Making furniture

The last few days have seen some of the boys using their creative and practical skills to make furniture from Bamboo. With the bamboo the boys have been busy making some beds, tables and other pieces of furniture.


Thanks to a friend from Germany who donated money to purchase some additional equipment and tools to help the boys along.


This week we have also been busy putting together some new furniture for the children's dorms. Thanks to some generous donations from Mr Raja and the i-to-i foundation we have been able to purchase some new beds and lockers for the children. Previously we had some children sleeping 3 or 4 to a bed. The new beds should make sleeping at night a bit more comfortable for the children!

Music workshop in Chiang Mai

Three of the children headed to Chiang Mai for a few days to participate in the WISE community music programme All Groups music workshop to further their music skills and plans. Charlieh, Adjah and Nemeu headed to the city to join about 16 fellow music talents aged from 9 to 50 years old.

The All groups workshop, named so as it tried to for the first time draw together people from all ethnic minority groups, drew together a great bunch of musical talents all with different styles and backgrounds with music. This is significant and a great opportunity given the difficulties of ethnic minorities to meet in one place (due to the difficulties to travel as no formal Thai ID). The workshop looked at assisting the participants to plan their musical progression and plans over the coming year. It gave them the opportunity to discuss with other like minded talents what they were doing, where they come from , what they do and to clarify their plans and aspirations.

The visit to Chiang Mai gave the boys the opportunity to select and purchase some new guitars and musical equipment which will help expand the music programme at Childlife. The boys have already passed on their musical skills to other children in the shelter who will in turn teach more kids these skills!

We thank Cat and WISE Foundation for giving this great opportunity to 3 of our boys!

Thanking the people of Galway!

Thanks to Gillie and the people of Galway, Ireland who raised a great donations for Childlife.



Gillie who is a market trader sold guardian angels for Christmas through the Western Buddhist Order with 25% of profits going towards Childlife. With each sale they also distributed information about Childlife, informing people about the situation and problems we work with and our shelter.

A big thanks to Gillie and her family and the people of Galway for their generosity and beautiful thoughts over the festive season :)

Growing our agriculture project!

A big thanks to our friends in Bangkok who are letting us use 15 rai of land near the shelter to do a farming and agriculture project!


The land has just been ploughed and planting of banana trees and different vegetables (beans, eggplant, cauliflower, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables etc) has already happened. The land will also be used to grow rice which will be able to feed our kids and we will also look to raise ducks!

The kids, staff and volunteers have been getting down and dirty, preparing the land, planting seeds and preparing the land for the rice seedlings!


The staff and children are all excited about this opportunity to expand our agriculture programme as well as enabling us to become more self sufficient with food supplies.

Circus skills and fun!!!

This week Childlife and the children at San Khong school were treated to a skills workshop and performance by Laughing for Life circus.

During the day the they visited the the school and did some face painting for the kids, balloon animals, and mask making, and playful workshops in various circus skills. They returned to the shelter in the evening to do an amazing performance with some break-dance, fire dance (with poi, candles, fans , staff and hula hoop) , acro-balance, juggling, stilt-walking and more...

The crew from Laughing for Life consisted of performers from all around the globe as well as local Thai performers that travel to bring some fun and joy to children's lives who otherwise ordinarily would not have the opportunity.

To check out more about what they do check out this website http://www.dokbua.org/
The kids all had a great time with their eyes glued to the performance and smiles from ear to ear.

We say a huge thanks to Andrea and all the performers with Laughing for Life for bringing such a fun and joyous day for the children! Sanuk Mak Mak!!!

Eyes to Japanese TV Screens

Back in July we had a TV crew visit Childlife to film part of a documentary about Childrens organisations.

Childlife will appear in a TV show about different shelters for children across the globe. Shelters from Indonesia, Mongolia and Mexico will also be featured in the show. Childlife was chosen to be a feature in this TV show due to the role of the Children's Council at Childlife. The crew spent their time learning about how the Children's Council run and manage many of the activities and operations at the shelter.

The programme will be screened on Japanese TV on the evening of the 31st January. Please let any of your friends in Japan know to keep an eye out for the programme on that night.

Leelong update!

After spending the past few months back in his village, Leelong has returned for a visit to Childlife for the next few weeks.

During our last visit to his village to monitor his progress he told us he wanted to come back to visit Baan Nana.

Leelong is happy to be back at Childlife and enjoys spending time with the children at the shelter.

Whilst he is here he will have a doctors check up to ensure his medication is working effectively.

Christmas and New Year celebrations

The kids had a fun and exciting time when they celebrated Christmas and new year at the shelter with a big party!!!

We were also joined by some of the families of the children making it a very special occasion!

The night was filled with lots of fun with dancing, music, plays, lots of food and of course presents (which the kids loved!)

When it came to opening presents the children were all very excited about receiving some gifts. Thanks to all the people who donated items for our children!

For New Years we held a small party with some visitors from Bangkok providing some food, gifts and running activities. We had big count down to welcome in 2008 with some fireworks!