We recently visited several of our charter schools – made possible by donations from guests like you – and found that the children there are benefitting greatly from these educational opportunities.
The first school we visited was about two hours from the Amari Rincome Chiang Mai. The road to these remote areas is rife with stomach churning twists and turns – but we were not discouraged.
Stunning scenic panoramas and cool weather encapsulate the Benchama 1 School in Vieng Haeng – which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Built eight years ago – this school is still in great condition and the students seem to be thriving. The children here are from four different hill tribes and we had the pleasure of experiencing a beautiful dance performance from the older girls wearing their traditional Lisu costumes.
We arrived at Baan Nor Lae Nursery Centre amid 10° Celsius temperatures – forgetting that we were still in Thailand. Our school building has been well maintained and each classroom was decorated with nice paint work. We offered the children donuts and soya milk and again, it was amazing watching how much they enjoyed every single bite.
After this touching experience, we made our way to the Saha Thanakarn Krungthep Royal Thai Border Police School in Kanchanaburi. Located along the border of Thailand and Myanmar about 380 km from Bangkok - it has a big community of Karen people who originally came from parts of Myanmar. Nearly 336 students attend this school and many have to walk 3 km. to school every day in a pair of flip-flops.
For this trip we had the pleasure of having Paul Robson of Express Foods Asia Co., Ltd. coming along to offer the kids delicious pancakes by POPCAKE®. We could see that they were all fascinated by the POPCAKE machine and even more so with the pancakes that we soon realized that feeding over 300 kids wasn’t an easy task!
The principal then took us for a tour of the school compound where we saw older kids watering their vegetable garden, which is part of the lunch programme graciously introduced by Princess Siridhorn. All Border Police Schools grow their own vegetables, raise chickens for their eggs, and have a fish or frog farm so they can have a free lunch at school every day.
When we were driving back along the narrow road, about a kilometer from the school, we saw a number of kids walking home. They all stopped, turned to our vans and gave us a “wai” and waved goodbye. Waiving back, we felt their gratitude as much as we were grateful to have had the opportunity to bring a little happiness to their lives.