Government school Son Char

The government schools are open again after the summerholiday! In Son Char our teacher Kung started work again with the young Hill Tribe children. Not every child could effort a clean uniforms to wear but eh, who cares,,, these children ARE IN SCHOOL!!!!!
I can't help noticing, but is that boy still wearing his pyamas??




















After lunch all the students brush their teeth. The younger children will have a nap.

Earthquake

Yesterday afternoon we suddenly were in the midst of a earthquake! Really amazing I have to say and rather scary. I was upstairs studying when evertything started shaking, the walls and the bed I was on. A lamp I had to hold until I came to the conclusion this was not ok. Than I shouted to Ben downstairs what was going on because this wasn't just a passing truck. He shouted to run outside straight away. There we stood litterly shaken! Unfortuanatly I only was wearing a underpants but luckily no passing traffic!

Reports from newspapers:

Bangkok shaken by Laos quake, minor damage in North

REPORT BANGKOK POST

A powerful earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in northern Laos, jolted many parts of the country yesterday, shaking buildings in downtown Bangkok and toppling spires of ancient temples in Chiang Rai.
No injuries were reported as a result of the quake which lasted about 30 seconds.
Tremors were also felt in Hanoi in Vietnam, but there were no reports of any major damage or injuries there or in Laos around the epicentre of the quake.
Many buildings in Bangkok and other affected provinces shook although no visible structural damage was reported.
Apichai Chvajarernpun, chief of the Mineral Resources Department, said the widespread tremors could be felt from Chiang Rai to Bangkok as the source of the quake was 10 km below ground, which is considered shallow.
The department detected the earthquake at 3.56pm. It was centred in northern Laos, only 95km from Chiang Rai. A 6.1 magnitude quake is usually capable of damaging buildings.
''This could be the biggest quake ever experienced in the North,'' said Smith Dharmasarojana, chairman of the National Disaster Warning Administration Committee.
Other northern provinces, such as Chiang Mai and Phayao, also felt tremors of differing intensities. In Phayao's Phu Sang sub-district, a villager said his house was ''swaying like a hammock''.

Big earthquake in Laos shakes up Thailand but does little damage

The quake was felt more strongly in northern Thailand, with Smith Dharmasaroja, chairman of the National Disaster Warning Center, saying it had been the strongest one known to hit the area.
He told Thai TV Channel 3 there had been almost 10 aftershocks, and warned people not to return to cracked houses for at least 24 hours. He said landslides were also a possible threat.
The quake was clearly felt in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a popular tourist destination 259 kilometers (161 miles) southwest of the epicenter, but a spokesman for the Disaster Mitigation and Prevention Center there said there were no reports of damage.

In Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai province, the border area of Thailand nearest to the epicenter, district chief Pongkan Piyapongtulakom said there were no initial reports of damage or casualties but the officials were still surveying buildings.
"We could feel it very strongly here," he said. "It became stronger and went on for about five minutes. It was the strongest I have felt and I have been here for more than seven years."

Life in Fang

It’s Monday and a new week has started here in Fang. Although we do not always have much sense of which day it is when our weekend can be the most busy. Last week has been busy with a lot of visits to the schools. Monday we went to the Muang Choum area with Yai, a Thai lady who we met on a wedding and who would like to see the schools, and James, an American living partly in Thailand. It was more than just fun to have them around because we could really communicate with the teachers. Yai is great with children and she gave a great motivational talk. This is for us the only way to get a better understanding from the schools and the daily running of them. Also to get an idea of the situation of the children and their families.

Friday we had an appointment with the lawyer in Fang and his wife. Mr. Thanakrit and Aree are a lovely couple who have been taken care of several children from Shaan people who couldn’t look after their own children for whatever reason. They are most supporting of the project and come up with a better way to help these kids with an education. The Shaan used to have their own Shaan country situated in the north of Thailand and a part of Burma. Now they are stateless and struggling to get roots down somewhere. Most people do have the possibility to go to school but are too poor to pay for the school uniform, the books and the lunches. Also some families are travelling around a lot to find seasonal work so the children can’t go to school. We are looking in the possibilities to get more of these children into the government schools. It’s wonderful to meet new people all the time to share this passion.

Yesterday, Sunday, we went with Malfried (our new friend from Norwegian who helps us to translate) to visit some teachers and talk about their life’s and the school. Together with the teachers we went to the chief of the village were they are teaching. Quite an experience it was to sit together in those amazing huts and half the village gathering around! At Yohn's house in her Palong village all her aunties (and that were quite many!!!) and who know who else came to sit in the room with us. They just went to the Sunday mass in the Christian church in the village and wore their best Sunday clothes. They were more than honoured with the visit we payed Yohn and they were so happy that Yohn was doing so well. Yohn is looking into what is involved with continuing her education to become a reconised teacher. First she will need to finish high school but than we can see what we can do for her with the help of some people from Holland or Australia.

We have been really active to get a grip on the situation here and to find out the best use of our help and time. Ben and I like to find the best way to help kids in this area but it is a slow process. We will never get a change to forget that we are in Thailand! Here you have laws which can mean something different for different people. Depends who you are, where you are from and who you are dealing with. (and of course the weather!)

Today we (or actually Ben) had a problem to get the garden up to scratch for the visit of the landlord tomorrow. Ben was going to do the mowing but gardening isn’t his biggest hobby. So after pulling out one weed plant from the grass mat, Ben suddenly got a backache and than when the second weed had prickles, it was the end of the story. On the scooter we went down to Weena to find with her help an emergency gardener. There is no local yellow pages but Weena is a great substitute! When we have a blocked toilet, no running tap water we ring her! Of course Ben was lucky and now there is a man moving the grass with a whipper snipper (kantjes maaier) with a huge diamond blade also used to cut concrete! Amazing Thailand! Well the grass looked nice, Ben is having a nap and I’m still confronted with cleaning the house before tomorrow! ;)

Ok, I call it quits for now. But one more thing!!!! Please people leave a message sometimes after reading the blog. I do hear that people like it but I do like to read messages! Every day I go and cheque it for something new but I mostly am disappointed… So; PLEASE JUST LEAVE A SHORT NOTE ON THE BLOG AFTER READING!!!! Makes me feel I know it do this effort for something real!

I’m off to study a bit at Ritzy’s where the staff can help me a bit with all the impossible pronunciations! I think I’m not too talented but I won't give up!

Take care and lots of Love

Jildou

Students of Boom

A great way to travel: in the back of the ute!

The students of Boom prefer to do their work outside the building.

As soon as the foto is being taken the girls stop smiling and are getting shy!

Traveling around

This is Yai, our new Thai friend. She lives in Bangkok and likes to help out with the project. Great to have someone who can communicate well with the teachers and speaks english very well. She gave all the children an exiting motivational talk about the importance of learning and going regular to school. She appointed one student of each class to make sure everyone will show up every day and arrive on time. Really moving to see her enthousiasm! She herself is half Shaan (Burmese Thai- Ai) so she is very aware of the struggles of this group.













Many people have buffalows to do the heavy work on the field.









This monkey was not as cute as he looks on the picture! But I don't blame him, poor thing tied up whole day!

Just a day out

This children are enjoying the mud more than we do!




This road is one big slide after the rain. My driving performance wasn't great I have to say!




Now I know that Ben CAN clean!







Enjoying a nice sunday drive which nearly ended in the ditch when Ben tried to drive with his eyes closed. "Just wanted to know how far I could go with my eyes closed..." Lucky I was looking...




Our new car is a bit newer! But what a character eh?!

Link to page from Saskia with photo's Thailand

Hello dear people,

Here a link from a page with great photo's from the schools in Thailand made by Saskia Raevouri. Last year Saskia and Sue (the founder of the organization part of Free Schools) visited the schools in Thailand and India. Saskia is raising money for the project in India.

http://www.squarecircles.com/articles/freeschools/thailand/thailand.htm


We had yesterday the most amazing day. We left to see a school and the road was unaccesable with mud and I had to try to walk while Ben tried to drive the bike through the mud. When we finally arrived we were quite shaken up but Dee the teacher wasn't there. We went to her house back in Fang and Dee thought we were quite silly that we tried to get up there! Dee hosed us and the bike down with water and kept shaking her head. Real funny! She is very sweet. Than we looked around Fang and saw parts we didn't know and came across a coffee shop with real proper coffee and cake! Ben was really happy!
Than we drove around and ended up at a temple complex outside Fang in a forest. Before we knew what happend we were in a ceremony from a addult novice becoming a monk. It went on for a few hours and they gave us beautifull material to read about Buddism and meditation. ,,, just where Ben and I talk about before! The family was so nice and liked it that we were there.
After that we went, still quite dazed by such a experience, to Ritches we come a lot for dinner. There was a wedding but they took us in again like long lost family members! Beautifull people and than we talked to the sister of the bride about the project and she is most interested to do anything to help the schools. So we will meet up on monday and take her to see some schools with her!
Lots of experiences and new connections, it was just a perfect day!

Love from Jildou

New tables for Mem's school!

Mem has all new tables and benches in her 'school shed'! This is such an improvement for the children who were using orange crates before to sit and write on. Mem is expecting her first child wich is very exiting.

The young ones gets extra help from the teacher with their maths lesson.

We hope that this girl will have a brighter future because of Free Schools.

The first step towards literacy is learning how to hold a pen!

Two cheeky boy hiding from the rain.