Send 70 At-risk Children to School in Thailand

On Tuesday, January 15th at 9:30 a.m. over 80 children (including 17 members from Daemen College) gathered for the much anticipated event of the year: Sports Day!  In keeping with tradition the students spent weeks practicing for the big day.  The children were divided into two teams; the red team and the blue team. Students wore shirts donning the colors of their teams. Everywhere you could hear the dialogue: “Which color are you?” Followed by an enthusiastic, “I am red. We will win!”

The day started off with a long flag ceremony and some announcements. And then it began! The children are always most excited for the different sports. First the relay races: running, potato sack race, rolling the tire, water balloon race, and a few more. Each team cheered loudly for their runners. Both boys and girls of different ages compete and receive a medal made by the DEPDC staff. At noon the centre provided lunch, drinks and shaved ice with syrup and in the afternoon the action continued. This time they were onto team sports: folk sport, face make up, land ski, hula hoop and tug-of-war. Although there was a lot of energy in the air the whole day felt very relaxed and the students exemplified a healthy competitive sportsmanship. The staff of DEPDC put a lot of work into this day from arranging music and songs, setting up the field and providing foods and drinks to cleaning up after the festivities. The work, though, is always worthwhile as this is a favorite day among the students of DEPDC. Sports Day was a huge success and a day that will not be forgotten soon by the children.

Thank you from all of us here at DEPDC.  We would not be where we are without the support of our donors. The children would not have these special memories and we cannot thank you enough!