By Philippe van Gammeren | IT & Marketing
It has been an eventful couple of months with plenty of activities, development, and heartwarming events. At the same time we currently experience a country in grief over the dead of the Thai King Bhumibol. In this report we pay our respect to the king, and we would like to show you our project highlights. We also would like to invite you to visit our renewed website where you can now stay connected with daily updates: www.ghre.org
Firstly we pay our respect to the beloved King Bhumibol
When Thailand's prime minister abruptly flew back to Bangkok to meet the crown prince as concerns grew over the health of the king, the whole country stood still. An earlier official statement was released that described King Bhumibol's health as "unstable". Later that day Thailand was hit by a shockwave of grief. Now after a month, the country is still consumed in grief for their beloved King, and a new King is not yet in place. While the exact timeline is uncertain, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is the undisputed heir, and he will eventually become King. Meanwhile the country, including us, have been wearing black/dark clothes for over a month now to pay respect to King Bhumibol.
Young Empowered Professionals - Vocational Training
We have continued offering the specialized vocational classes for our new Young Empowered Professionals (YEP) program. We developed this program in the hopes of creating new opportunities to our students. YEP is established as a link from our school to a more specialized education in Hospitality; including IT, Thai, Advanced English, and general Business skills. As a future extension to YEP, we are in the process of developing a Social Enterprise Endeavor with Umenohana as the primary partner. The main objective of SEE is to open a restaurant/café that assists, trains, employs and prepares students of our school for the working world. Currently there are four motivated students attending the first classes of Advanced English in Hospitality and Restaurant operations. These students have been rapidly progressing in the breadth of their English vocabulary, their comfort conversing in English, their customer service skills, and their understanding of restaurant operations. They have also taken active initiative in the SEE, and are collaborating with FED staff and volunteers in determining its branding and product selection.
Legal Empowerment Training
On September 10th and 11th, in collaboration with the Solidarity Center, FED organized a two-day Legal Empowerment Training for Migrant Workers in Phang Nga at our Unified Learning Center to raise awareness among the migrant workers about their rights, and the legal services that are available to them and their families.
The Children on the Move Program
The Children on the Move Program provided photo and video editing training for its students on September 24th and 25th. The training was attended by 17 students from the Unified Learning Center. Through this training, the students gained hands on experience in photo and video editing. The folling month, the Children on the Move Program provided theatre training for its students. Through both of these trainings, the students had lots of fun and got to exhibite their creative talents.
Heart Warming Student Donation
Through our Student Bank Project, that teaches students how to save and manage money, a student saved up 900 baht in one and a half years.Her parents decided to move back to Burma, and she insisted to show her gratitude to our school just before she left.She decided to donate 300 baht from her savings to the school. We were very touched by her motivation and kindness.
Amazing Volunteers
We were lucky to have some great volunteers the last couple of months, including a group of students from ISAK (International School of Asia, Karuizawa) - Japan. We are always pleased to hear that volunteers are willing to commit their time and effort to support our teachers and office staff with new ideas and a strong helping hand. Especially our students, who love to have volunteers around to teach them English, creative arts, learn new games and hang around with in the library singing English songs and reading English books. In return, our volunteers have a first-hand Burmese experience and learn so much about their culture, being a migrant in Thailand and their challenges in life. When their stay comes to an end, which always comes too early, they become much-needed international ambassadors to our organization.
Thank you for reading our report. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to our project. Without your help we wouldn't be able to do this great work. We thank you for believing in our cause. We will do the best we can to keep you involved in our work. Please have a look at our renewed website, where you can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter. We are dedicating volunteers and in-house IT skills to develop a great transparent website, so you're able to stay tuned! Love and peace.
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