Over 2000 children celebrate Children's Day at DPF

Over 2,000 children and 1,900 guardians packed the Duang Prateep Foundation for Children's Day last month. In Thailand National Children's Day takes place every year on the second Saturday in January. It is a day when many special events are arranged for children and for the last five years the DPF has hosted a full programme of activities for slum children from the surrounding communities. This year, with close to four thousand people at the DPF, the attendance was better than ever. The Children's Day programme was organised by the Duang Prateep Foundation, with support from community groups and other NGOs.

The guest of honour was the Minister for Public Health, Ms. Sudarat Keyuraphan, who arrived with her husband and children. Both Minister Sudarat and DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata spoke at the opening ceremony about the importance of Children's Day. They stressed the important role families play in Thai society and they talked about the need to support and encourage families so that children are raised in the right manner, with a good understanding of Thai culture and values.

After the speeches there were dance shows on the stage with children's groups from the Duang Prateep Kindergarten, the Special Education Project for Hearing-Impaired Children and local communities providing the entertainment. There were also seven 'stations' set up for the children, offering different activities for the youngsters to enjoy. The children could do some painting or craft activities or alternatively learn about environmental issues or fire fighting techniques. The reaction to Children's Day appears to have been overwhelmingly positive. For most children the only regret was that Children's Day only comes once a year.

Children's Day at the DPF: Second left at the back in the photo below is Minister for Public Health Ms. Sudarat Keyuraphan, with DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, DPF Deputy Secretary General Prakong Ungsongtham and Children's Day organisers.

Nong Mai Children's Centre opens

The children of Nong Mai community had special reason to celebrate on Children's Day as it was also the day when the new Nong Mai Children's centre was opened, to replace the building destroyed in a fire in May 2000. Since the fire, the Nong Mai Children’s Center has continued teaching in a temporary building. The new building was funded by the Konkokyo Peace Activity Center of Japan and the opening ceremony was presided over by the secretary general of Konkokyo, the Rev Michio Nishimura and DPF secretary general, Prateep Ungsongtham Hata. The children provided entertainment for their visitors and showed off their new classrooms.

The new centre has forty children in two classrooms, who are being taught by 3 teachers, but it is expected that enrollment will increase to eighty when the new school year starts in May.

Disabled children perform in Vietnam

Two seven-year-old hearing-impaired children from Klong Toey were accompanied by a DPF staff member on a four-day trip to Hanoi last month. The boy and girl from Klong Toey joined with disabled children from Vietnam and children from Japan at cultural performances. The Thai children performed on the long drums, a traditional Thai instrument. The youngsters were also able to meet with other disabled children and street children in Hanoi.

Young artists paint their slum environment

A group of twenty young artists had an outing close to home in January, when they went into the Locks 1,2,3 community of Klong Toey Slum to paint the slum environment. The artists, aged between 8 and 16, were accompanied by DPF art teacher Chatchada Kruakaew and Dutch artist Josh Wellenkamp, who has participated in several activities with art group members since the end of the year 2000. For the slum painting, regular participants at art club activities were joined by some children who receive educational sponsorship from the DPF. The artists enjoyed the opportunity to paint their home environment. The slums provided a welcome contrast with the outings to temples and beaches, which the art group periodically undertake.

The photo below shows the young artists with their paintings and Josh Wellenkamp.

Another group of 18 young artists, aged between 8 and 15, had a session creating art works on the topic of drugs, the event was for the Z television programme on Thai television Channel 5. A reporter and cameraman attended the painting session and interviewed their teacher, Chatchada Kruakaew. Ms. Chatchada was able to talk about how providing activities such as art and sport kept youngsters occupied and out of the drugs milieu. She also talked about the youngsters could use their art to express their feelings.

Senior citizens teach at Duang Prateep Kindergarten

Several members of the senior citizens group at the DPF visited the Duang Prateep Kindergarten last month to lead activities with the children at the school. The senior citizens taught the youngsters about Thai culture and led the children in several games. Both young and old had much fun with the special event which was filmed for later broadcasting by Thai television Channel 9.

Representatives of the Amari Atrium hotel, led by General Manager also visited the Duang Prateep Kindergarten last month, where they donated toys and met with Khru Prateep, the teachers and the children.

Sports event for sponsored children

Last month, the Sponsorship Section organised a Sports Day for 200 sponsored children from eight communities. The children, who were aged about 10 and 11, planned the games for the sports day and came up with a varied programme, which included sports such as basketball and tug-of-war, as well as cheerleading and obstacle races. The youngsters were competing in community teams. After the sport, it was show time with each community having prepared a short show to perform in front of their peers.

The photo below shows an acrobatic display by one of the participating teams.

Book boxes donated to rural schools

Last month the Australian-New Zealand Women’s Group in Bangkok (ANZWYG) coordinated with the Duang Prateep Foundation to donate thirteen book boxes to rural schools in four provinces. The book boxes are boxes which open up to reveal a mini-library inside. The boxes were made in Klong Toey slum, before being stocked with books and donated to schools in Petchaburi, Khon Kaen, Surin and Chachoengsao provinces.

As part of the sponsorship package, ANZWYG also financed a two-day training programme for representatives from each of the schools to receive the book boxes. A total of 30 people attended the training, including some DPF staff. The training was led by Ms. Rotjana Phraesrithong, who leads the Duang Prateep Foundation's Nithan Caravan puppet troupe, and an education expert. The training gave information about the use of book boxes, how to encourage reading and story telling techniques, including the use of puppets. Ms. Alison Stanford, from the Welfare Committee of ANZWYG attended the first day of the training programme, to meet the representatives from the various schools.

UN Under Secretary General visits DPF

Mr. Kim Hak Su, a UN Under Secretary General and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the Asia Pacific (UN ESCAP), visited the Duang Prateep Foundation last month. Mr Kim was accompanied by a television crew from his homeland, Korea, and by other UN ESCAP staff from the Human Settlements Section and the Human Resources Development Section. Mr. Kim Hak Su met with Ms. Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and with community leaders, who were at the DPF for a meeting to plan Children's Day activities, before touring the local community and seeing a musical performance by hearing-impaired children.

The photo shows Mr. Kim Hak Su meeting community leaders, with Ms. Prateep Ungsongtham Hata on the right.

News from Thailand

Princess Ubolratana to be anti-drugs campaign presenter

Princess Ubolratana, the oldest daughter of the king, last month disclosed that she had agreed to be a presenter for an anti-drugs campaign in communities. The campaign, she said, would start with increasing understanding and educating the risk groups as well as their families. She said illegal drugs had become a serious problem in Thailand and needed to be tackled urgently, both by suppression and prevention, and rehabilitation of drug addicts. The princess said she will visit Klong Toey slum in Bangkok to learn of the community's drug prevention and suppression projects. It was reported that city police asked for two weeks to suppress drug dealers in Klong Toey before the princess makes her visit.

ONCB reports increased drugs problem

Last month the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) revealed in its annual report that drug problems are increasing in communities across the country. The 2001 report found the spread of drugs in each region has become increasingly severe. A total of 7,556 out of 52,416 villages nationwide were reported to have serious drug problems - 658 villages more than in 2000. It was reported that all regions of the country have villages or communities with significant drug problems.

State planning rehabilitation programmes for juvenile inmates

The prelude to a new rehabilitation programme for juvenile offenders in detention centres will be the construction of higher fences to keep the inmates in. Several government agencies and Unicef signed an agreement to help juvenile inmates last month. There have been repeated breakouts from juvenile detention centres in the past, escape is made easy by the low fences round the centres. The concept is that breakouts should be minimised with high fences first, then good management and rehabilitation programmes should follow.

Addicts time cut in army treatment camps

It was reported last month that the army will shorten its drug rehabilitation programme for prisoners from six months to three in a bid to accommodate more inmates. Thailand is reputed to be the first country where soldiers are taking part in drug rehabilitation programmes. The three-month programme would double the number of prisoner participants to about 10,000 a year. The army is also going to open two other camps for rehabilitating drug addicts, whether or not they have been in jail. This will be the army's first rehabilitation scheme for addicts who are not convicts. Drug addicts who are made to undergo the state's rehabilitation programme will be spared from criminal action under a new drugs law, which is expected to come into force in March. The revised law would make medical treatment of drug addicts compulsory in exchange for their right to enjoy a waiver from legal punishment.

HIV drug output boost

It was reported last month that the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) will boost the production of three drugs that together make a cocktail that fights HIV, the virus that causes Aids. The aim is to produce enough medicine for 600,000 HIV-positive patients within six months. The locally produced cocktail would reduce the cost of anti-Aids medicine.

Push for laws to protect people with Aids

The Human Rights Commission is pushing for the drafting of a bill to protect the rights of people living with HIV/Aids. In 1992 Thailand signed a treaty on Aids rights with the United Nations. Thailand was required to pass several relevant laws in line with the accord, but after ten years there has still been no progress on the laws. Recently the government signed another agreement with the UN, promising to pass a new law aimed at facilitating equal access to treatment for Aids patients, but so far no action has been taken by the government. Without the proper laws in place, violations of the rights of people with Aids continues unpunished. Forced blood testing to screen out HIV candidates in job applications and testing of existing employees' blood are reported to be on the increase. Apart from the legal situation, the other crucial factor is the fear of employers that HIV positive employees will be a burden on them. The International Labour Organisation has prepared a code of practice on HIV/Aids and the workplace. The Thailand Business Coalition on Aids recently adopted the guideline for use in the country. The coalition is promoting the code among its members.

All secondary schools to have computers

It was reported last month that all state secondary schools will have computers by the end of this year. The General Education Department plans to have all teachers trained in computers and the internet next year and all students trained by the end of 2004. From 2004, students finishing secondary school must pass at least three computer courses: word- processing, spreadsheets and internet application.

Boost for public sector reform

The government’s efforts to overhaul the state bureaucracy to achieve better public services, transparency in decision-making and a higher degree of accountability were supported last month when a group of World Bank-led multilateral development agencies pledged to provide cash and technical assistance. The assistance will be provided for the first year, ending in January 2003, but grants for subsequent years will be made on the condition that the government makes measurable progress according to agreed benchmarks. The grant assistance is designed to support the ongoing government effort to reform the public sector. A government representative said that at present, the government is in the process of revising relevant laws and regulations as well as reallocating budget in preparation for the launch of the high-performance government concept. The World Bank country director said true success in any country could be measured by whether people experienced real improvements in public services, such as better health care, improvements in schools or getting a driver's licence more easily.