 Blog.
We desperately need some support to help a beautiful boy from Childlife.
We have a boy called Leelong (about 15 years old) who we think has autism, maybe downs syndrome (he has not been diagnosed) and also epilepsy.
We used to care for him at the shelter but he returned to his village (last year) when we didn’t have enough staff to care for him. When we returned to see if he wanted to come back he was happy living in the village and working the fields with his foster family.
In addition to his existing conditions which require medication, he became very ill over a month ago, and his health has seriously deteriorated. He had an abscess on his leg which prevented him from walking. Leelong was left for over a month in his house to look after himself. He spent one month lying down unable to move to go to the toilet, and unable to walk. He has now become really weak, and needs a long period of recovery to build his strength back.
Kru Ngaow collected Leelong from his village June 9th, and he spent one night in Mae Sai hospital. He was then transferred to Chiang Rai, where he spent four nights. The situation is still very serious. Childlife needs to provide Leelong with medication, and round the clock care. He is unable to look after himself, or move, so requires constant help.
We urgently need funds to cover the cost of 6 months intensive care, including full-time care staff, medication, food, and general support, totalling £ 1000 (approx, 70,000 Baht).
If you can help in this emergency situation please donate online. He’s a really sweet boy but looks very sad at the moment and we urgently need to help him recover and put a smile back on his face.
This week Childlife said thanks and good bye to three wonderful volunteers from i-to-i, all from different corners of the globe. Belinda (Australia), Amy (USA) and MJ (Ireland) spent the past 4 weeks volunteering at Childlife, providing the children with lots of laughs, smiles and energy.
The girls spent their time teaching English at Sankong School, getting to know the children and people at the bridge and doing lots of cool activites with the children at the shelter.
The girls great energy and beautiful hearts will be well missed by everyone at Childlife.
Last week, Childlife said farewell to Carla who spent the past 2 months volunteering at Childlife.
During her time at Childlife Carla coordinated international and short term volunteers, designed some wicked t-shirts for the Friends of Childlife Program, taught at the local Sankong School and provided some awesome support in the office (including a morning till 3:30am working on a proposal...how's that for committment!!!).
This is Carla's second stint volunteering at Childlife after spending 4 weeks falling in love with Childlife last year.
Carla will be missed by all the children, staff and volunteers at Childlife for her big smiles, beautiful heart and great ideas ... In particular her Class 4 at Sankong School will dearly miss their somewhat regular bingo lessons!!!
A huge thanks and a sad goodbye from everyone at Childlife...kit teung mak mak
We would like to invite you to become a ‘Friend of Childlife’ to assist and support our activities to help children at risk of human trafficking, exploitation and other abuses that children should not have to face.
The program also aims to increase the awareness of the potential long term problems of Child Sponsorship Programs due to heavy administrative costs and creating an imbalance amongst the children.
This program will officially be launched at an exhibition in Bangkok on the 14th July 2007.
To kick start our program for this official launch become a Friend of Childlife through regular online (Paypal) or bank transfer donations. Please click the following link for information about the Program and how to become our friend. www.childlife-maesai.org/newsletters/Friends_of_Childlife.pdf
This week Childlife said farewell to Emma and Christophe who spent the last 2 ½ months volunteering with Baan Nana. Emma was a volunteer through Global Youth UK, aiming to assist Childlife to build capacity and long term sustainability.
Emma’s passion of working with minority groups of Thailand, in particular the Akha, was a huge benefit for all the children and staff here. During her time she organised an Akha culture day and formed links with various partners of Childlife to ensure the long term cultural development of the children is nurtured and encouraged.
In addition Emma provided invaluable support in the office with fundraising, English lessons and land proposals.
During Christophe’s time at Childlife he ran a pin-hole photography project with the children. This involves producing photographs using a simple box. With this project a full day Art and Creativity Workshop was developed leading to the first ever Childlife Art and Photographic Exhibition held at Nana Buffet and Restaurant.
They will be missed greatly by all the children and staff at Baan Nana for their big smiles, great progressive ideas and very positive energy. The staff and children at Nana Buffet will miss their pancakes and the children at the shelter will dearly miss the nightly video sessions of the footage they had taken through out the day.
Together they were the brains trust behind the Friends of Childlife Project looking to promote the support of Childlife to continue its work at the grass roots, and at the same time to raise awareness of the long term disadvantages and problems of Child Sponsorship Programs.
A huge thanks from everyone at Childlife for their massive contribution to the organisation.
A big thank you to Uncle Johnnie's Bar and Restaurant, Mae Sai, who have been keeping a donation box for Childlife in their bar. Since December 2006, they have collected 1757 baht to support Childlife’s activities, which we gratefully received this week.
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This week Childlife said thanks and good bye to Nick (England) and Stephanie (England) after spending the past 4-5 weeks volunteering at Childlife.
Nick’s experience in hospitality and restaurants came in handy as he passed on many ideas and his experience to assist the Nana Buffet and Restaurant.
Steph’s creativity flowed right through Childlife with lots of fun in the afternoons as the children took part in many art activities like leaf painting and an amazing elephant collage.
During their time they also taught English at the local Sankong School, which was greatly appreciated by their classes and the staff at the school.
Nick and Steph came to Childlife with i-to-i, a UK based company that place volunteers for shorter periods of time at organisations worldwide (www.i-to-i.com).
All the staff and children will miss Nick and Steph, and we wish them luck with their ongoing travels!
The Childlife Art and Photographic Exhibition was held on Monday 4th June at Nana Buffet and Restaurant.
The exhibition displayed many of the childrens art from the recent workshop that involved water colours, pin hole camera photography, screen printing, pastels, video and interview for documentary, clay model making and photo frame making.
In addition to the items made at the recent workshops there were some self portrait photographs from a workshop run by Gabfai, traditional bags and bracelets as made by the children and photographs from Childlife volunteer and photographer Christophe.
The staff and some older children worked tirelessly through the night in preparation for the exhibition making frames for all the art.
The art will remain displayed at the Buffet for till the end of the week. If you are in the area please take the time to check it out and enjoy the talent and creativity of our children.
On Monday 4th June the a new building at Sankong School was officially opened in front of many dignitaries and friends of the school.
The new building is multipurpose and will serve as an office for the school principal, staff room, computer room and science room.
The new building was funded by a generous donation from the British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy (BCTFN) to Childlife and the school.
The BCTFN have been providing financial assistance to Childlife and the Nana Buffet and Restaurant for the past two years and extended their support to the school as recognition of the great partnership the school has with Childlife. The Sankong School gives the children at Childlife the opportunity for education despite a majority no having formal Thai identification. As a result Childife children make up about 50% of the schools students.
We would like to thank the BCTFN for their continuing support and extending this to support to the school.
On Thursday 31st May various art workshops were held at the shelter by staff and volunteers including:
- clay model making
- screen printing
- water colours
- pastels
- pin hole camera photography
- photo frame making
- video and interview for documentary
The day was a lot of fun (and a bit of mess!) for the children with their art on display at the Childlife Art and Photographic Exhibition held at Nana Buffet on Monday 4th June. The art will be on display at the restaurant for a week and is a great avenue to recognise their immense talent and creativity.
We are hoping we can run follow up workshops to further develop the childrens skills. If you would be interested in supporting a program to foster and encourage the childrens creativity please let us know.
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