After doing a couple of hours of that Monday morning, we went out on Re-cycle collection, first to our friend Blues’ house near Wat Suan Dawk, Chiang Mai and then calling in at the American Pacific International School Kindergarten in Hang Dong Road.

Whilst at APIS we got confirmation that the schools Main Campus wishes to join in our project and we will be contacting them this week to sort out collection details.

On the way home from there we also picked up a decent haul from Kwan Wiang Moo bahn.

Picking the Mattayom students up on the way we then returned home.

Emilie then switched to Volunteer carer mode and joined in fun and games with the children. As well as some karaoke going on Emilie did a great art exrecise with the children producing “sand pictures”

In the evening there was a Buddhist celebration going on at Wat Mae Salaab and we took all the children along for an hour after dinner.

We first watched the parade headed by a “Prince” on pony, before taking the children to the fair that was set up, where the younger ones spent time on the Bouncy Castle and the older ones had goes on Balloon popping and shooting games.

Then it was back home to get that all important homework done before bed.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

We made the arrangement for Saturday lunchtime with me happy that yet more people are stepping forward to help but with no clue as to who these new people were.

At 11.30am Saturday morning I got a very nice surprise as we were treated to a visit from Bpaa Ohm and her generous group of friends.

Prior to starting the Foundation, I had run a business in the centre of Chiang Mai for 2 years and for the majority of that time Bpaa Ohm was my next door neighbour, with her own business. We got on famously then and I have often wondered how she was and remember those times fondly.

She was equally surprised, having no idea that I was running this Foundation. Our old landlords secretary, who worked above Bpaa Ohms shop was also in the group.

So it was a particularly happy welcome to this lovely group of Thai citizens, plus one “Farang” , Ian, who came and donated not only a fantastic lunch of Hang Lay and other traditional Thai food, but also bedsheets, kanom, kitchen supplies, such as cooking oil and sauces , and a generous cash donation of 4000 baht.

We would like to thank them all very much and hope it won’t be too long before we see them again.

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.

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?