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  • Comment on The Foundation by John
    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 […]
    John
  • Comment on Another Special Sunday by Mum/Grandma/mama
    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 […]
    Mum/Grandma/mama
  • Comment on The Foundation by selwyn wilson
    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 […]
    selwyn wilson
  • Comment on Spaghetti and Meatballs Curtesy of Ray and Tak by RAY& tAK
    sO hAPPY THAT YOU CAME BY..... WE WILL DO IT AGAIN […]
    RAY& tAK
  • Comment on Volunteering by Innovative Management Group
    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! […]
    Innovative Management Group

 

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‎"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

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.

 

 Posted by John at 2:00 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Crop Planting

 Live Projects  No Responses »
Nov 202011
 

In further attempts to increase our vegetable growing programme the children have been busy planting new seeds.

Learning from previous attempts when seeds have not been spread properly, this time around the planting was done into individual growing bags.

Following up with proven success in the past we are concentrating mainly on eggplants, tomatoes and squash’s. If this method proves successful then we will carry on seeding to accumulate seedlings with which to plant out up on our land.

Well done kids , looking forward to seeing these vegetables on the dinner plate.

 Posted by John at 1:48 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

The Garden Grows

 Foundation Blog, Lead  No Responses »
Dec 092010
 
chiang mai childrens homeDSCF0182

Busy, busy, busy. We are still working hard here at Stratton House to increase efficiency and cut costs. One major way we can do this is to grow our own vegetables.
To this end we have been working hard on expanding our growing project. Every late afternoon this week the children have helped out with this expansion which is going very well.
However we desperately need help with funding the next expansion.
The plots you see featured in the photos cost around 2000 baht to produce, including all the bamboo and soil.
Can you help us expand further with a similar sized area?
We are also hoping to create dry leveled pathways in between the plots, using gravel, which comes at 1800 baht for a large lorry load.
At present we are not sure how far that will take us but would have a better idea if we can get that first load.
If you feel that you may be able to help fund these expansions , please contact us.
A healthy diet for our children is very important to us. If we can supply this using our own organically grown produce then more funds can be redirected towards continued development of our activities and services to help these and many more children.
Thank You for your consideration.

 Posted by John at 12:42 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Directors Gallery 7

 Foundation Blog  No Responses »
Aug 222010
 
chiang mai childrens homelam4

Todays Gallery features more snaps of life at Stratton House.

 Posted by John at 11:10 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Directors Daily Gallery 2

 Foundation Blog  No Responses »
Aug 142010
 
chiang mai childrens homePicture 856

A new daily event here at Stratton ABC .com , by way of some pictorial background on Foundation Director, thats me, John Cope. Where I’ve been, what catches my eye, family and friends and much much more. Just a small gallery today, images from Maesai, on the border with Myanmar, Northernmost of Thailand.

 Posted by John at 11:46 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

Back To San Kampaeng

 Foundation Blog  No Responses »
Mar 232010
 

First of all apologies once more for a lack of action on the website. Things have been busy here and still not internet at home, I simply havent been able to find the time to catch up.

Last week saw 5 of our 7 children go down with a 5 day virus. poor Jack even ended up in hospital for 3 days with a fever of 40 degrees.

I’m happy to report that everyone made a full recovery.

Last weekend I was not so well myself and Sundays day out was a quiet afternoon in Chompoo village which I shall add a report on later this week.

This weekend the children had asked to go to the waterfall at Doi Suthep but we explained that with the recent heavy rains this might not be very safe.

So in the end we decided on a trip back to San Kampaeng Hot Springs.

A good time was had by all. 

You may notice from the photos that Mae, Yong and Jack weren’t present.

Mae and sister Yong have finished the school year and have gone home to Mae Wang until the 18th of April.

Poor Jack, after his illness suffered the loss of his Grandmother and went home for 3 days.

The rest of the kids enjoyed the time swimming in the Hot Springs pool and playing in the play area later before heading home.

 Posted by John at 2:27 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Bai Tio, Huay Kaow Waterfall Doi Suthep

 Foundation Blog  No Responses »
Feb 212010
 

When asked where they wanted to go this weekend , the children asked to go back to the waterfall at Doi Suthep.

 Not happy about the risk of more injury from broken glass, we decided to try the Huay Kaow Waterfall a little further downstream.

This waterfall is more developed for visitors with a car park and many shops and cafes.

The entrance is just a few yards from Chiang mai Zoo at the bottom of Doi Suthep.

 The hope was that it would benefit from better upkeep and be safer.

Eating at home again we left at 11.30, getting to the waterfall at 12.30.

 It is certainly more beautiful and better maintained, although this means its loses some of the natural wild charm of the one further up the mountain.

We picked a shady spot as our base and the kids had lots of fun playing in the waters.

Again, despite having eaten already, I couldn’t resist getting hold of some sticky rice and nam pik see daeng, my favourite picnic snack, and lemonade and kanom for the kids.

Luckily no injuries this week.

I say luckily because, although there was certainly less, there was still a fair bit of broken glass around.

 Little Som did a valient, unprompted, job picking up several pieces out of the rock pools and disposing of them in a safe place.

We left the waterfall at around 3pm , with a short visit to the impressive ‘aboretum’ park the other side of the Zoo entrance, at the top of Huay Kaow Rd., before heading home for 5pm.

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

 Posted by John at 7:50 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Teamwork At Stratton House

 Foundation Blog  No Responses »
Feb 212010
 

Thanks to an anonymous donation to our cycle track fund we decided to purchase the first load of surfacing materials.

 A second look at the possible costs of concreting, and the fact that we are still in rented accomadation, led us to believe that we should look at cheaper, less permanent, options, and we settled on gravel and stonedust.

Having used this before with a similar project back in the UK, I know that if done properly it should set hard enough to give a reasonable riding surface.

The first load was delivered early Saturday morning and the children were keen to get to work, despite the heat.

 We made it a short hour long session to start, with another hour and a half later in the afternoon, when the heat of the day had subsided.

All the children worked very hard. And on Sunday, on returning from the weekly day out, they all pleaded with me to allow them to carry on and do some more.

 Personally I was too tired to do much myself, but was cetainly not going to deter such enthusiasm and was happy to supervise.

Well done kids, very proud of you!

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

 Posted by John at 7:12 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Valentines Day

 Foundation Blog  1 Response »
Feb 172010
 

This Sunday happened to be Valentines Day, so the day out included not only Huay Tung Tao,

 but also visits to both Kamtieng  Garden  Market and the Flower Market close to Chiang Mais China Town at the banks of the River Ping.

We ate at home this week and then enjoyed a couple of hours of the peaceful ambience of Huay Tung Taow and some time in the water, before heading into Kamtieng Garden Market, behind Tesco Lotus on the super highway.

The children had made a special request to be able to go and buy flowers for Valentines day.

At Kamtieng we let the children choose some flowers for the garden. From there we went to the riverside Flower Market where they all bought roses.

The spirit of Valentines truely came to Stratton House a couple of days early. Friday evening saw the culmination of a very stressful week for myself.

As hard as I tried I know that the children had sensed my stress.

On returning home, mid-evening from a meeting I was met by all the children as I walked into the house. They took me by the hands and ushered me, excitedly, round to the art area. There they proceeded to hand me a whole load of Valentines cards and paper hearts that they had made for me.

To say I was touched is an understatement. The stresses of the week, and this spontaneous show of affection, hit me like a tornado and I have to confess to being unable to stop the tears.

 I quickly assured the children that it was because they had made me so happy.

 This now has become a running quote in the house, “Daddy long hai, bpen kwam suk mak”.

The cards and hearts now adorn my door and bring a glow to my heart each time I see them.

For more photos from the day please visit our photobucket album here.

 Posted by John at 2:54 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mays 11th Birthday

 Live Projects  No Responses »
Feb 172010
 

Monday saw the first Birthday party for one of the children from Nan. It is strange how Thai people don’t appear to take so much note of their birthday or, indeed, birth year. There was a little confusion at first with May claiming to be 12 years old. Checking her birth certificate I confirmed that she actually became 11 on Monday. Sorry May, another year before you get to stay up later.

May got a little extra pocket money for the day at school and we gave her her card on her return from school.

 It had ended up that I was on my own to do the present buying at the market in Banthi in the morning. May had requested clothes and I was not at all sure what to buy an 11 year old Thai girl. After a light dinner I presented her with the two shirts I had bought and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw how happy she was with them.

She rushed off to put her favourite on, before we had the small party at around 7pm. Birthday cake, mango and sticky rice and lots more kanom and pop.

Lots of smiles and happiness that make this work worth it.

 Posted by John at 2:41 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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