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.
Due to heavy colds we didn’t go swimming this weekend so on site activity was called for.
These will be on sale at bargain prices. They may well be too late for use this year, with Christmas so near and postal services under the usual seasonal strain. But hey!…why not think ahead and have that extra special card to send next year?
With a view to producing an ongoing line of cards we would like to welcome you to a preview of the first offerings in the ‘Because You Care’ range.
Life is going on nicely at Stratton House. This week we said goodbye to Boons Dad, who has now completed the making of 30 collection boxes. he also did extensive work around the grounds and we all say a big thankyou.
White string was tied from the entrance gate all around the property, back to the gate and then back to the house.
The children we very well behaved and in the afternoon I took them to the playground in Mae Salab school as a thankyou.
Once he arrived proceedings began with me lighting candles and incense sticks on the prepared ‘altar’ and paying due respect to the teachings of The Lord Buddha, his followers and to The Buddha himself.
Indeed Somboon had to gently nudge me out of this state when it came to me to perform more duties, passing gifts into the hands of the Monks.
The children present looked on with keen interest and Jack even came to sit beside me and joined in with the lay persons repetitions of the chanting.
The Monks ate at low tables set out in the living room and before they left I was able to chat with them for a while. Thankfully the head Monk spoke good English and I thanked them for their blessings and talked of my love for Chiang Mai, its people and its culture. They in turn thanked me for the respect shown and wished The Foundation every success and welcomed us to the village.
The day was not about money, but about acceptance within our local community and proper respect to the local culture which happens to be genuinely close to my heart.
Impressed by the childrens patience and behaviour throughout the ceremony, a tired crew made the effort to reward them with a trip to the popular waterfall picnic area a quarter of the way up Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, later in the afternoon.
We have done our best to make Stratton House feel as much like a modern family home as possible and, with out a doubt, one of the most popular household items is the T.V.
During school days no TV is allowed in the morning. On returning home, the strict rule is that the TV does not ge turned on until all homework is finished.
If homework is done, and behaviour good, an hour or twos cartoons or childrens movies are allowed.
