Monthly Report - July

FSWL - Thailand Monthly Report July 2007

July has been a landmark month for Free Schools in Thailand. The FSWL sponsorship pilot project is now 1 month old and already the results are very encouraging. Furthermore we have been able to grow the numbers of Shan students by nearly 100 through the replanting of 2 evening schools which have both flourished beyond our expectations.

We are thrilled as to the progress of the ‘Nong Tao Six”, - the six Lahu students from Aer’s village Nong Tao whom have been the initial recipients of the FSWL sponsorship program to Moung Choum government school. The six bright faces decked out in their new uniforms had their first day of school on Monday the 2nd July. Apart from being a little nervous they were mostly excited to begin this grand new adventure. This month we have had weekly visits to see them at school to observe how they were adjusting and to check with their teachers as to their progress.

Darrin Sompet Girl, age 12
See other attachment for more information about Darrin. What we can add is that she has already moved up to grade 2! After just over a week she showed her teacher that she was ready to make the step. We are all very proud of her.
Nanga Jala Girl, age 12
Because there are too many children in her family she couldn’t afford to go to school. She is going very well and is able to follow the lessons well.
Naying Jaaie Girl, age 10
Her father was a Thai soldier who never stayed with her and her mum. When Naying was very young her mother left her with her grandma and to start a new family. She has never seen her since. Her grandma is too old to work and can not pay for the school fees.
Naying is bright and happy to be at school.
Darika Suriya Girl, age 8
Darika has only her mother left. Again her father was a Thai soldier who doesn’t even know of her existence. She looks like she has been at that school for a long time; she just fitted in right away and made new friends.
Channon Krongkrawpana Boy, age 8
Family is too poor to support him. Channon is struggling a bit with the Thai language but has showing some good social skills by making contact with the other kids.
Tatphon Jaopongpai Boy, age 8
Family is too poor to support him. His father is not functioning well. Tatphon is struggling with the lessons as well with the social interactions with his class mates. He is not talking to other children and is not responding to any question of his teacher. We suspect that he experiences a severe culture shock and has a much poorer understanding of Thai than the other 5 children. In the village he is one of the leaders and at school he experiences the opposite, which offcourse must be quite stressful. We are very happy that his mother actually came to school to talk to the teacher. She hardly speaks Thai and can not help him with his learning but the fact that she is supportive is great to know. Tatphon will start this week at the kindergarten to get extra help with the alphabet and to gain confidence with speaking. While the younger children will have a nap after lunch, he will get one on one remedial teaching. We are following him closely in his learning but even more important in his emotional development so we can make decisions such as placing him in kindergarten for more care. We do trust that he will settle in slowly and will start to make some friends.

Having learned of the situation of the Shan people in this region we had been wanting to increase the number of Shan students in the program overall. Teacher Dee, who is herself Shan had been teaching on weekends at a remote Lahu village where for a number of reasons the student numbers were dwindling. So together we launched on a search to find her a new school where she could give assistance to her own people. On the 3rd of this month, with Dee we held a town meeting with the villagers at Ban Denluang, a Shan village with an old monastery on top of the hill. With the monks and village leaders gathered round we gained assurance that they needed and wanted a Free School in their village. All the children not attending government schools gathered round and there were some 40 children in total. This village also borders a Lahu settlement and we extended an invitation to them to join the classes. So with kind permission from the monks to use the monastery we all decided to commit to the new school and on Thursday 5th July we kicked off.

It was an immediate success; the Shan students were very willing to learn, Lahu children joined the throng together with monks from Myanmar and Shan adults wanting to learn Thai. Immediately there were over 50 students on the books! Visiting this school in such an extraordinary location overlooking the Fang valley adorned in brilliant monsoon green, seeing the children learning side by side with their parents all eagerly studying Thai language in the hope of a brighter future, it is very hard not to be uplifted on the wings of renewed optimism. It is a beautiful sight and surely now one of the jewels in the FSWL crown.

A similar story also with teacher Ban on the Moung Choum Rd. Several months ago Ban was told to leave the premises of the school by the landlord, - a lychee farmer who, coming into lychee season, didn’t trust the children not to pick all his fruit! So for 2 months Ban has been holding class in the open garage of a kindly lady who has allowed it to be used for the school. Now that monsoon season is well and truly upon us it was time to find something more suitable and sturdy for Ban and the students. Again with the help of Pui, we found a new building on an orange farm just a few kilometres up the road. Once again this relocation proved an immediate boon as many more students were attracted to the class. There are now regularly 50-60 students at this class and again they are predominantly Shan people. Ages range from 4-20 and one older lad, Bii, has taken it upon himself to assist the younger students which has been a great and necessary help to Ban. They now have 2 classes operating with the basic level students in one section and the more advanced students adjacent.

At government school Huay Luwang we have provided 8 boys and 7 girls with school uniforms which we personally delivered. These are very poor hill tribe students who seemed very happy to get into their clean new outfits. This school is going very well and our Free School kiddies are working very hard on a dance performance for the region coming up in August. We will be sure to be there with the camera!

Both of us again participated in English camp for the local teachers, this time in the neighbouring district. Jildou spent a day preparing the lessons and activities and together we taught the group. We value the experience and although we are unsure as to how much English was learned it remains an important aspect of relationship building in the region.

Wilbert’s tour groups are back on again. At Bird’s Bar in front of a small group of two families, a very nervous Jildou did an admirable job of presenting the Free Schools project and we raised 2100Baht. There will be more opportunities to do this over the season and hopefully with bigger groups.

This month also saw a small increase in the salaries of our day school/government school teachers. They now receive 2800 Baht / month which is more in line with our evening school teachers. All the teachers were grateful for this realignment of wages.

So it’s been a busy and rewarding month with lots of progress. Free Schools is now providing an education to over 350 students in this region. We now look forward to August and the challenges and opportunities that it brings.

Warm Regards,

Jildou and Ben