January 26, 1999
We care Home away from home Thanks to St Theresa's Boarding Centre, children living in the hills in Nan can attend school regularly without having to travel massive distances Kusuma Bekenn Teenager Somsak Khalek vividly remembers the hardship he and his two younger brothers endured walking from their backwater village to the nearest secondary school. "Our village is hidden in a mountainous area and the nearest school is 18 kilometres away. It took us hours of walking to get there," the 14-year-old said. "Back then, we only attended classes for a few hours a day, before we had to head home again. It was too tiring to walk that far every day. When it rained we simply forgot about going to school," said Somsak, whose family live in Hang Tang Luang hill village. Knowing only a good education would save their sons from the hard lives farmers endure, Somsak's parents started looking for a few square metres in a rice field near the school to build a shelter so the boys could attend school regularly. Fortunately the boys did not have to endure this kind of life for very long, thanks to the Redemptorists of Thailand, a missionary group of Catholic priests, working under the guidance of Father Chuchart Srivichairatana and Father Prachob Huangkaew. The Redemptorists are working to improve the lives of people living in the remote mountains of the northern province of Nan along the Thai-Laos border. The areas include the villages of Sob Gog, Hang Tang Luang and Ban Huey Lieb. Many of the people who live there came originally from refugee camps along the border. In the early days of their missionary work, the Redemptorists acquired a plot of land in the area, thinking that in the long term it could be used for a good cause. When they learned of the plight of the Khalek boys, the Redemptorists offered to help by letting them build a home on their land. "We brothers built a bamboo shack with a straw roof ourselves" said Somsak. His younger brother Tawin, 12, said: "It was a simple bamboo shack without windows or doors. It protected us from the sun, but when it rained it leaked. We sheltered ourselves with cardboard. But we were happy as we could go to school every day and it took us less than 15 minutes to walk to school. "My older brothers can easily take a village bus to the vocational school in town," he said. Somsak and Tawin were not alone in their struggle to get a good education. Many other parents sought land near the school to build shelters for their children. The problem prompted the Redemtorist missionaries to start a project to build a decent accommodation centre for the highland children. Since the hill people in the area are largely small-scale farmers, they are poor with an irregular income. Proper educational opportunities for their children is hard to achieve. Children may get kindergarten and primary level education in their villages, but the standards are often inadequate. In many cases, children still cannot read and write properly after completing primary school. There are secondary schools in some large villages, but for many youngsters these schools are simply too far away to make them a viable option. The lack of educational opportunities for Nan's hill children has a host of devastating knock-on effects. Many youngsters find themselves working as child labourers and are forced to migrate to seek a job. When work is hard to come by drug abuse, prostitution and crime is sometimes seen as the only alternative - and with that comes a higher risk of HIV and Aids. Thus in 1997, the Redemptorists launched the project to build an accommodation centre for underprivileged youngsters. The main aims were to: * Promote educational opportunities for underprivileged children who live far from schools and collages. * To give educational opportunities to children whose parents suffer from HIV/Aids, and to youngsters whose families cannot support their education. * And to enhance educational opportunities for children in areas where there are no secondary schools. To fulfil these aims, it was decided the land the missionaries had earlier acquired, would be used to build an accommodation centre. The site is in Vangtao village, in Tambol Tuebtong, about 15 kilometres from Nan town, and yet there is a government secondary school just round the corner. Initial fundraising for the centre began in late 1997 at a private birthday party for Police Lt Gen Sophon Varachanont. In lieof gifts, donations were given in support of the centre. Lt Gen Sophon is living proof religion can be without frontiers. Though he is not a Catholic, he recognised the great need for the centre and threw his support behind the project by taking charge of fundraising. Besieged by the generosity of friends and the public, financial support began to grow. The plan was to construct a two-storey building with dormitories, study rooms, a rectory, library, dining area, activity rooms for occupational training and for moral and religious studies. In March 1998, construction got underway. The centre was named St Theresa's and it was officially opened last December. The first to benefit were the Khalak brothers and some of their village friends. It is expected that eventually around 80 youngsters could benefit from the accommodation centre. St Theresa's is run on a charitable basis under the supervision of Fr Wirach Amonpattana. "This is a safe place where underprivileged children wishing to further their education, away from home, can be sheltered," Fr Wirach said. At the centre the children are taught to share things and love one another as if they were a big family. Domestic chores are shared out between the children. Aside from school work, the children are encouraged to join useful activities in their spare time, including growing vegetables and fruit and raising ducks, fish, chickens and rabbits. What is produced is consumed at the Centre, while any surplus is shared among the needy. "We get up before the sun rises and start the day with domestic routines. After watering the plants, we feed the animals, and then we go to school. Some evenings we play volleyball, I like that," said 13-year-old Suwit, the third of the Khalek brothers. The next step is to raise more funds to finance educational support, food, clothes and other necessary items which the 80-or-so needy kids who will eventually be cared for by the project will require from time to time. The centre also needs government school uniforms, school shoes, school books, casual clothes, stationery, preserved food, rice, blankets, medicines and other items. "Our duty is to see the children are given warmth, parental care and attention, along with the moral strength which is an important element in life," said Fr Wirach. "Children require overall education as well as moral education in order that they become good citizens with good hearts." Info for donations: * Name of organisation: St Theresa's Boarding Centre. * Contact person in Nan: Fr Wirach Amonpattana, Redemptorists of Thailand. P.O. Box 26, Amphur Muang, Nan Province 55000, Thailand. Tel (054) 774-161. * Bank account for donations in Nan: "Education Fund Nan", account no: 363-2-21745-5, Thai Military Bank, Nan Province. * Contact person in Bangkok: Fr Chuchart Srivichairatana. Holy Redeemer Church, 123/19 Ruam Rudi Lane 5, Bangkok 10330. Tel 256-6305 and 256-6578. * Bank account for donations in Bangkok: "Education Fund Nan", account no: 008-1-53991-6, Krung Thai Bank's Pratumwan branch. Alternately, yocan send cheques made payable to Post Publishing Public Company Limited (For St Theresa's Boarding Centre) to Kusuma Mintakhin, Editorial Manager, 136, Na Ranong Road, off Sunthorn Kosa, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110. Tel. 240-3700 ext 3224-5. Please also include your name and address with your cheque so we can send yoa receipt.		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