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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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! […]
Giving Children A Better Chance in Northern Thailand
"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
Its a popular time of year for Volunteers it seems as we have now been joined by Anna and Tom who will be helping out for 2 weeks.
Once again they have fitted in quickly with the children and having arrived on Friday evening have already had one busy day helping with the days trip out on Saturday for Childrens Day.
They have come armed with some great activity ideas and buckets of enthusiasm. We look forward to lots of fun during the next fortnight.
Childrens Day threatened to be a wash out with heavy rain first thing.
Thankfully this eneded at around 10.30am and , with Anna and Tom , we boarded the truck and headed first to the local celebrations at Chompoo.
It has to be said that we appeared to have missed the main fun and games but there was still a few things going on in the well organised village affair.
Gu managed to win himself a big money box and all the kids tucked in to the free food on offer.
From there we headed into Airport Plaza where everyone enjoyed watching a magic show. We actually decided that it was a tad noisey and also difficult for supervision of the whole group here and after the magic show we moved on to Central Plaza , Huay Kaeow where the children enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at the show and Playground set up in the centre of the Mall.
A lot of running around and as Anna and Tom can confirm , a tiring day for the adults, but the important thing was that the kids had a great time
The official Childrens Day is the second Saturday in January.
This year we had decided to stick to one of the smaller celebrations. We had been told that there would be activities at the Police Station in Chompoo.
So after the normal Saturday morning chores were finished we headed off at around 10.30am, taking the pleasant drive down the waterway to our Tumbol village.
Sure enough the activities were already underway with lots of games and giveaways to the children.
Mum kindly donated 100 baht to be given as a prize with one of the games, won by a local boy.
Our children got involved too, especially Nu who jumped at every chance to join in the fun.
Another well organised event by the local constabulary, who included a road sign identification game in the activities making for an educational morning as well as lots of fun.
There was not so much to do for the older of our children and after some thought and a couple of hours at Chompoo we decided to take everyone over to the Cold Season Festival at City Hall.
And what a good descision that was. One of the first things we did was get everyone a ticket for fishing out prize tickets from the waterway at the Red Cross stand. Most of us got washing liquid or shampoo, but Gu ended up winning us a twin tub washing machine.
After that great start we wandered around the festival where the children spent money that my Mother kindly gave and I paid for one big ride for everyone. The younger children all, opted for going on ‘bumper boats’ whilst Gu and Tai joined me on the Bumper cars.
Another great Day rounded off at home with another giveaway of cuddly toys from my Mum and relaxing infront of the TV with a Disney cartoon.
Friday was time for Childrens Day celebrations at Mae Salaab School which meant a perfect excuse for Mum to go and take a look at where the children go for their education.
When we arrived the festivities were already well underway with lots of games on stage and in the playground.
It was great to see all the children having so much fun. We were especially proud when seeing our kids getting involved, talking, playiing and singing on stage.
Mum was given a warm welcome by all and had a little friend, Nuuan, accompany her everywhere for much of the visit.
The children all received free bags and far too much kanom, but hey its only once a year.
Our children did all have to put their uneaten kanom in the kitchen store where it will given out over the coming days at an acceptable rate.
Well done all the staff at Mae Salaab for a very well organised fun day for all the children.
The official childrens day is the second Saturday in January, but it came a day early at Pasak School with a large event held, to which several local schools came to take part.
There was a big turn-out and the many food stalls and attractions were kept busy all the way through.
All the children were very patient, standing in line with their respective schools on the sports field whilst the opening ceremonies were performed.
Once all the opening announcements were finished it was time for the fun to start and the tidy lines became a stampede for the games, on offer under the various marquees and of course, the free kanom.
Throughout the morning there were various performances on the large stage close to Wat Pasak. It really is a delight to be at such an event and see the effort made by the whole community to make a special day for the children.
In between performances by children, from all the attending schools, there were prizes given away, ranging from boxed milk to big cuddly toys to bicycles.
The dancing shows were fantastic to watch and it was obvious that all the children had put a lot of effort into practising their routines and they should all be very proud of themselves. I’m sure also that many teachers and parents worked hard behind the scenes with the wonderful costumes worn for the performances.
From the tiny infants, excitedly giggling their way through their acts, to the older kids turning in very laudable routines, they all put in a huge effort and a great show.
For me, whilst they were all very good, special praise should go to the three acts featured in the video clips below.
The traditional Thai dancing always holds me spellbound when performed so well.
The girls from Pasak School did a fantastic job with their lively number.The lead dancer for much of the routine, Best, looked very relaxed and professional and has that killer smile to top it off.And I can tell you that that smile is natural, brightens my day everytime I go to teach.
Hope you don’t mind girls, but my personal favourite was the traditional dance and drum number. In the heat of the day I think these boys deserve a medal for what was clearly quite an exhausting routine for ones so young. The lead Drum boy pulled off a wonderful flowing performance as did the mock fighting dancers with their cymbals. All our children appeared to have a great time. Jack couldn’t believe his luck with so much kanom around and everytime i turned around he was eating something.
In the marquees there were stands where the children could aim at targets with catapults; knock cans down with balls, throw hoops over bottles or roll metal balls onto targets. There was a large marquee for the infants with lots of colouring books and lots of adults there to help and make a fuss of them. I also saw children playing some sort of board game that looked similar to scrabble.
Right in front of the Temple was the obligatory bouncy castle and a small merry-go-round.
The kids were treated to a fly over by a motorised paraglider,(not sure if it was arranged or not) There was so much fun and excitement to enjoy that alot of children were ready for home by 1pm as the heat got ever more intense.
It was clear that the children in this friendly community all had a wonderful time as do thousands of children throughout Thailand during this great annual event.
Personally I think this day should be adopted worldwide…cliche or not..the children are our future.
Its a long time coming, but here at last is the report on the recent Childrens Day celebrations.
Childrens Day is an annual event in Thailand, held on the second weekend in January, where a lot of effort is put into making a special day for all children.
Personally I prefer it to Xmas as there is no religious pretence, just blatant spoiling of the children for a day.
Indeed many children get more than one day as the schools often hold their own ‘Childrens Day’ on the Friday, as they did at Pasak School, where I teach.
It was not an easy decision as to where to take the children from Stratton House on Childrens Day; so many events, large and small, to choose from.
In the end we elected to follow advice given by a local friend and take them to Airforce 41 Base, close to Chiang Mai Airport, where, we were told , there would be several aircraft on display and lots of interesting stuff going on.
Hindsight is a pretty useless thing as, but in hindsight it was not such a good descision for us.
It certainly was a big affair with thousands of local families attending. Our problem was the numbers and lay-out. From the car parking area there was quite along route to walk to get to where all the aircraft and activities were.
This route was lined with hundreds of stalls selling all manner of clothes, toys, nic-nacs, food, etc; so many distractions for the kids within a narrow walkway packed with hundreds of people.
Within 10 minutes we had lost the two older boys. Although confident that they could look after themselves we still needed to locate them incase an emergency caused us to need to leave. Everyone had been issued with a card with phone number to ring if our group got seperated.
Leaving the other children at The Bouncy Castle with Wasana, our house Mum, myself and Boon went on a search. Nearly 2 hours later after much searching and numerous tannoy calls we bumped into the 2 boys on the way back to the car, blissfully unaware of the stress they had caused.
Lucky it was Childrens Day and they got away with stern instruction not to wander off again. In view of the crowds and difficulty in keeping the group together we then left Airforce 41 and drove into Chiang Mai to Kad Suan Kaow Shopping Mall where there was a special Childrens Day playground set up in the centre ‘garden’.
After lunch in the Food Court in the lower level of the Mall we took the Children to the fun and games in the central garden area.
The two older boys were given the job of acting as extra eyes to keep an eye out for the younger ones as they joined the fun.
Being a much more contained area the crowds were not such a problem and the kids had a great afternoon.
It was late afternoon , early evening when they got their special Childrens Day surprise, made possible by the generous efforts of the Faa Gamma fundraising team in Australia.
The team kindly held a special Xmas appeal to raise money to purchase bicycles for the children to use and enjoy.
We were able to buy four bicycles for the children to share and these were presented to the children on their return to Stratton House.
Apologies for the poor photo quality.
Many thanks to our good friend Heather and all her team; the kids love the bikes and use them everyday as soon as they return from school.
