This video above was created by the staff and students of Ban Ton Pheung School. (6 minutes). --------- The goal of this campaign is to raise $8000 US by November 2024 to support the nutritional needs of 283 Thai students for 2024. The campaign is endorsed by the school staff. It grew out of a school site visit by Brad and Lee Hoon and through regular communication with the staff. In November 2024, Brad and Lee Hoon returned to visit the community where Lee Hoon had taught with the U.S. Peace Corps in 2018 and 2019. We were interested in finding a place to volunteer for a brief period in future years. We spent several days with the staff at Ban Ton Phueng School including the Director or Principal Sriwan and two English Language teachers, Jome and Auea. While planning a future return to Ban Ton Phueng school, we asked the staff this question: “What materials or supplies do you need the most to help the students learn better?” The school staff unanimously replied the most urgent need is funding to help augment the basic meal that the students eat at school. Students receive free lunches on school days. The greatest unmet need is additional funds to buy more and better food that is locally produced. Staff pointed out that many of the growing boys and girls do not get enough to eat at lunch. More food would better meet the students’ nutritional needs and boost their ability to learn. Most of the students are children of migrant day laborers from Myanmar (formerly Burma) and almost all are poor. Extra funds for the school to buy food for the students would reduce the financial stress on the families. In coordination with Ban Ton Pheung School, we decided to raise $8000 US for the school to supplement the nutrition of their students for 2024. This amount would meet the nutritional goal for one year. The exchange rate in mid-2024 is 33 Thai Baht to $1 U.S. All donated funds will go directly to the school and school staff will manage the funds to buy more food for the students. In January 2024, we will return to volunteer at Ban Ton Pheung School for five weeks. We will transfer all the donations from this “Go Fund Me” campaign to the school. Slide show / video - photos from 2024 visit to Ban Ton Pheung School and about this campaign. -------- Ban Ton Phueng School is located in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province in northern Thailand. Fang District borders the country of Myanmar and it is mountainous with some well-known hot springs. The main economic activity in Fang is agriculture and its most famous product is a thin-skinned super-sweet orange. The population consists of native Thais as well as hill tribe communities of Thai Yai (also called Shan), Akha, Lahu, and Dara-Ang people. Most of the parents of students at Ban Ton Pheung school are farmers and also day laborers. Ban Ton Phueng School has a total of 283 students and 23 teachers in May 2024. The distribution of students is as follows: Kindergarten, 4-6 years old, 50 students Grades 1-6, 7-12 years old, 156 students Grades 7-9,13-15 years old, 77 students Every year the teachers of Ban Ton Phueng School visit the students’ homes. This year, the teachers learned that many of the students’ families are Thai Yai or Shan people. Thai Yai people emigrated from Myanmar to work as daily laborers on farms in Thailand. Their income is typically around 250 baht ($7 US) per person per day. If they are unable to work on any day, they do not receive wages. Students spend time on the weekends helping their parents with their work on the farms. As immigrants from Myanmar, the Thai Yai parents are not Thai citizens. They do not receive public benefits such as free education or low-cost health care. Most of the parents are unable to read or write in the Thai language. Most families have five or more members. Everyone has to work together, including the young students, to earn money for the family’s needs. As immigrants, they need to save money to apply for immigrant identification cards issued by the Thai government. Most students and their families live in poverty. They often have to live in crowded and unsanitary conditions. Most families live in worker housing at their employers’ orange farms. Families live in single rooms that they rent from their employers, use communal toilets and bathrooms and use wood-burning stoves to cook in front of their rooms. Migrant laborers do not own land. The school receives some funds from the Thai government for student lunches. This amount is 22 Baht (about 60 US cents) per student per day. But this amount is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the students. The parents of the students hope their children will have better and more productive lives by getting a good education at Ban Ton Phueng School. The staff at Ban Ton Phueng School work hard to help the students achieve this goal. On behalf of the staff and students of Ban Ton Phueng School, we are grateful for your contributions to this Supplemental Nutrition campaign. Thank you or Korp Khun in Thai, Brad and Lee Hoon
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