In Thailand, Mothers Day is celebrated on the 12th of August, the Queen’s Birthday. To celebrate the occasion, the Duang Prateep Kindergarten arranged a training session for mothers of pupils. The audience of about 120 were given guidance for successful child rising and outstanding mothers were presented with certificates. Afterwards mums and kids came together for a lunch party at the kindergarten.
Also, last month two university groups visited the Duang Prateep Kindergarten. Fifteen students from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce visited the DPF where they painted some equipment, played games with the children, donated medicines and treated the children to lunch. Forty-two students from a technical college visited the kindergarten to learn more about the nutrition of children from urban poor communities.
The Duang Prateep Kindergarten was not the only place to organise celebrations for Mothers Day. Other kindergartens affiliated to the DPF also arranged events and four youth groups in Klong Toey slum came together for a joint Mothers Day activity. Some 100 people attended the youth, event which was hosted by youngsters from the Locks 1,2 3 community.
Sponsorship Section organises training programmes
The Sponsorship Section has started educational and training activities for children receiving support from the Duang Prateep Foundation sponsorship programme. Eighty children attended the most recent session, at which a respected monk spoke about the problems young people face. Further activities for sponsored children are going to take place every other Saturday.
Parents and guardians are not being forgotten and are also having regular meetings. Last month 100 guardians attended a talk by a well know education expert about what to do if a child does not like school. In addition a one night, two day, family camp was arranged in Phetburi Province, West of Bangkok. 70 people attended the camp which included a mixture of discussions, games and creative activities. One of the objectives was to strengthen the bond between parents and children and give them the opportunity to relax and enjoy activities together.
Last month, twenty-five sponsored students went to the traditional Thai style house of Ms. Pornsri Luphaiboon a trustee of the DPF. Mrs. Pornsri hosted a party with games, art activities and lunch for the visitors.
Last month also, another sponsor, Mrs. Chander Sivasriamphai, hosted a party at her home to celebrate her son's birthday. Fourteen sponsored students attended the event which was also an opportunity to talk about the importance of education. Mrs. Chander used the occasion to introduce Ms. Chitima Bunpricha to the children. Chitima was previously sponsored by Mrs. Chander through the DPF Sponsorship Section, beginning in 1987 when Chitima was studying at primary level 1. Now Chitima is self-financing her ongoing education at Bangkok University. Mrs. Chander told her guests that they could achieve similar success to Chitima if they worked hard at their studies.
Another group of sponsored children from the DPF went to the Amari Watergate hotel where they helped celebrate the 7th anniversary of the hotel's Henry J Beams restaurant. The youngsters helped staff sell slices of cake to people walking past the hotel. All proceeds from the sale of the cake went to the Duang Prateep Foundation.
Visitors to New Life Project
Last month Mr. John Griffin, the Minister at the Australian Embassy and Mr. Brett Young, a research officer at the embassy visited the Duang Prateep Foundation’s New Life Project at Kanchanaburi. The two Australian visitors were accompanied on their trip by Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata and Australian volunteer Mark Bennis. They were welcomed to the project by the Deputy Secretary General Prakhong Ungsongtham, who is also project manager, and some of the older children before touring the project site. Later the Australians were able to meet with the other children at the project, once they had returned home from school. There are presently a total of 36 children and young adults at the project site.
A representative of the Asia Foundation also visited the Kanchanaburi New Life Project to have a look at the programme on behalf of the American Embassy.
Twenty-four staff from the J. W. Marriot hotel, including the general manager, made a day trip to the Kanchanaburi project. The hotel staff played games with the children, had lunch with the children and donated a table tennis table and school bags.
Professor Aramaki from Japan brought two large groups of students from several Japanese universities to the New Life Projects at Chumphon and Kanchanaburi. The young Japanese were on a study and work trip. During their stays at the New Life Projects, they did not just learn about the addiction and other problems the youngsters faced, they were also busy with a number of tasks including cutting grass, planting rice, harvesting fruit and other activities. They also had plenty of opportunity to socialise with young people at the project.
The attached file <plant_rice.jpg> shows Japanese and Thais planting rice at the New Life Project.
DPF has 23rd birthday
The Duang Prateep Foundation celebrated the 23rd anniversary of inauguration with a merit making ceremony on the 31st of August. Monks led the proceedings, which were attended by large numbers of staff, trustees and people from the Klong Toey community. The same day the Duang Prateep Foundation hosted an anti-drugs concert which took place at the Port Authority of Thailand sports stadium. The Klong Toey Join Together Against Drugs concert was attended by some 10,000 people. The event was sponsored by a local MP and featured several well-known performers. DPF Secretary General Prateep Ungsongtham Hata opened the event and representatives from the local anti-drugs association, the police and the Klong Toey district also spoke. As well as well known performers, there were also performances by local schools and community groups and there was a raffle with many donated prizes.
Japanese visitors lead training programmes
Last month, a visitor from Ohanashi Caravan of Tokyo visited the Duang Prateep Foundation for a four-day puppet making course. Twenty people, staff from the Duang Prateep Foundation, the Sikkha Asia Foundation and teachers at community kindergartens, participated in the course.
Also last month, three people from the Suksabay Osaka Group came to lead a training session in making jams, cakes and biscuits. Fifteen representatives from different NGOs attended the one day course in Bangkok. Afterwards the group from Osaka went to the New Life Project at Kanchanaburi, where they gave training sessions for the youngsters at the project and for children at a local school.
The attached file <cooking.jpg> shows the cooking course at the DPF.
August donations
Staff from the Amari Watergate Hotel, led by general manager Thomas Thapken, visited the Duang Prateep Foundation to donate clothing for distribution in the community. Staff from the Amari Atrium hotel also visited the DPF to host a lunch for children at the Special Education Project for hearing-impaired children and to donate school equipment.
The Eve company and Central Department Stores made a joint donation to the Duang Prateep Foundation. Eve donated two washing machines, one for the Duang Prateep Kindergarten and one for use by a community kindergarten. At the same time, Central donated clothing for the Duang Prateep Kindergarten.
The Ajinomoto Foundation from Japan donated a wide range of equipment to the Bon Kai community children’s centre, which is affiliated to the DPF. The donated items included, desks, chairs, a stove, a water cooler, and play equipment.
Aids project news
Thirty Aids Control Project volunteers, 20 women and 10 men, have gone through a two-day training programme to assist police in their duties. The volunteers accompany the police on Saturday evening anti–drugs patrols in the Klong Toey communities. They are also assisting the police when they stop and search cars for drugs or weapons. The group is meeting for exercise sessions on Saturday afternoon before going on patrol with the police.
Aids Control Project staff are trying to help families with Aids sufferers through the development of income generation activities. The cost of medication to relieve the effects of Aids is way beyond the means of Bangkok slum dwellers. People with Aids have difficulty holding regular jobs, they can often work at home making things for sale, but in many cases marketing their products is difficult. Aids Control Project staff are trying to help people with Aids with the sale of clothing and other items they have made.
World Youth Day event at UN
A group of young people from the Duang Prateep Foundation attended an event hosted by the UN in celebration of World Youth Day. The occasion included a performance by the Chapel Choir of Girton College, from Cambridge University, England. There were also speeches by representatives of UN ESCAP.
Art project students paint portraits
The meeting area on the ground floor of the Duang Prateep Foundation is presently decorated with numerous portraits painted by members of the slum children's art club. The vivid colours and creativity of the youngsters certainly brighten up the scene.
The attached file <artists.jpg> shows art club members in front of their portraits with Prateep Ungsongtham Hata third from the right at the back
News from Thailand
'Free five' to stop next year
The Bangkok governor announced last month that next year he expected to stop the 'free five' programme at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) run schools. The plan - which was initiated by the present governor's immediate predecessor - offers free lunch, milk, uniforms, textbooks and stationary to students in 431 schools run by the BMA. The free five plan was introduced a few years ago after extensive lobbying by parents and is very popular with poor families. There have been protests at the threatened discontinuation of the scheme, but the governor has remained firm in his intention to use the money saved from the discontinuation of the free five scheme on other projects.
Aids the top killer
The Deputy Public Health Minister reported last month that Aids has become the leading cause of death in the country, overtaking heart disease, cancer and accidents. The minister said that Aids deaths have been incorrectly reported in the past, because deaths were often wrongly recorded in rural areas. The cause of death was given as the heart stopped beating, which resulted in the death being listed as due to heart disease when in fact in many cases, Aids was the cause of death.
UN Aids has estimated the mortality rate of Aids infected children in Thailand at between 6,000 and 8,000 per year.
Centres struggle to cope with influx of abandoned children
It was reported last month that many women faced with unwanted pregnancies, resort to taking drugs to bring on an abortion, which instead causes the child to be born with disabilities. Many of these children are subsequently abandoned by their mothers at the hospital where they give birth. Many of the children are blind and mentally retarded. One foundation alone is caring for 1,000 such children.
Government tackles sexual discrimination in work place
The government is stepping up measures to eliminate sexual discrimination in the work place. Thailand was the first country in Asia and the fifth in the world to ratify a UN protocol to eliminate all kids of discrimination against women. The government has passed a regulation that every government agency must have a master plan to bring about greater equality among men and women and each government agency must have a chief gender equality officer.
Toxic mountain vanishes
The Industrial Works Department reported last month that 400,000 tonnes of hazardous industrial waste have gone astray. The country produces 13.9 million tonnes of waste a year, of which 1.2 million tonnes are hazardous, but of the toxic waste only 800,000 tonnes are on record as being eliminated by approved treatment and disposal methods. The Industrial Works Department is now trying to trace the other 400,000 tonnes. Three provinces produce 90% of the country’s toxic waste and these three provinces are being searched for contaminated waste. It is believed that it is mostly small and medium sized factories that are improperly disposing of their toxic waste, as they did not want to pay for proper waste treatment. Some factories have secretly dumped waste near communities, drawing protests about pollution from local people.
Escaping the loan sharks
The government's People's Bank project, which was introduced in June this year, has rescued a large number of people once trapped in debt cycles with loan sharks. The People's bank project has reportedly approved loans totalling more than 1.46 billion baht to more than 66,000 people since the project started on June 25th. Nearly 430,000 people have applied for membership in the People's Bank. The People's Bank is a micro-credit scheme, offering first time borrowers loans of up to 15,000 baht. Payments are scheduled over 13 months, at interest rates of 1% per month. The programme is targeted at low-income borrowers who are typically unable to obtain bank credit, due to the lack of sufficient collateral and steady salaries.
Senior citizens ready to leave home
The government and the private sector are starting to provide facilities for the increasing numbers of elderly who are opting out of three-tier family situations. Many senior citizens are preferring to remain independent rather than live with children and grand children as has been the tradition. At the present, about 8% of the population is aged over 60, this is likely to reach 11.5% by 2010 and 15.3% by 2020.
The Public Welfare Department is presently assisting 2,318 destitute senior citizens who are provided with lodging, food and other services free of charge. A further 400,000 senior citizens receive 300 baht per month from the department.
Standard for organic production set
The government has created a standard for organic crop production, with a logo to guarantee that the products are grown using organic methods. The next step is to tell the world that Thailand has standards based on internationally accepted rules and to establish the credibility of the benchmarks. The country is presently training about 100 inspectors to certify organic crops.
The chief operations officer of a leading supermarket chain in Thailand reported that sales of organic fruit and vegetable have increased by 60% since last year.