Today we feature some of the art produced by our children.
After all the hard work on the weekend it was good that we had a dry and sunny Sunday afternoon to head off to Huay Tung Tao and cool off and relax.
The rains have certainly continued to make a difference, with the water being right up to where we normally sit.
As usual the kids had a great time, all in attendance with House Mother, Wasanaa, and even Wispa along to.
Sep 062010
Without a doubt, when running a childrens home, there is no place for rose tinted glasses.
It most definitely has its ups and downs.
Fortunately, here at Stratton House the ‘ups’ are very much in the majority and this weekend brought me much pride in all of our children, on many fronts.
We always have to bear in mind that it can be difficult for the children, missing home and family; going through life changes.
Last week saw a couple of minor problems, and one child getting most upset when asked to modify their behaviour.
Left to calm down, the child in question was then counselled by House Mother Wasanaa on the reasons for their reprimand. Experience with working with children has taught me that reprimands on their own rarely work without clear and reasoned explaination. With that clear explaination, the child in question emerged apologetic for their behaviour and seemingly having a good understanding of the need to change.
Well done Wasanaa and well done that child for listening.
The weekend saw a massive effort by everyone with a major spring cleaning operation and attack on the constant growth in the garden.
The boys all helped outside in the garden with more strimming and garden waste clearance; the girls , and the boys when they had done in the garden, helped Wasanaa with cleaning the house; and everyone helped sort out our recycling bins that had not been being used properly.
All the bins were emptied and sorted; plastic, glass and metal, with paper to be stored at the back of the dogs house.
Kids, this is your home, and I hope you are as proud of yourselves for your efforts as I am of you all.
And its not just pride in the work effort.
Both earlier in the week and on the weekend I had the delight of seeing some lovely examples of imaginative and artistic play, done spontaneously, without instruction. Most of the girls were involved but a special mention for Som who may well have a future as a sculpter.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
Jun 302010
The Stratton ABC Foundation; registered charity no: ชม.310 (chor.mor.310).
Stratton House Childrens Home Chiang Mai
Newly registered, on 16-06-10, our Foundations work started in ernest on November 1st 2009 with the arrival of the first placement at our Childrens Home in Sarapee, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
What we do;
At present we have placements available for up to 14 children. Our placements are available for underprivileged children from Northern Thai Provinces, although we would consider cases from further afield if especially requested to.
Right now we are caring for 9 young children all from socially deprived areas;the majority have come to us to ensure consistent education due to difficulties with transport/uniform costs, etc back at home where financial resources are low.
As well as ensuring continuing educational placements within local government schools we also engage the children in after school and weekend activities,including English Language lessons, art and craft and physical activities such as badminton, football, etc; and helping out with our vegetable growing and general upkeep and improvement of our facilities.
It is our belief that involving the children in making improvements will give them a greater sense of ‘ownership’ and hopefully lead to a greater respect for their home and environment. It should also help to build the self esteem of youngsters who have often had little to feel good about and may feel of little worth.
As part of our wish to operate this Foundation in as open a manner as possible and also to allow our friends and supporters to feel a real part of this venture; and maybe to inform others who maybe thinking of setting up a Foundation here in Thailand; we will be showing the whole story here.
Where we are; 36/1 Moo7, T. Chompoo, A. Sarapee, Chiang Mai
Travelling from Chiang Mai towards Lampang ,on Highway 11, approximately 18 kilometres out of town you will reach the Sarapee/Banthi intersection; turn left for Banthi and follow the road to Ban Mae Salab; as the road bears left to cross the river, carry straight on under the village gate, (don’t cross the river), shortly after Wat Mae Salab on the right side you will see some brightly painted metal doors,( pink, green and yellow), these mark the start of our premises and you will see the gate shortly there after….approximately 2 kilometres from Highway 11.
Visitors welcome but a call in advance would be good to ensure we are on site. For the safety of the children all visits will be staff supervised.
Another week goes by and life goes on with the children making use of their free time, playing chess and making dens in the garden.
We have a good group here who play well together most of the time.
Chess is still very popular and we might have to think about more boards and maybe even an in house chess competition.
The younger ones tend to play in the garden, making temporary dens.
This is one of the reasons for the “lawn” in our wishlist.
We don’t like to discourage such imaginative play but we need to cut down on the cuts and bruises that occur with the present rough surface in the garden.
These days Tai is mostly to be found working at the computer, with quite an extrodinary amount of homework to be done.
This week the Lamyai have benefitted from the heavy rains and grown significantly, so that the children get to benefit to by eating these delicious fruit everyday.
For more photos from the week please visit our photobucket album here.
Today, (friday 25th), was an earlier start than normal so that Gu and Tai could get to Sarapee Train Station before 7.30am.
Their school was invloved with a Parade through Sarapee,that appeared to be promoting healthy living and warning of the dangers of drugs.
It does appear that, just like most countries these days, Thailand is battling a spread of the drug culture amongst the younger generation; so anything like this that may help the children think twice has to be commended.
The Parade followed the main road to Sarapee, from the train station, back to Sarapee Pittiyakom School.
Some adults took part as well, I suspect teachers and other school staff; and the local Police force were represented to.
All the kids at home were co-operative about an earlier bed time yesterday and were up and ready for breakfast an 6.45am
After seeing the younger ones off to school , I then took Gu and Tai to the train station to join their friends in preparation for school assembly and the Parade.
After returning home for coffee and breakfast myself, I returned to Sarapee to enjoy the parade and capture the event on my camera.
Unfortunately, trying as hard as I could to find him, Gu evaded the camera. He’s so small bless him. That said, i nearly missed Tai as well but one of his friends called out ‘hello’ and I got the shot.
It is a sad reflection of life today that parents around the world have little time to be able to go and see their children take part in such events, I feel blessed that it is my full time job to make the time.
And to Tai and Gu and all their school friends; I hope you enjoyed it and take heed of the theme of the Parade, your health and welfare are the most precious commodities you will ever possess.
For more photos of this event please visit our photobucket album here.
You may have read last week, about Tai having given the girls a hard time about their cooking. We made sure that this week was Tais turn. Having not really shown an interest in cooking before , the expected result was for the girls to be able to get their own back.
So on Saturday afternoon Wasana put Tai to work.
In fact it was a team effort, with Jack and Nu helping with the prep.
The cooking though, was all down to Tai.
I had asked for one of my favourites, Kaow Pat Geng Keowan; thats green curry fried rice.
It turned out that Tai has discovered a new talent, as the final result got close to rivaling Wasanas version.
In stead of giving him a hard time the girls and everyone else graciously gave him the praise he deserved.
For more photos from last week at home, please visit our photobucket album here.
Its been a week heavy on the homework. May(2), especially had a whole stack to complete over the weekend. She did her best but ended up having to finish up at school on Monday.
The other exciting news has been the kids getting started on the Thai language website for the Foundation.
We want all the children to be involved, but have selected the four eldest, Gu, Tai, May(2) and Jor as the ones responsible enough to actually work on the computer.
The younger ones will produce work on paper for the older ones to enter onto the site.
They got off to a good start this last weekend, with everyone writing up their own profile, some of which have already appeared on the site.
In the future they will also be doing weekly blog entries and a write up of the weekly trip out.
Great start kids, I’m so proud of you.
So another week gone and time for the Sunday trip out.
With summer weather back for the day, it had to be Huay Tung Tao again.
Wispa only needed calling once and ran over to jump in the truck with the kids, clearly looking forward to the day out as much as they were.
We had a near full quota of children this week, general behaviour having been very good all round.
The children have pointed out a need for a fan in the back of the truck , as when the sun is up it gets very hot back there.
We will see what we can do.
We spent 3 and a half hours there this Sunday with the children building sand castles, playing in the water, and spending some time in the playground, on the swings etc.
Not forgetting eating kanom and drinking pop.
One minor, problem after about five minutes of being there , was poor little May getting a bloody nose after some over exuberant play on entering the water.
A plus side to this happening was seeing the care between children as Tai applied make shift first aid with the ice we had brought for drinks.
I stepped up my exercise, with much more serious swimming whilst there, but also found time to chill as did 
Boon.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
Jun 192010
Hello my name is Tai.
I’am twelve years old. I come from Nan. I have been at Stratton House since december 2009.
Calling For Your Help
Uncategorized
1 Response »
Jun 182010
Seven and a bit months since we officially opened and nearly a year since started this project has seen much funding by the Directors. We have a few regular supporters and a couple of child sponsors, who add a little to the coffers.
Whilst still in the process of registration it is difficult to go out and find the bigger sponsors that we need to ensure that our work goes on here.
We would like to ask all that know and trust us and anyone who finds this site and likes what we are doing, to find it in their hearts to look at the ways they could help.
Please take some time to browse the online shop. We hope to extend the range of goods available, with all profit going into the Foundation Funds.
Please consider joining the ‘Because You Care Club’ and let us send special greetings to your loved ones on their Birthdays. Or perhaps you would like to become a sponsor for one of our children and get personalised updates on their progress, exchange letters , gifts etc.
You can donate online using the button on the right of the page.
Maybe, if you have the time and inclination, you could join our Australian friends, Faa Gamma, and organise a fund raising team and get your efforts featured on this site.
As the old saying goes, every little bit helps.
If you would like to fund something in particular please take a look at our wishlist.
Everyone here at Stratton House thanks you for your interest and any help you may be able to give.
