TEO Newsletter June / July 2006

Rocket Festival - Bun Bang Fai

The first rocket festival we saw this year in Guanwan. Their parade is famous with the villager in the Nongkhai province and groups from many schools and villages attend the parade before the great competition.

The second rocket festival we attended in Nong Song Hong - in pouring rain.

See more pictures of the rocket festival and the parade
If you want to see more of Doeke photos

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Dinner with Khun Kwan Gaew Watcharothai

The province Nongkhai has two Rat-Pracha-Noo-Kruoa schools. These schools are under the patronage of H.M. King Bhumipol, who provides these schools with extra money from his private funds. All these school were founded after some disasters or to support students with less opportunities like orphans or abused children. One of them is the Nong-song-hong district school #14 , which was established 1966 after a big flood.

Every school term a representative of the king visits all these schools to talk with staff and students to get a personal impression on the development. As a representative of the king, Khun Kwan Gaew Watcharothai will not just drop by and chat with some students. He travels escorted by police and accompanied by several high rank officials from Bangkok and the province he visits. The schools are quite busy days before his arrival. They prepare his reception with an exhibition of the best student works in every subject and speeches by the headmaster and the student leader. This time Khun Kwan Gaew Watcharothai emphazised in his speech to the school the importance of learning English. Every visit he interviews a few students to get a personal impression. Before he starts his round to inspect the school, he hands out presents to every student.

Thai-Experience was invited to meet the representative and introduce our work. Doeke, one of our IT volunteers in Nong-Song-Hong prepared a short presentation of his Photoshop introduction course. Khun Kwan Gaew Watcharothais caravan was delayed and time ran out, so the computer demonstration was canceled, but we joined the dinner at the Royal Mekhong Hotel were the group planned to spend the night and later had a chance to talk with Kwan Gaew Watcharothai.

The delay was luck for us. The same day Nong Song Hong celebrated it's yearly Rocket Festival Parade and we were able to see most of the parade passing the back of the school while waiting for the royal representative. It was a long day and we were very tired when we finally returned home.

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Overseas community service project

Singaporean school visited again

Three teachers and 27 students came to teach Thai students at the Primary schools in Meuang Mee and Baan Prao as well as the Secondary school in Guanwan.

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New school in our program

Nam Suay wittaya School, 20 km north of Nongkhai along the highway to Udon Thank, is the latest addition to schools we work with. 740 students and 35 teachers just got their first volunteers to help teaching English. David from Canada and Jessica from Korea are exchange students in Singapore and came to Thailand to help out in Nam Suay.

About Nam Suay Wittaya School

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Our first Thai Volunteer

Thommy, a student of computer science at Mahidol University in Bangkok who grew up abroad, joined us during his holidays. Speaking Thai and English equally well, he helped Amanda and Brad with translation during their first days and later took over the Math teaching in Baan Prao. His students where enthusiastic about him and suddenly Math became fun to learn. Thommy liked his teaching experience a lot and plans to come back, if possible with some of his English speaking friends from University.

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