Empower Young Girls to Achieve a Successful Career

As March arrives and the heat of the dry season has everyone moving slowly, we are celebrating the end of the first school year back in the classroom after the remote learning of the pandemic.  We have 18 girls and 9 boys in higher education (9 in university and 18 in high school)..

Nuey S and Pokpong graduate high school on Monday, the 13th. They are both waiting to hear about scholarships - Pokpong for a 2-year program in welding and construction and Nuey for a teaching degree.  Jaran graduates from vocational high school and will continue studying electrical engineering in a 2-year vocational college program.  Nipa completed high school in hospitality and tourism and continued on to a two-year university-level certificate program.

Jiu and Naan are happy to be in classes at the Payap University Nursing School, associated with one of the major international hospitals in Chaing Mai, McCormick Hospital. Jui is in her first year, and Naan her second. Yim is finishing her fourth year of a 5-year teachers training program. She enjoyed teaching science at Phrao High School for an internship. over the summer. 

Tanqua and Joy, our June university graduates, have found jobs they enjoy.  Tanqua is a nurse at a hospital in Bangkok and Joy is a receptionist at a growing hotel chain in Chiang Mai. New is happy as a chef at the Chinese restaurant,  where her Chinese is improving and that gives her a salary boost. Earn is busy leading the Warm Heart Farm Garden improvements, developing new vegetable beds, from our clay soil, and testing permaculture and no-tilling methods.

Nit received a scholarship through Erasmus Mundus for a two-year master's degree in social work.  She will study in England, Demark, Portugal, and Poland. Nit finally received her visa to study in England, two months late, but the school accommodated her and other students with similar delays.  She just sent a photo from Denmark, seeing snow for the first time.  

We have six young women as rising high school seniors, thinking about nursing, teaching, hospitality, and retail marketing..

Everyone is looking forward to the school break before starting another busy year. 

Thank you for making this possible!  You are investing in generations to come. 

Best wishes for the months ahead, 

Dana, Evelind, Michael, and the Warm Heart students and staff.

At this time of year, our seniors are looking ahead to graduation.  Nuey is a senior in the Math and Science Track at Phrao High School.  She had good grades and is looking ahead to life after graduation from high school.  She has decided to go to a 6-month nurses' aid program that will set her up to work as an assistant in doctors' offices, as well as work with young children and the elderly. She has seen the difficulty many of her friends have had landing jobs in their chosen fields due to the post-pandemic economic situation and overall changes in the job market.  She is anxious to start earning a living to help support her parents as her mother is in poor health and only her father can continue picking tea in the tea orchards in her village.

At Warm Heart, she had been a leader and role model for the other children.  She studies hard and has done well in school.  She started the social media team that photographs events at Warm Heart and creates short videos and posts. She won a Chiang Mai Province-level award for a video about her village and the traditions of tea growing and the special fermented tea they produce. 

Thank you for making this possible for the young men and women of Warm Heart!

With gratitude,

Dana, Evelind, Michael, and the Warm Heart students

P.S. # Giving Tuesday is coming up on November 29, from (00:00:00 EST to 23:59:59 EST). GlobalGiving will give away $1.2 million to nonprofits around the world as part of their #MoveAMillion campaign for GivingTuesday.  Each donation, big or small will help us unlock a greater share of those bonus funds! Join us to finish the year and start the new year on a firm footing!

As much of the world starts to open up and come to a new normal, our high school and university students are happy to be back in their classrooms.  Our graduates are finding jobs and Akanit won a USDS YSEALI Fellowship to visit the US.

Our nursing students, Naan and Jiu are in residence at Payap University School of Nursing - Jiu starting and Naan in her second year.  Tanqua graduated as a Registered Nurse and is waiting for the results of her midwife exam (due later this month) before finalizing her job placement.

We just had a long weekend holiday and a number of the students have come back to visit.  Jambo is busy at his electronics vocational school along with Tawatchai, who is studying mechanics.  Jitapa attends the same school, Payap Technological College,  studying Hospitality and Tourism. Aop is back in Phayao studying law.

We have nine students at Phrao High School. Nuey S and Pokpong are seniors.  She is in the math and science track and is currently aiming at studying to be a teacher at university.  Pokpong is finishing a welding and construction program and will decide once he graduates.  We now have 6 girls in the Math and Science Track, two in Languages, and one in vocational.   

Joy started work as a receptionist at a growing hotel chain in Chaing Mai.

Nit spent a week in Washington DC, learning about US politics, and then left for Cleveland to work with an international leadership development NGO for a month before returning to Thailand.  She plans to attend graduate school in the fall.

We are very proud of all of them and extremely grateful to you for making this possible.

Dana, Michael, Evelind and the Warm Heart Family

Here is an update on our students and graduates in our higher education program.  The K-12 school year ends in March, the universities end later, in May or June.  All our students have managed to learn and complete their studies both online and some in-person, due to COVID restrictions.  The Thai economy is opening very slowly, but our graduates have been finding jobs to support themselves and send some funds home. At the same time, they are building their networks, with hopes of finding jobs in their chosen fields. 

This year, we have three high school graduates and two upcoming university grads. We have 7 graduating from 9th grade and starting high school

High School

"Jiu" graduated from Phrao High School and is accepted and registered at Payap Nursing School in Chiang Mai.  She joins 'Naan", who is finishing her first year.   

"Preaw" graduated from Phayao Technical College at the high school level, in agriculture.  She recently won a Province-wide prize for her juice products.  She plans to continue in agriculture science.  She is looking at work/study programs abroad and will know later in April where she is going. 

'Nipa" completed the vocational high school program in Tourism and is planning to continue for two more years to receive a vocational college certificate.

"Pokpong" is finishing 11th grade and started an internship at a metalworking shop in Chiang Mai. 

"Nuey", finishing 11th grade, won a provincial prize for her video on life in her mountain village.

University

"Tanqua" graduates from Asia Pacific International University School of Nursing and is reviewing job options upon graduation.

"Joy" is graduating from Chiang Mai Rajabhat University in Tourism, with Chinese and English. She is targeting the hotel industry.  

Graduates

"Nit" received her national social work license and was accepted at a leadership development program in the US.  She's waiting to hear from graduate schools as well.

"New" passed the mid-level hospitality Chinese language exam and has been promoted at the Chinese restaurant where she works. 

A few of our graduates finally had graduations ceremonies, postponed due for 2 years due to COVID - "Mit" and "Ann". 

Please note that all names included are "nicknames" created to protect the privacy of our children.

Thank you all for continuing to invest in our students! You've supported 26 students over this last year.

University tuition bills all arrived this month along with the first term grades.  So far everyone has excelled and we are delighted to continue investing in their futures. 

The high school team took a short break to enjoy Halloween preparations, but they were back at their computers at 8 am for online classes. 

Naan is still studying nursing from early morning until late evening but has been a great help with the colds and fevers that come with the change in the weather.  (It does get chilly at night this time of year.) 

Joy came home for a mid-term break from her senior year at Rajabhat university to help her mother bring in the rice crop.

Tanqua, now in her fourth year of nursing school was initiated into the National Nursing Association

It was a delight to hear from Nat Danai, who is working in Cambodia as a computer tech for a casino.  He is hoping that the cruise industry starts to recover and he can pursue his dream of working around the world.

Akanit started her second year working at the Jesuit Refugee Service. It's based in Bangkok, but with COVID office closures, we have enjoyed having her nearby in Chiang Mai. 

She has started to repay back into our higher education fund while saving for grad school. She started researching master's programs in social work and just sent us a spreadsheet with her top three choices - all in Europe.  We are hoping for a scholarship.

Thank you all for continuing to invest in our students!  We have 10 in university and 16 in high school right now, all made possible from your support.   

Evelind

P.S. #GivingTuesday is almost here. We would greatly appreciate your support of our Harnessing the Power of the Sun campaign on November 30.