This weekend the family went to visit a school a few hours outside of Kanchanaburi that my wife is helping out. The school is run by a nun educated tribal kids in the Thai language. Not only does it serve as a school, but also as an orphanage. Many of the kids live at the school year round, while others live their during the school year. Some of those who some to the school have a two day walk back to their homes.
The education level is only up to grade three, but there are kids who a bit older. Some of them didn't get to start at five or six years of age. A few of the assistant teachers are only in their early teens.
The nun in charge makes due with a pretty small budget. She gets an equivalent of about thirty cents a day to feed the kids. You know that when a big part of her "wish" list included food, clothes and shoes, that she is not focusing on luxury.
Tim donated a chunk of money and raised some from some of her friends here. She was able to donate food, shoes and school supplies to help them out. Each child got a little bag of candy, which we had our kids put together. By Western standards, it was small and uninspiring, but for those kids, it was a treat they don't often enjoy.
The biggest hit with the kids, however, was the playground set that she bought them. The playground included swings, teeter tooters and monkey bars. The playset arrived before we did, and was already assembled by the time we got there. The kids were already playing on it. Apparently they were so anxious, that they helped carry all the parts down the hill to where it was assembled.
Below are a few photos from the trip. Don't be fooled by the nice clothing that many of the kids were wearing. We visited on Friday, when they wear their tribal garb, if they have it.
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