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Happy Birthday Zak

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Mar 172012
 
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Zak has been eagerly awaiting his 9th Birthday and at last his special day came along this week.

On Tuesday we went out Birthday shopping and Zak chose himself a Spiderman Punch Bag and gloves along with a new T shirt and shorts.

On Thursday morning he received birthday cards and his present from my Mother, another smart T-shirt.

In the afternoon we all paid a visit to Muang Mai Market in Chiang Mai, where we purchased a whole load of fruit and some fish that the kids love.

We also popped into a supermarket to buy Birthday cake.

After a light dinner Nat and Ip got the kids frying the doughnuts that became a welcome addition to the Birthday food.

Zak was treated to renditions of Happy Birthday by May 2 on the keyboard and his brother Tai on the guitar.

A very happy boy gets another year older.

Hope you had a great day Zak…keep lighting up the world with that smile.

 

Christin and Nadine Become Latest Regulars

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Mar 122012
 

Last week saw another visit by the recent additions to the extended Stratton “family”, Christin and Nadine. Primarily they are offering me assistance with admin but as last Wednesday was a day off school for the kids they found themselves helping to keep the children occupied.

Lots of fun, with badminton, frisbee and much more.

Thanks girls and look forward to seeing you again this week.

Term End Approaches

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Mar 072012
 

We are in the lead up to the end of the school term and , indeed, school year. We have been very happy with our childrens progress in their respective schools this year.

As is always the case at this time, the childrens homework and study load has been quite high and if they are not studying for tests they have been busy with projects that also go towards their final grades.

A B C Art, The Mural Progresses.

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Mar 062012
 

This last weekends work sessions have been a bit of light relief for the kids after recent hard work at the Foundation land.

Sunday morning saw more effort to progress the A B C Mural, instigated by our recent Volunteer Emilie.

Some great effort and lots of fun.

Wishing Emilie All The Best

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Feb 192012
 

This post is a little out of sync but better late than never. Our recent Volunteer, Emilie, left us last Sunday after giving a very full week of help around the Foundation.

A true all rounder she got involved with lots of activities with the children, work projects and helping me with admin.

On the weekend she got the children playing a great English language word game using “Crazy Cups”; set up the latest Mural project with a pictorial Alphabet, using animals, and had a fun time at Huay Tung Tao before we dropped her off in town on the way home.

Just to let you know Emilie, I have a full week “in the office” this week when I will be working through your “to do list” along with additional tasks worked out this last week with Heather.

Once again we would like to say thank you very much for all your help whilst you were here and your offer of “remote ” help online in the future, an offer I will be sure to take you up on very soon.

Hope you are well and happy and have a safe trip home.

Bpaa Bonnie Flew Over The Ocean

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Feb 172012
 

Just as our most recent volunteer Emilie was coming to the end of her stay, we were also joined by our dear friend and supporter, Heather Mackay; head of the Faa Gamma fund raising team in Queensland, Australia; affectionately known as Bpaa Bonnie.

Bonnie has been our longest running consistent supporter, working hard on ideas for fundraising arranging some sort of activity almost every month and co-ordinating extra special appeals around the Xmas period. This year the Faa Gamma team surpassed previous records, raising 1200 AUD. That along with a more recent personal donation of 500 pounds from Bonnie have helped towards a great start to 2012 with the Foundations basic running costs targets for both January and February being reached in total.

After she had had a relaxing night at The Top North Hotel , we picked her up on the Saturday morning and she has joined the crew for the rest of the week.

Her commitments back in Queensland with her adopted Thai child mean that it is quite a short visit with Bonnie returning home on Sunday.

Luckily her ‘bonding’ time with the children her has been helped by the fact that all the children , although having not met her previously, have been well aware of her efforts to support the Foundation and they had all been keenly awaiting her arrival.

As usual its been a mixed week with some work on the land, a trip to Huay Tung Tao last Sunday and the usual school routine through the week.

Whilst the kids have been at school Bonnie has been most helpful with helping me organise my admin tasks.

During late afternoons and early evenings bonnie has been getting the kids going with different activities including card making and with some new board games that she brought over with her.

Full Days For Emily

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Feb 112012
 

Our present Volunteer Emily has really been pitching in doing some very full days here.

In the week, whilst the children have been at school , we have been starting the day with visits to the Foundations land to carry on strimming and clearing the land. Emily has been a great help raking up the cut grass as I have been strimming.

An hour or so of that and then its been back to Stratton House as the heat of the day gets to much for the physical work.

There Emily has been helping me with much needed re-organisation of the office, checking Foundation documents are all in order and properly filed.

With the children home late afternoon Emily has then been busy joining in with fun and games before dinner. And as if that wasn’t enough , she has stuck around to help the children with their homework.

Temple Fair Day

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Feb 092012
 

Its been a full and productive week so far this week. Our Volunteer, Emilie, has shown great all round ability, helping not only with the children but also joining me in clearing the Foundations land whilst the children are at school.

After doing a couple of hours of that Monday morning, we went out on Re-cycle collection, first to our friend Blues’ house near Wat Suan Dawk, Chiang Mai and then calling in at the American Pacific International School Kindergarten in Hang Dong Road.

Whilst at APIS we got confirmation that the schools Main Campus wishes to join in our project and we will be contacting them this week to sort out collection details.

On the way home from there we also picked up a decent haul from Kwan Wiang Moo bahn.

Picking the Mattayom students up on the way we then returned home.

Emilie then switched to Volunteer carer mode and joined in fun and games with the children. As well as some karaoke going on Emilie did a great art exrecise with the children producing “sand pictures”

In the evening there was a Buddhist celebration going on at Wat Mae Salaab and we took all the children along for an hour after dinner.

We first watched the parade headed by a “Prince” on pony, before taking the children to the fair that was set up, where the younger ones spent time on the Bouncy Castle and the older ones had goes on Balloon popping and shooting games.

Then it was back home to get that all important homework done before bed.

 

Emilie Is Another Instant Hit

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Feb 052012
 

We seem to be getting a good run with Volunteers as we have now been joined by Emilie Gumy, a lovely lady who has been teaching in Korea and was directed to us by a previous volunteer Eunjey.

Arriving yesterday we picked her up from Sarapee on the way home from collecting our four Mattayom level students who have been away on a 3 day Scout camp with their school.

That was lunch time and it didn’t take long for Emily to pitch in, helping the girls with the post-lunch clear up.

And she appeared to be an instant hit with the kids after that joining them in their Saturday afternoon free time and instigating some fun and games herself.

She also helped the May 2 and Jor with their new “spring” mattresses purchased yesterday.

We bought 3 with one going to Tai. We will be replacing more in the near future but are still looking for a kind hearted sponsor to cover the costs.

Emilie will be with us until next Saturday so I’m sure there will be much more fun in-store.

Another Special Sunday

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Jan 292012
 
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Yet more thanks to Pui for helping to put us in touch with our new friend and supporter Jurgen,

Today we had a very welcome visit from Pui, her family and Jurgen and his friend Ohs. Jurgen has expressed an interest in helping our Foundation, liking our core philosophies and our work so far.

Our visitors came with yet another great lunch for the kids, with green curry, chicken, noodles and much more. Jurgen and Ohs also presented us with a huge supply of toothpaste and toothbrushes for the children, donated by a dentist friend of theirs in Switzerland. Sorry I failed to get your name, but we all say a big thanks for that.

After a fantastic lunch Jurgen offered a return visit to Childrens World at the Night Safari. And so there followed a wonderful afternoon for the kids and a relaxing time for the adults with chance to discuss several ideas in connection with onward funding and development.

This includes a kind offer to help design and produce drawings for our ” permanent facility”.

We would like to thank Jurgen, Ohs, Pui and all her family for their generous support and I look forward to ongoing discussions in the near future.

 

 

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