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.
Having made attempts to sort out a proper schedule for my weekly work, I have selected Tuesdays for work on the Thai Schools English project.
Today I visited, and shall do every Tuesday, Huay Sai School to assist with teaching English conversation to Mattayom 1.
When that is finished I will then be working on building up the courses and lessons available to users of the thaischoolsenglish website, for the rest of the day.
I also hope to find time to visit and encourage more local schools to join our program.
Todays lesson was centred on basic introduction.
Although the children were a little nervous at first we soon broke through that and I was impressed with the students efforts.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
If you are interested in the school website, please go here.
A break in the rains meant that Sundays trip out could go ahead and we went to our regular haunt Huay Tung Taow, where the usual fun and games was had by all.
It was up to Wasana to look out for the children as myself and Boon wanted a little quiet time of or own for a change and went to sit elsewhere to relax in blissful peace and quiet.
Consequently all the photos you will see from this trip, apart from those back at the truck, were taken by Tai.
During the time there a lovely Tai lady, Paa , (i hope I got your name right), stopped to chat with Wasana and the children and bought Kanom for them all, for which they all say a big thanks.
Luckily I got to meet Paa myself as she was still there when it was time to leave.
Paa explained that she loved to help out with children and was very intereted in our Foundation, promising to pass word on to her friends , including her Swiss partner.
We didn’t have long but I would like to say that it was lovely to meet you Paa and thanks for being so nice to the kids. Hope you enjoyed your break and that your onward travels go well.
We look forward to hearing from or seeing you in the future.
For more photos, please visit our photobucket album here.
Are you looking to stay in Thailand for an extended period? Want to do something useful during your stay? Commit to one day a week helping out with The Stratton ABC Foundation and we can assist you with acquiring the relevant work permit and 12 month Visa.
There are lots of ways you can help with the Foundation, whether its helping with activities for the children, helping with admin, or maybe going out to assist English language teaching at a local school through our Thai Schools English Project.
Qualifications are always useful but the biggest qualification is a genuine wish to help so please get in touch whatever your academic status, we will consider all requests.
Please note that no volunteers will be able to work unsupervised with the children unless they can provide an up to date enhanced Police Check from their relevant country. This is also the case for anyone wishing to help with the Thai Schools English Project.
For more information please visit our volunteering page here.
Jul 292010
The children at Stratton House Childrens Home continue to respond well to our regular English lessons.
At present I am the sole teacher and it is all very informal.
Hopefully in the future we will get volunteers who may like to give me a break.
I have been very impressed by the childrens enthusiasm and rapid learning. Keep it up kid, if you all speak english my life will get alot easier;)
This weekends trip out took us to San Kampaeng Hot Springs where we had arranged to meet Khruu Khem and her friend Anna from Holland.
Anna lives in a village nearby to Huay Sai and has been helping Khruu Khem with her Saturday ‘Say Hello’ club for some time now.
We met inside the Hot Springs compound at just after 1pm, and Anna and Khruu met and chatted with all the kids, before they all dissapeared, desperate to play in the water and in the playground.
This week we told the children they could play in the smaller pool, close to the geysers as it is just 10 baht per child, next to 50 baht at the big pool. The children were quite happy and had a fine old time.
The adults spent time relaxing by the stream where you can douse your feet. It has to be said that the water was a little too hot for comfort on this occassion. Still the ambience of the beautifully landscaped gardens still lent a relaxing time.
By 3.30 everyone was happy to go home having had plenty of fun for the day.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
For more videos please visit our youtube here
This time of year is always a little bit tense for me.
The coming of the rains also bring out all the bugs, including the notorius Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti mosquito, which bites all day long. This mosquito can be the carrier of Dengue Fever, a flu like disease which kills hundreds every year.
There is no preventative apart from not getting bitten, and once contracted, the only treatment for Dengue fever is rest, fluids, and paracetemol to control fever. if the patient does not fight of the fever themselves the only chance for recovery is a complete blood transfusion as Dengue destroys the blood.
Being an annual danger the authorities do their best to inform people of the dangers, advising that people make sure they do not have standing water nearby, where the mosquitos will breed. They also activate teams to go to peoples homes and spray with mosquito killing gas.
This weekend it was the turn of our village and on Saturday morning our whole Childrens Home compound , including indoors got a good gassing.
Jul 242010
Continuing our association with Khruu Khem at Huay Sai, I responded to a request to visit Huay Sai on Friday(23rd), to make a photo record of the Kaow Pan Saa Festival, attended by many Lamphun Schools and culminating at Huay Sai School.
Kaow Pan Saa celebrates the beginning of the new rice growing season.
It was a colourful affair with children and adults from the many schools all dressed up in their different traditional costumes. All meeting at the local Wat, the procession got under way at around 2.30.
There were many colourfully adorned pick up trucks and marching bands as well, adding to a great atmosphere.
Thankfully the rains, that had been on and off all day, held off during the procession.
All the children seemed to enjoy the affair very much.
My ex-pupils from Pasak school were in attendance and it was very nice to see them all again. I do miss you lot!
Sadly I could not stay for the whole celebration as, with House Mother on her day off, I needed to get home ready for our children to get back from school.
I sure it all went well and hope everyone enjoyed it.
For all the photos please visit our photobucket album here.
For all the video clips visit our youtube here.
On Wednesday 21st I went for a long overdue meeting with Khruu Khem of Huay Sai School. Huay Sai is one of the schools on www.thaischoolsenglish.org, a project run in association with our Foundation, with a view to promoting English language learning in the local community.
Having been very busy ensuring registration for the Foundation I had been unable to give the thaischoolsenglish project any time over recent months. Now as I consolidate my daily routine I hope to resume my assistance with this worthwhile project.
In return Khruu Khem has agreed to be a regular visitor to the home, by way of offering some independant monitoring of our work.
She will come to visit the Childrens Home and be able to speak freely with the children on all aspects of their life here at Stratton House.
Jul 212010
Life at Stratton House Childrens Home is most rewarding when you get to see the childrens inventiveness when left to play together.
Coming out of the house late afternoon on Monday I was greeted by the wonderful sight of little 5 year old May after she had been given an impromptu makeover by her older namesake May, her sister Yong, and other playmate Som.
It was all done with greenery from the garden but she looked like should be enteringa pageant.
Later I found Jack and Gu recycling some plastic bags to make kites.
For more photos please visit these links;
