‎"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

Thai Language Site

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Jun 182010
 
Stratton House Childrens Home Chiang Mai

We have long wanted to have a Thai language version of this website as local support is very much wanted and needed. At long last we have made some headway. By clicking on the Thai flag you will go to the Thai language site. This is still under construction and at the moment contains both Thai and English language.

With some difficulty in finding someone with the time to be able to run the Thai language site we have decided to make it a project for the children. Each week a different child will write about life here at Stratton House. Then one of the 4 eldest children will enter the stories into the site.

If this goes well we will also be featuring english language versions of their work on this site.

We hope to get started with this project this weekend.

Grey Day Brings Cultural Bai Tio

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Jun 172010
 
kadsuankaow (Large)

This Sunday just gone,(13th), was clouded over with the threatening grey clouds of the present rainy season. So, for a change we decided not to go to Huay Tung Tao.

Instead we had an afternoon or culture, both modern and traditional.

We started off with a trip to Kad Suan Kaow Shopping Plaza.

I needed some bits for mobile phone repairs and, while I was sorting that we let the kids all chose a book from the book sales counters on the 3rd floor.

As well as the childrens own choices I managed to get a full set of Hans Christian Anderson story books, printed in both Thai and English language, a bargain at 29 baht each for the seven books.

Book buying and window shopping done with we returned to the truck to head off for our second destination, Wat Doi Suthep.

 The road up to the Temple is around 12 km from the bottom. Steep and winding, I was impressed with how well our truck did getting up there with a near full load.

One of the first things that caught the childrens eyes was the presence of Mong Tribes people dressed in traditional clothing on the steps up to the Temple.

Up at the Temple we enjoyed a slow walk around the outside, stopping briefly to watch the traditional dancing displays.

Some of the children followed the example of other visitors and went along the rows of bells ringing each one in turn.

We spent quite sometime at the viewing area that looks over Chiang Mai City with some spectacular views.

After sometime we entered the main Temple area, which is undergoing some major reconstruction work at this time.

May, Jor, Tai and Nu took time to pour oil on the row of lamps close to the central Chedi.

Gu, being Christian chose not to enter the main Wat and went with Somboon to explore the market at the bottom of the Temple steps.

After seeing what there was to see in the Wat, the rest of us went for drinks before taking the cable train back down to the road and heading back to the truck.

More shopping at Macro before getting home for dinner.

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

April Holiday.

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Jun 162010
 

A few days after our volunteers left, it was time for the kids to spend time with their families during the end of year holiday. Yong and May(1) went home for a 3 weeks and Jack went for 2. The rest of the kids, who all come from Nan Province had 7 days, during which Boon and myself had a well earned break fromthe day to day running of the home.

We left Chiang Mai on the 8th of April, getting an early start at 4am, to give the kids as much time with their families as possible.

Its a long haul to Nan, especially with just one driver in the April heat, so there were lots of rest stops on the way.

We finally got to Pua in Nan at around 1pm after dropping May(2) off at her village near Tung Chang.

Needing to keep to a low budget Boon and myself booked into a guest house in Pua at 300 baht a night.

The holiday had been delayed due to Tai needing to sign in at his new school in Sarapee, so our original plan to get home for Song Kran was scuppered. This was maybe a good thing as it meant that the children got to celebrate this important cultural celebration with their loved ones.

Me and Boon spent most days at the nearby Silaphet Waterfall, a beautiful spot to stay cool in the summer heat…and free!

Its very popular with the local population, but luckily the stream is accessible for quite a distance up the mountain. This means that with a bit of trekking you can always find a spot that’s not so overcrowded.

On the 13th we went into Nan city to join in the Song Kran celebrations ourselves.

We booked into a guesthouse there for one night and rented a motorcy for the day.

In many ways Nan was quite a relief from the mayhem you tend to get in Chiang Mai.

We spent the day riding around the town, getting doused with the rest of the revellers. Once we’d had our fill of getting soaked we took refuge in a coffee shop in the main street and took time to get some photos of the fun.

Whilst on this break we got two new enquiries, one for a 12 year old girl, friend of Mays; and one for a 14 year old boy from Santisuk.

On the 14th we drove out to Santisuk to assess the boys case. This involved a long hard drive to his very remote hilltribe village.

In the end we agreed to take both children, Jor,the girl and Gu, the boy.

On the 15th we collected all the children and returned home to Stratton House.

Already friends with May(2), Jor settled in quickly. Gu took a few days to find his feet and come out of his shell but is now well established as part of the group.

The April Holiday is a long stretch and we are thankful for having the small river so close which gave daily respite from the sweltering heat. Weekly trips to Huay Tung Tao also helped.

The rest of the time we kept the kids occupied with art, karaoke, English language lessons and playing with the board games they had made with Mikki and Siva. We also purchased a version of Monopoly which became almost as popular as Uno.

Chess has also emerged as one of the childrens favourites and Tai even made two chess boards from some perspex we had left over from making the collection boxes.

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

Our First Volunteers

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May 312010
 
P1030225 (Large)

This is a much overdue report on our first volunteers here at Stratton House.

After a friend passed on details of our work here,

Two lovely ladies from Switzerland got in touch and expressed a wish to come and help out for a few days during their holiday in Thailand.

It was right at the start of the school holidays so we were glad of the offer of assistance.

We picked up Mikki and Siva,(hope I got the names right girls), from Chiang Mai, on Sunday 28th March on our way to Huay Tung Tao.

After another great afternoons water play there, the girls came back to Stratton House with us and stayed for 5 days.

Their visit was much appreciated by all and in the short time they were with us they did so much.

Girls you are welcome back anytime.

From Monday to Friday the girls kept the kids occupied with many activities, including mask making, weaving bracelets, making board  games and not forgetting playing Uno.

Indeed Uno became quite an obsession and continued to be so long after the girls left, leaving the Uno cards behind for the kids.

I hope Mikki and Siva were as happy with their visit as we were. I know that I was personally very tired at the time and only hope that my stresses didn’t effect their visit.

All the children loved having them here and missed them when they were gone.

We all hope your onward travels went well and hope you’ll be back in touch some time.

For many more photos from the girls 5 day visit please visit our photobucket album here.

Bai Tio, Huay Kaow Waterfall Doi Suthep

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Feb 212010
 

When asked where they wanted to go this weekend , the children asked to go back to the waterfall at Doi Suthep.

 Not happy about the risk of more injury from broken glass, we decided to try the Huay Kaow Waterfall a little further downstream.

This waterfall is more developed for visitors with a car park and many shops and cafes.

The entrance is just a few yards from Chiang mai Zoo at the bottom of Doi Suthep.

 The hope was that it would benefit from better upkeep and be safer.

Eating at home again we left at 11.30, getting to the waterfall at 12.30.

 It is certainly more beautiful and better maintained, although this means its loses some of the natural wild charm of the one further up the mountain.

We picked a shady spot as our base and the kids had lots of fun playing in the waters.

Again, despite having eaten already, I couldn’t resist getting hold of some sticky rice and nam pik see daeng, my favourite picnic snack, and lemonade and kanom for the kids.

Luckily no injuries this week.

I say luckily because, although there was certainly less, there was still a fair bit of broken glass around.

 Little Som did a valient, unprompted, job picking up several pieces out of the rock pools and disposing of them in a safe place.

We left the waterfall at around 3pm , with a short visit to the impressive ‘aboretum’ park the other side of the Zoo entrance, at the top of Huay Kaow Rd., before heading home for 5pm.

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

Valentines Day

 Foundation Blog  1 Response »
Feb 172010
 

This Sunday happened to be Valentines Day, so the day out included not only Huay Tung Tao,

 but also visits to both Kamtieng  Garden  Market and the Flower Market close to Chiang Mais China Town at the banks of the River Ping.

We ate at home this week and then enjoyed a couple of hours of the peaceful ambience of Huay Tung Taow and some time in the water, before heading into Kamtieng Garden Market, behind Tesco Lotus on the super highway.

The children had made a special request to be able to go and buy flowers for Valentines day.

At Kamtieng we let the children choose some flowers for the garden. From there we went to the riverside Flower Market where they all bought roses.

The spirit of Valentines truely came to Stratton House a couple of days early. Friday evening saw the culmination of a very stressful week for myself.

As hard as I tried I know that the children had sensed my stress.

On returning home, mid-evening from a meeting I was met by all the children as I walked into the house. They took me by the hands and ushered me, excitedly, round to the art area. There they proceeded to hand me a whole load of Valentines cards and paper hearts that they had made for me.

To say I was touched is an understatement. The stresses of the week, and this spontaneous show of affection, hit me like a tornado and I have to confess to being unable to stop the tears.

 I quickly assured the children that it was because they had made me so happy.

 This now has become a running quote in the house, “Daddy long hai, bpen kwam suk mak”.

The cards and hearts now adorn my door and bring a glow to my heart each time I see them.

For more photos from the day please visit our photobucket album here.

Mays 11th Birthday

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Feb 172010
 

Monday saw the first Birthday party for one of the children from Nan. It is strange how Thai people don’t appear to take so much note of their birthday or, indeed, birth year. There was a little confusion at first with May claiming to be 12 years old. Checking her birth certificate I confirmed that she actually became 11 on Monday. Sorry May, another year before you get to stay up later.

May got a little extra pocket money for the day at school and we gave her her card on her return from school.

 It had ended up that I was on my own to do the present buying at the market in Banthi in the morning. May had requested clothes and I was not at all sure what to buy an 11 year old Thai girl. After a light dinner I presented her with the two shirts I had bought and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw how happy she was with them.

She rushed off to put her favourite on, before we had the small party at around 7pm. Birthday cake, mango and sticky rice and lots more kanom and pop.

Lots of smiles and happiness that make this work worth it.

Bike Road Laid Out

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Feb 072010
 

Thanks to a herculian effort by all the children yesterday , it looks like our original estimate of 5 weekends was way over the top.

Once they got started and the track started to take shape , the children didn’t want to stop.

All the younger children worked hard gathering up loose stones and leveling the track.

Tai was entrusted with the job of shaping points on short bamboo stakes to hold the track marking poles in place.

All the children wanted to have a go at banging the stakes in and managed very well in places where the ground was softest; using wooden sticks as hammers when I refused to allow them to weild the heavy metal lump hammer that myself and Tai used later to bang the stakes in until they were firm.

Even working lat in the afternoon the heat was quite intense and I tried calling a halt to the work after a little over an hour.

 But the children would have none of it, not wanting to stop until the whole track had at least been laid out.

Well done kids, to say I am proud of you is an understatement!
For more photos of this project please visit our photobucket album here.

Sponsor a Child – problem solving

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Feb 022010
 

Belated thanks to our first child sponsors, Azadeh and Heather from the Faa Gamma fund raising team.
Azadeh has started sponsoring Nu and Heather is sponsoring Jack.
I have to apologise for continued technical problems with the sponsor facility in the shop.
Also an explaination of our child sponsor programme……..
Its still early days, but an early estimate of the basic running costs of caring for the children is standing at between 50 to 60,000 baht a month.
We have space for 14 children and so we have divided the basic costs between 14. Rather than ask child sponsors to pay a high rate and so exclude many who may like to help, we have decided to ask for 4 sponsors per child.
At a point where I can sort out my problem with the shop programming, this will be made clear in the shop with sponsorship availability clearly shown. When a child has 4 sponsors they will still be seen in the shop but “product” availibility will be at 0.

Thankyou for your patience.

Bike Track in Progress

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Feb 022010
 

At long last we got a bit of a start on our planned work project, making a bike track that will go all the way around the house.
The tracks borders will be marked with lengths of bamboo set in the ground.
The first job was to make out the start of the track and remove all the loose stones.
All the children pitched in and we estimate the project will take about 4 or five weekends to complete.

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