‎"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

Welcome to Our Foundation

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Jun 302010
 
Stratton House Childrens Home Chiang Mai

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.

More Bai Tio and Back to School

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Jun 172010
 
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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.

A Quiet Afternoon In Chompoo

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Mar 242010
 

Sunday the 13th saw me slightly under the weather. Luckily I had been free of the virus that the children suffered but I think that the stre of the usual work pretty much exhausted me.

The children we also only recently recovered and so we decided on a quiet afternoon in the leafy village of Chompoo, just a few kilos from the childrens home.

The village of Chompoo is known locally for being home to many very large catfish which many people feed each day.

At the centre of the village there are always a few small stalls on the bridge over the stream that the fish live in.

One of these stalls sells undecorated plaster of paris money boxes. With them you get a few small plastic bags of paints of various colours and use of some brushes. Many families go and relax whilst their children sit and paint the models.

And this is exactly what we did. The children chose their own and sat for sometime working on bringing the money boxes to life with colour. Myself and Boon joined in too. Its wonderful how the simplest things can be so relaxing.

Because You Care

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Dec 092009
 

DSCF5126Due to heavy colds we didn’t go swimming this weekend so on site activity was called for.

A great liking for art already established we decided to try the children at producing some seasonal greeting cards.

Using some simple designs taken from the internet we set the children to work with felt tips, latex glue and tinsel, with some great results.

This proved such a popular activity that we now hope to establish a range of greeting cards for purchase in our, soon to open, on-line  shop.

Because we are only caring for 3 children at the moment and the activity is on a totally voluntary basis, the volume of original handmade selections will be limited but we also hope to soon be in a position to produce quality prints of the originals.

DSCF5122These 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?

In the same vein we hope to use prints of the best of the childrens general artwork to extend the range with cards for all occassions.

The general art work will also be available as  A4 poster prints.

For connoisseurs amongst you, although none of the designs are Picasso or Renoir standard, in my eyes, they are none the less beautiful because each one is done with heart and soul by children who are deserving of the nurturing care that you can help us provide.

DSCF5128With 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.

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