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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.
Another great session on their Project saw nearly half the roof finished on the Villa yesterday,(Saturday). It was a full team effort wiring the “thatch” panels into place.
Tai had done more prep in the morning, tightening the roof poles and then the whole team went to it in the afternoon. With the promise of a special outing next weekend if they can complete the Villa work , we are expecting another all out push this afternoon.
Fantastic effort kids.
Aaron said farewell today, off to meet his travelling friends for the end of his holiday.
The children all enjoyed his time here playing games including badminton, football and Uno as well as a couple of extra English language lessons.
All the best Aaron, happy travels and thanks from all at Stratton House.
At the end of another hot day, our two eldest boys came up with the idea of using some of our neighbours young bamboo to make stilts. With some encouragement from me they went round to ask our elderly neighbour whether they could cut two pieces to use. The kindly old man happily said yes and Gu and Tai went round to choose their bamboo, watched by Jack.
After selecting their wood they came back and set to work. The finished stilts are not yet complete, Tai is still outside working on his (9 p.m); but I’m sure they will have lots of fun when they’re done.
Very inventive!
So school is out, just about and all but one of the kids were home all day. This meant extra hands for the playground crew from Art Relief International and today saw some major progress.
The children especially enjoyed with further work on the hill over the tunnel as it meant getting really messy with the mud being used.
The Monkey bars are now done all bar sanding and staining.
The hanging Bamboo is complete.
And the climbing frame is taking good shape.
We’re not expecting the crew back until next week now so the hardest job is to stop the children using the playground before it is all complete and checked for safety. Thankfully the children here are usually very good doing as they are instructed so hopefully it won’t be a big problem.
We understand that some of the crew who have been working here will have moved on by next week and we would all like to say a big thanks to you all for all your hard work and please feel free to drop in if you ever return and see the kids enjoying your efforts.
After a hard mornings work and with a shortage of water from our normal supply there was a short break in the afternoon when the children went for a swim in the river nearby, supervised by myself, House Mother Muay and some of the Art Relief International volunteers. Great fun and a great way to cool off.
To see all the photos from today please visit our photobucket album here.
Sunday morning saw day 2 of our vegetable growing project.
There some more gravel to be spread first.
Its hard work in the heat of the morning, hats were a must.
But it was great to see everyone working with a smile on their face.
Then, after a well earned break, three volunteers set to scrubbing the garden walls clean, ready for painting.
The rest of the crew all took a paint brush and put first coats of paint on the concrete rings that will serve as the vegetable plots.
As usual veryone pitched in with lots of effort.
With two wall panels cleaned and first coats of paint on all the concrete rings we decided that everyone had worked enough for the day and broke for lunch before spending the afternoon at Huay Tung Taow.
For more videos please visit our youtube account here.
At last I am starting to get somewhere with the Thai Schools English project, aimed at helping to promote English language learning in local schools.
With help from my friend Ally I have been learning to use the Moodle learning Centre software in order to set up courses for local children to follow via the internet.
These courses will include multi-choice questions, speaking practice, using videos of both myself and the children themselves, speaking English and much much more.
Just this weekend we managed to get some very good videos of the Stratton House children practising basic introductory conversation.
Some of the videos will soon appear on Thai Schools English as a practise aid for other children in the community.
Another Sunday, another fun day out. The childrens choice was Huay Tung Taow.
This time we took two of the bicycles with us to extend the range of the days activities.
As usual the kids had lots of fun playing in the water.
Water snail collecting seemed to be the popular past-time for the day.
In between times the bicycles were put to good use as was the nearby play area with swings, climbing frame, etc.
With so much to do the children were very undemanding giving myself and Boon time to relax and enjoy the atmosphere too.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
And here are some video clips:)
