now been joined by Emilie Gumy, a lovely lady who has been teaching in Korea and was directed to us by a previous volunteer Eunjey.

Arriving yesterday we picked her up from Sarapee on the way home from collecting our four Mattayom level students who have been away on a 3 day Scout camp with their school.

That was lunch time and it didn’t take long for Emily to pitch in, helping the girls with the post-lunch clear up.

And she appeared to be an instant hit with the kids after that joining them in their Saturday afternoon free time and instigating some fun and games herself.

She also helped the May 2 and Jor with their new “spring” mattresses purchased yesterday.

We bought 3 with one going to Tai. We will be replacing more in the near future but are still looking for a kind hearted sponsor to cover the costs.

Emilie will be with us until next Saturday so I’m sure there will be much more fun in-store.

 

As the glitz of Xmas wears off its great to see our creative kids still get just as much, if not more, fun from their own hand made creations as any of the shop bought stuff. With lots of creative input over time the children here at Stratton House can often be found with scissors, glue and card, putting together a new Dolls House, Castle, or even moving parts toys.

Its heart warming to see a bunch of kids not yet so over run by modern technology that they can’t see the worth of the simple things made by their own hand.

Or indeed made for them with love of a sibling. Watch Zak as he plays with the “train” made by his older brother Tai, from old milk cartons and bottle tops.

 
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Yet more thanks to Pui for helping to put us in touch with our new friend and supporter Jurgen,

Today we had a very welcome visit from Pui, her family and Jurgen and his friend Ohs. Jurgen has expressed an interest in helping our Foundation, liking our core philosophies and our work so far.

Our visitors came with yet another great lunch for the kids, with green curry, chicken, noodles and much more. Jurgen and Ohs also presented us with a huge supply of toothpaste and toothbrushes for the children, donated by a dentist friend of theirs in Switzerland. Sorry I failed to get your name, but we all say a big thanks for that.

After a fantastic lunch Jurgen offered a return visit to Childrens World at the Night Safari. And so there followed a wonderful afternoon for the kids and a relaxing time for the adults with chance to discuss several ideas in connection with onward funding and development.

This includes a kind offer to help design and produce drawings for our ” permanent facility”.

We would like to thank Jurgen, Ohs, Pui and all her family for their generous support and I look forward to ongoing discussions in the near future.

 

 

 

The New Year brings renewed determination to get further prepared for the “permanent facility” for the Foundation. First need is to accurately measure the plot once more, in metres in order to go ahead with deigning and producing proper architectural plans.

Thanks to recently made contacts we now have someone prepared to help us with this.

So this week has seen a couple of trips by myself, up to the land with the strimmer and then again Saturday and Sunday mornings with the children pitching in with the job.

I am hoping to get the complete clearance done in the next couple of days so that those all important measurements can be made.

 

It was some time ago when we launched our Gamma Team idea.

Sadly, although we have had a couple of ex-volunteers doing what they can we still only have 2 official Gamma Teams; our first Faa gamma, headed by good friend Heather Mackay in Queensland , Australia; and Yai Gamma which is basically my Mum and my sister. Both these teams are doing their best to hold varying fund raisers most months and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those involved for all their hard work and support.

Our present basic monthly running costs are around 1000 pounds sterling. Thanks to great efforts by both Gamma teams over the Xmas period and regular contributions from an American couple, we received a little over that for Januarys budget. This is the first time we have actually covered our budget totally with donations.

On average we are receiving just half of what we need with the remainder being made up by myself.

To sustain our work and to hopefully move forward this is not a tenable situation.

If you are looking in and have time , energy and ideas and would like to help a very worthwhile cause please consider joining our Fund Raising Family. Your “team” can be just one person or a group of friends. If you keep a record of your Fund raising activities and take some photos to we will give you space on our website where your efforts will be credited.

From jumble sales to home made fashion show, movie clubs to coffee mornings…..as the old adage  goes,” every little helps” and with enough small fund raising teams around the world our target is not a huge mountain to climb.

If you are local to or visiting Chiang Mai and want to confirm what you see on our website via a personal visit please do get in touch.

We are dedicated to quality “family style” care with extensive efforts towards true development of each and every child’s potential, employing art, music, dance, character building work projects and are now moving forward with even more practical skills development, including basic electronics.

Please help us sustain our work, which is starting to show marked results. And not just to sustain but to develop and offer  ”A Better Chance” to many more children in the future.

 
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Due to Annas need to bring forward travel plans for Australia, having secured herself a job, this was Anna and Toms last day with children.

And another full day it was.

Certainly the morning was busy with the usual work time slot, with more work being done to our “workshop”.

As there wasn’t really enough jobs to go round on this project, Anna took some of the girls to begin a new Mural on the rear wall of the outdoor shower block.

After work hour Tom got into more Patong and Anna helped Bpaa Zang and the girls in the kitchen.

Top star lunch. Nam pik phlaa with  sweet and sour chicken and cabbage and eggplant on the side. Genuine Thai cuisine as tasty as any you’d get in the city restaurants.

In the after noon things were a little more chilled with the kids keeping themselves occupied with Patong and their bicycles and the adults taking some time to let our food go done and grab an afternoon nap.

Active Anna succumbed, finally, to the heat and took some well earned nap time in the garden.

We all said a big thanks to our visitors over dinner and wish them all the best for their new life in Australia. Hopefully “see you again” rather than goodbye?

 

You may have seen a previous post “Funday Sunday” where I mentioned bumping into Ray , Tak and little Mik at San Kampaeng Hotsprings.

During our converstaion there Ray and Tak told us that they would like to invite us all to lunch at their home sometime soon.

Well that “sometime soon” was yesterday, and an amazing lunch it was too.

We arrived at their family home shortly before Midday to a very warm welcome. Mik is fortunate enough to have quite a store of toys, plus bicycles and scooters and it wasn’t long before all the kids were having fun.

Ray and Tak had laid on lots of kanom and pop as well as a fantastic spreed for lunch. As well as Thai food, Kapoaw, there was Spaghetti and meatballs in rich tomato sauce and eggplant bruschetta( I think), with mozzarella, and garlic toast.

Na Na the Huskie puppy was popular with the kids and very friendly.

As well as playing with the many toys and bicycles the children spent quite sometime playing Patong.

Anna and Tom seemed to have a great time too.

Shortly before leaving mid-afternoon we all went for a short walk and spent a little time watching a local fisherman at work in local pond.

We would like to say a very big thanks for a fantastic lunch to our kind host Ray, Tak and Mik.

 

 

 

As some of you will already know we unfortunately lost House Mother Muay, on Boxing Day, after she decided to leave the job to spend more time with her own family. The stresses and strains of helping to care for 10 children can take their toll and we wish Muay all the best for the future. Whilst here she did a great job.

This has meant an extra workload for myself whilst waiting for new staff.

Thankfully, after a couple of non-starters I am pleased to introduce our new House Mother, Zangboon. Now known as Bpaa Zang. She has pitched into the job straight away since starting on Tuesday and all the signs are that we have yet another great member of staff. Floors are sparkling, children are getting lots of hugs and our stomachs are being treated to excellent quality Thai cuisine. Zang apparently had her own business in the past cooking Thai food to sell at local factories at lunch time.

© 2011 The Stratton ABC Foundation Childrens Home Chiang Mai Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha