Thai women in England “Do” a 3-peat for Thai Kids here!
Jeep and Lek of the “Computers For
Thai Kids Charity Project” in Pattaya have been refurbishing and sending
out donated computers to schools all over Thailand for the past 6 years.
At
the donation of computers from Thoreson and Unocal Thailand were: (front
row left to right) Two of our Pattaya street kids who attend daily free
computer classes and Mr. Steve Lee who donated 750 pounds to the project.
(Back row left to right) Pattaya Police Major Chaiwat Pansuwan, Saleni
Lee, Samantha Lee in front of her mother Nung Lee, Ajarn Chana
Sangupasnapapon of the Wat Nong Pai School, and Ajarn Pranorm Traiyanakom
headmaster of Wat Phong Dang School handing plaque to Lek (Jaruay
Kingjorhor) of the “Computers for Thai Kids Charity Project”.
Just recently, the charitable project sent out their
400th computer to a school in Suphan Buri, and at the same time, Steve and
Nung Lee were here to donate 750 pounds sterling to the project that they
had raised by holding their 3rd “Do” in a row at a local pub in
Bungay, England.
Students
using computers at Wat Nong Pai School in Suphan Buri, which received
computers last year.
Steve and Nung Lee plan and organize these “Do’s”
in England to raise money for indigent Thai children. Rob and Sue Pickard
of the Green Dragon Pub in Bungay again donated their premises for a
Sunday and the girls cooked Thai food and sold it to patrons and friends.
In the wee hours of the morning, the Thai women who
live in Bungay and did the cooking (with their husbands acting like they
were helping) were: Nung and Steve Lee, Sila and Keith Holland, Malai and
David Hansey, Kaew and Mark Jenkinson, and Na and Terry Buck.
Lek
(Jaruay Kingjorhor) of the “Computers for Thai Kids Charity Project”
teaches the youngsters how to use a computer. In today’s world, computer
knowledge is essential, and an early start in life could make the
difference between getting ahead in life or just surviving.
Much of the food was donated by the pub and bar manager
Warren Chandler. A local Thai restaurant named Thai Kitchen donated the
rice. Gavin and Charlotte helped overcome the avian flu decimation on the
chicken industry by finding and donating 100 healthy legs and 800 healthy
chicken wings.
A raffle was held at the event with prizes of Thai
cookbooks and flight bags donated by Thai Airways, and many prizes donated
by the patrons of the event. Steve and Nung’s daughters, Saleni and
Samantha Lee, sold the raffle tickets to help Thai kids in Thailand and
said that they sold out quickly.
About 65 people showed up to enjoy the Thai food and
participate in the day long festivities. Steve Lee said that he could
easily have doubled that amount if they would have had the room for more
people. All who attended had a great time and have asked the girls to
please do it again in the near future. The girls are already planning to
have a barbecue in the summer months if the weather allows, and another
party in the fall.
They said that the feeling they had while raising funds
to help the disadvantaged Thai kids here in Thailand was overwhelming and
it was a win, win, win, win situation.
Some of the people attending said it was not long ago
that they, too, were not in such an advantaged position as they are now,
and that to give something back was a very good feeling.
The girls say they all won by being able to get
together and cook, the pub won by having many more customers than usual on
a Sunday, the sponsors won with great advertising, the customers won by
having copious quantities of Thai food and celebratory drink at a very
reasonable price, and most important of all, the Thai kids Jeep and Lek
are helping won through the donations.
Jeep (founder and president of the charity) said,
“This is the 3rd year in a row these caring people have donated their
time and money to help these Thai kids. If we had a couple more of these
charity events a year we could help a lot more of the poor Thai kids get a
little further ahead in life. Once again, this donation came at the
perfect time since we always need funds to fix up the computers donated to
us by individuals and companies, so we can send them out to schools, plus
the tuition is coming due for a lot of the 82 kids we are sponsoring in
government schools.
“A lot of the funds raised last year by these kind
people in England was used to repair some of the donated computers from
Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital, Thoreson, Unocal Thailand and other donors that
have been sent out to government schools in poor regions all over
Thailand. This donation is a very nice surprise.”
One of the photos on this page shows the last of the
computers that were donated by Thoreson and Unocal Thailand being donated
to the Wat Phong Dang School, Amphur Sam Chook, which is located outside
of Suphan Buri.
Once again, it seemed like the entire village showed up
for the donation of the computers, from the pu yai ban on down, since the
school badly needed the donation and it is a very big event to receive the
computers.
Pattaya Police Major Chaiwat Pansuwan attended this
school when growing up and was on hand for the presentation. Also present
was Ajarn Chana Sangupasnapapon who was Major Chaiwat’s teacher at this
school and is now the principal/headmaster of the Wat Nong Pai School who
received computers last year. He brought with him the picture of his
students using last year’s donated computers at their school which is
also located in Amphur Sam Chook near Supan Buri.
Since its inception, the Computers For Thai Kids
Charity Project has now sent out more than 400 computers to schools all
over Thailand, have given computer instruction to hundreds of poor Thai
kids in Pattaya, and are sponsoring 82 deserving kids who have shown great
potential in our free computer classes, to stay in government schools.
When funds are available, the kids coming for computer instruction are
also fed a nutritious meal after their classes. For some, this is the only
meal they receive each day.
Jeep and Lek need all the help they can get to run this
project and have requests for thousands of computers from hundreds of
schools throughout Thailand. If you have any working computer equipment in
the Pentium class and above that you have upgraded or can spare, this is
the place to donate it, as they do get out to the neediest areas.
This charity project is strictly volunteer with no one
on any payroll or receiving any remuneration for their efforts. All the
computers must come from inside Thailand since Thai customs procedures
preclude importing donated computers from abroad. The project can also use
funds to repair donated computers, feed the kids, and to help support the
most needy to stay in school.
If you are able to assist Jeep and Lek in their worthwhile endeavor,
please contact: Glenn “Jeep” Holthaus or Jaruay “Lek” Kingjorhor
at [email protected] phone: 038-424-998 or visit their website for more
info on their “Computers For Thai Kids Charity Project”:
http://jeep.htmlplanet.com
More
twins, Wanchad (left) and Wanchai (right) Mabundit earned the scholarships
this year.
GIS
students and Camillian Center children enjoy a friendly board game together.
Camillian
Center children enjoying the GIS facilities.