Prathom - The Stratton ABC Foundation Childrens Home Chiang Mai

February 2012
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jan
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29

Prathom Project ..Dog House

Dec 132011

As the Mattayom team put the finishing touches to their Villa and Sport Project the Prathom students have now started their own project, building a Dogs shelter. We have 4 dogs and as the cold weather draws in we thought it would be nice to build them a proper “home”. Not only will it help them keep warm and dry but will also give them a shaded spot to retreat to in the heat of the sun.

The start of the work was hard work, clearing the selected site of weeds and then digging post holes. Once again the kids rose to the challenge very well this weekend.

Vegetable Plots Spreading

Foundation Blog 1 Response »

Dec 042011

For the two weekend work hour slots the Prathom level children have been doing more ground clearance and vegetable plot prep.

After success with planting shallots last weekend we decided to do more. They appear to love the clay rich soil in this area.

All the kids pitched in with Jor and Nu doing the heavy work, turning the soil to make it suitable for planting.

The improvements continue thanks to a great bunch of kids.

Prathom Kids Work Hard On The Garden

Foundation Blog No Responses »

Nov 282011

The weekends seem to come round fast these days. Still, that means more fast improvements around the grounds with the weekend work hours. On Saturday the Prathom kids did a great job with a general sweep and tidy up of the yard.

Then on Sunday it was some more garden clearance and growing ground prep.

And a good job done with that too.

Prathom Sports Day…Success For Two Of Our Children

Foundation Blog No Responses »

Nov 262011

Friday was the inter-schools Sports day Tumbol Chompoo , involving Mae Salaab school where our Prathom level children are educated.

The event was held at Wat See Kam School around 10 km from here. Commitments at home meant that I could not leave until around 11am and it took a while for me to locate the school , being out in the wilds down long winding roads. But with help from a few local residents I got there just after 11.30.

Just in time to see Nu help her relay team to win the 200m relay race.

There was a great atmosphere at the event with lots of drumming, colourful cheer leader costumes and children running around having lots of fun.

Shortly after lunch young Zak managed a very laudable 2nd place in the standing long jump with a leap of 158cms.

I’d like to say well done to all who took part and all the schools, organisers and vendors for making it a great day.

Vegetable Plot Project For The Prathom Kids

Live Projects No Responses »

Nov 152011

Our Prathom level students also did a great job this last weekend, continuing work on revitalizing our original Vegetable garden.

We now have two new small plots and 3 larger ones waiting to be filled with soil and planted.

The whole team worked hard under the leadership of Jor and Nu.

Great job girls.

Villa and Sport Project Continued

Live Projects No Responses »

Nov 082011

Its been a busy office week for me getting our accounts sorted, which is why last week was short of new posts. Nevertheless, much else has been going on as usual. As their holiday drew to a close the children have continued working on their Villa and Sport Project.

Last week saw much Mural painting and also the start of prep work for the planned Batong Pit.

This weekend, noticing that so many working on one thing was actually hampering progress, the younger children were given their own Project to tidy and renew vegetable plots down the side of the house.

On Sunday everyone got a lot done.

The Mattayom children finished off leveling the site for the Batong Pit and the Prathom gang did a great job starting the tidy up of our original vegetable garden.

Well done kids.

If you are as proud of our kids as I am please donate now.

I.D or Not I.D

Foundation Blog No Responses »

Aug 172011

As previously mentioned a while back, there is now a new requirement for all children 7 years and older to carry an I.D card. We had thought that this would mean us having to take some of our children all the way to their “home” Province of Nan to get this done.

Thankfully this is not the case and we can get it done here in Sarapee. After liaising with the local schools we took all our Prathom level children to the local Amphur office where many local children were getting their I.Ds done.

The process turned out to be less straight forward as we’d hoped when, despite having the school teacher there verifying our children’s identity both in person and on paper, it transpired that the officials would not process any I.Ds with out original birth and house papers. As all the original documents for our children remain in the hands of their families this means that we are now waiting for the paperwork to be posted from Nan before trying again.

More Bai Tio and Back to School

Foundation Blog No Responses »

Jun 172010

It seems like we’ve got stuck in our ways with Huay Tung Taow having been the weekly Bai Tio destination for several weeks now.

Must be because its perfect for our requirements.

Lots of space to run around and play;

plenty of food and drink available if you need it;

the beautiful lake for swimming;

and general all round ambience, with the views of the mountains behind, means I get a chance to chill out to.

On the 10th of May Tai was the first to go back to school, starting Mattayom 1 at his new school in Sarapee.

Tai proved himself to be a good student when he first arrived and finished Prathom 6 at Pasak School.

He did very well in the entrance test for his new school , getting an overall mark of level 4 out of 5.

Already it is clear that this level in Mattayom 1 has much work and Tai often spends 2 to 3 hours every evening doing homework.

Keep it up Tai, you’ll go far.

A week later Mae Salab school opened and the rest of the children who had attended Pasak School last year, started at their new school;

which is much more convenient, being just 3 minutes walk away from home.

New girl Jor also joins the crew at Mae Salab.

Gu, our oldest child, at 14, took a little longer to start the new school year as there was some delay getting all the necessary paperwork from his old school in Nan.

But he eventually started at the same school as Tai two weeks later. Gu has started Mattayom 2.

He has started at the lower level but we hope that with extra support here at Stratton House we will see an improvement in his school grades over time.

He certainly appears to be putting some effort in already which was apparently a problem back at home in Nan.

The start of the new school has been quite a drain on the Foundations funds, what with Thai schools having several different uniforms for the children to wear.

Also term fees for the Mattayom level boys as well as money for lunch everyday which is not free in the Mattayom school.

All the children seem to have settled well in their new schools and all are very good at getting their homework done every evening; the ‘no TV until homework is finished’ rule helps alot.

Check out our photobucket album here for more photos , including general activities in the house; playtime; homework; cooking and more.