The happy teacher at Baan Huay Pa Hon school

Board members and supporters of the Foundation for the Education of Rural Children recently traveled to Baan Huay Pa Hon Lahu village in Chiang Dao District to distribute 50,000 baht of school furnishings and supplies, purchased with part of the money raised at Let Us Entertain You!, FERC’s recent fund-raising event at the Shangri-La Hotel.  The school is part of the Department of Education’s non-formal educational program, and was built by ITV in Bangkok.  The program provides education to preschool children to prepare them for entry into the Thai public school system.  While the focus for these little ones is on Thai language skills, which they must learn in order to be admitted into Thai school, they also learn counting, colors, how to tell time, puzzle solving and general skills in living.  The teacher, Pongpan Suwannama, who has worked in the village for eight years, devotes a part of her time towards educational projects that benefit the older children and adults in Baan Huay Pa Hon.  The village is home to 140 children.

Trucks arrived in the village laden with black boards and chalk, book cases, desks, floor mats, story books and work books, tablets, drawing and art supplies, pencils, crayons and a myriad of other supplies for the school.  Board members also contributed socks, shoes and knit caps for every child in the village as well as bags of rice and boxes of fresh oranges.  The largest and heaviest gift, though, was a generator for the school, which has no electricity.  The generator  will enable it to stay open on dark or rainy days.

Tangerine Blue principals John Smith and Mark Walder entertained the people of the village with banjo music and renditions of “Willkommen”, “Stairway to Paradise” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band “.  Despite not understanding the English words, the children understood the language of the music and they danced along and clapped with each song.  The FERC board and volunteers would like to thank the people who made it possible for them to help the children of Baan Huay Pa Hon. 

Donation items being unloaded at the school	Recipients have something to remember from this visit to their school
The collected items being donated and the children of the school.