New School Year Begins!
The Half Day School started up again on the 23rd May, 2012 with old students returning and new arrivals as well. We currently have about 160 students and still counting as more students continue to enroll. We’re hoping the numbers will settle down soon.
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DEPDC has once again come alive with the sounds of students working hard in classes and enjoying their lunch break. Teachers are back in class teaching, English, Mathematics, Thai, Computer skills, Science, Social Studies, Health and various Vocational Skills training. The Buddhist project has also begun again. This project brings in two Buddhist monks every Friday to the HDS to teach Buddhist philosophy with the objective of bringing confidence, guidance, hope, and peace in to the student’s lives.
DEPDC welcomes all the student of the Half Day School and wishes them all the best for the upcoming school year!
DEPDC/GMS April Newsletter
Dear Friends and Supporters of DEPDC/GMS,
We are pleased to announce that our latest newsletter is now available!
Inside this issue you will find articles about:
+ DEPDC/GMS’s newly implented agriculture project, Family Based Child Protection Project (FBCPP)
+ A review of the end of year seminar – including new changes!
+ A story on how Children’s Day was celebrated by Half Day School students
+ A volunteer’s story on his efforts with the Bangkok flood relief
+ An update on the Half Day School’s Buddhist Project
+ A reflection from a previous Internationl Volunteer
+ The latest part of our series “Where are they now?” about former daughters of DEPDC/GMS
+ …and more!
You can download the newsletter here.
To read previous issues of our newsletter, please click on Newsletters in the menu bar at the top of this page.
We hope you will enjoy reading our news.
Please continue to spread the word and forward it to your friends and families.
Volunteer fundraises for DEPDC!!
Everyone here at DEPDC/GMS would like to give a shout out to one of our International Volunteers, Alexandra (Ali) Denis! This year, Ali decided that she wanted to do something meaningful for her birthday rather than receive gifts from friends and family members.
“I just realized that I didn’t need anymore material things or any money; I figured that the money could be better spent.” In March, Ali celebrated her “Golden Birthday”, meaning that she would be turning the same age as her birth date. She decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to raise money for the amazing organization that has been impacting her life for the past few months.
“When deciding what organization to raise money for it was a no-brainer, DEPDC/GMS has welcomed me as a volunteer and I have witnessed the positive impact that they have on the youth and the community in Mae Sai and in the greater Mekong sub-region.”
Ali raised $625 USD (18,750 Thai Baht!) through Global Giving, one of DEPDC/GMS’s partners, to be used towards the Half Day School and the Community Learning Center. Once again DEPDC/GMS would sincerely like to thank Ali for volunteering her time here at DEPDC/GMS and for her generous donation!
If you would like to donate or fundraise for DEPDC/GMS please visit our donation page! DEPDC/GMS is grateful for any and all donations in support of our many programmes!
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” – Margaret Mead
‘Tod – Pa – Bpa’ Fundraiser at DEPDC
On Monday the 9th of April at our Mae Sai centre, DEPDC held its very first ‘Tod – Pa – Bpa’ fundraiser, raising a total of One hundred and ninety nine thousand, and seventy baht! (199,070 THB)
‘Tod – Pa – Bpa’ is a Thai Buddhist tradition often held at temples, of making merit through giving a donation either to the temple or to another good cause, for example schools or charitable organizations. The event can be held by the temple, schools or other good causes looking to raise funds.
The staff at DEPDC were busily preparing for the event over the weekend. This included cooking lunch on the morning of the event for the expected 200 guests. All hands were on deck, sweeping the centre, setting up a big tent, preparing the stage for the monks, chopping endless amounts of food to be cooked and fruit, and washing dishes which would be used to serve lunch. DEPDC sent out envelopes to receive donations, which came back to the centre before the day of the event, so that all the money could be displayed in the form of a money tree (see picture in slide show).
On the day of the event the monks arrived in the morning to chant and bless everyone who had made a donation. It is tradition to serve the monks lunch first, and after they finished, the guests and staff then enjoyed a spectacular all vegetarian lunch. Monks are also served first because they are allowed only one meal a day taken at about 11am, as after 12pm they do not eat for the rest of the day. To top off the event Juiy Suboonleung, a famous Thai country singer, also came to play a set for us at DEPDC, to the delight of the guests and staff members.
On behalf of everyone at DEPDC we would like to thank all our guests, all the donations that came in and for the hard work everyone at DEPDC put in to making it all happen!
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Happy New Year from DEPDC/GMS!
On April 19th DEPDC/GMS, Mae Sai celebrated Songkran (Thai New Year). The morning consisted of preparing for the celebrations, which included presenting senior staff members at DEPDC/GMS with small gifts of appreciation wishing them a healthy and happy New Year; followed by symbolically cleansing every one of their previous year’s bad luck with a blessing of scented water.
The atmosphere at DEPDC/GMS on the morning of April 19th was exciting and bustling, as last minute touches were put in place for Songkran celebrations. Food baskets, prepared as a token of appreciation for senior staff members, were close to overflowing, flowers were arranged and steps were swept before the arrival of the senior staff, who included Lung Sam, Lung Chan, Pa Kiew, Pa Pun, P’Sam’s mother and Sompop Jantraka, the founder of DEPDC/GMS.
The celebrations began with offerings of flowers and incense at the Spirit House. Spirit Houses are a common sight in Thailand. It is believed that spirits exist in all places in and reside in the Spirit Houses. Offerings are made to the spirits in order to appease them and to ask for their protection. Sompop then said a few words of thanksgiving and asked that the New Year would be filled with happiness and good health for everyone. He also spoke about how traditional events and customs, such as Songkran celebrations, bring families and friends together and help to create and maintain a sense of community with one another.
The baskets of food and flowers were then given to the five senior staff members of DEPDC/GMS, and to Sompop, in keeping with the Songkran tradition of visiting and paying respects to elders, family members, friends, neighbours and monks. Everyone then lined up and poured scented water over each staff member’s hands and wished them a happy and prosperous new year. The staff then returned a blessing and tied a sai-sin (a piece of string which represents the blessing) around each person’s wrist. In typical Songkran fashion water was then splashed in all directions in order for people to wish each other luck in the New Year. Everyone then sat down to a delicious vegetarian lunch, which included rice, mushrooms, peppers, mangos and much more. With everyone’s hunger satisfied it was then time to sit in the sun and dry off after an enjoyable afternoon of celebration.
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DEPDC/GMS Celebrates Half Day School Graduation!
DEPDC/GMS wants to congratulate our small but incredibly intelligent class of 2012! As the school year ended in early March, we were proud to honor our three students graduating from our Half Day School program (HDS) – Malee, Vanida, and Chana. These students expressed excitement about completing their education at the HDS but were sad to leave their friends, as most school graduates are.
Graduation this year was celebrated on March 7. Parents of all our HDS students were invited to spend the morning celebrating their children’s success in completing the school year – the first year for some, the eighth for others. We have many siblings simultaneously enrolled in our HDS program, and it was great to see some large families all coming to support our students! The day was spent celebrating their completion of exams and the end of the 2011-2012 school year (or 2554 to 2555 according to the Buddhist calendar). Handicrafts made by the students throughout the year were displayed for staff, students, and families to all view. These handicrafts included hats, knitted clothing, woven scarves, decorative boxes, and more! The children also put on a few dance performances – some in local Tai Yai and Akha dress – and gifts and snacks were distributed among the HDS students. The ceremony was a great way to celebrate all the students’ accomplishments from the year!
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We are proud of all of our students, and our recent graduates, at DEPDC/GMS and cannot wait for their return in May. From all of the staff and volunteers at DEPDC/GMS, we wish the best of luck to our graduating class of 2012 – “chohk dii na kha!”
DEPDC/GMS Hosts Annual Sports Day
At the end of this Half Day School (HDS) term, the students were able to participate in a DEPDC/GMS tradition – Annual Sports Day! Sports Day only happens once a year, and it is a day where the HDS students are broken up into teams and are given the chance to partake in some friendly competition. This year, Sports Day happened to occur while DEPDC/GMS was hosting two volunteer organizations. Volunteers from Generation Peace Academy (GPA) and Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) were able to participate, which provided the Half Day School students with even more fun than usual.
Team Light Blue fighting at tug-of-war
The day started out with an opening ceremony where some of the HDS students performed a skit and the GPA members performed an original dance number. Then there was an exchange of speeches and kind words from the directors of all organizations involved. After the opening ceremony had finished, we broke off into our teams. This year we had four teams competing: red, yellow, light blue, and dark blue. DEPDC/GMS staff and volunteers, GPA members, and WFWP volunteers were evenly split among the teams and allowed to participate in the events!
The teams were actively participating in competition for the entire day; students were either running around the field, partaking in events, or on the sidelines cheering on their teammates. And even towards the end of the day during the final competition, tug-of-war, no one seemed to tire or give up. While the yellow team did end up winning Sports Day, I think that it is safe to say that every team won! Snacks and prizes were handed out to all the participants after each event and again at the closing ceremony. Overall, it was a successful day for the students, GPA, WFWP, and the DEPDC/GMS staff!
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Matthias, Staff at DEPDC/GMS
Get to know some of our staff and volunteers in our series ‘Staff Profiles‘!
“My name is Matthias Lehmann and it has been almost two years ago that I first joined DEPDC/GMS as an intern. Back then, I was enrolled in a Master’s degree programme at Kyung Hee University in Korea, and an internship was part of my degree requirements.
Since my thesis research centred on human trafficking, I wrote to DEPDC’s founder Sompop Jantraka and requested an interview. To my pleasant surprise, he replied in great detail and agreed to be interviewed, but he also explained how he felt researchers often build their careers on information they gathered from visits to NGOs like DEPDC, without giving much thought about how to reciprocate. I offered to volunteer my time for DEPDC as an intern and he readily agreed. A few months later, I arrived in Mae Sai, Thailand and joined a team of Thai directors, staff and international volunteers.
It is difficult to summarise the many thoughts that come to mind when I think back to my time at DEPDC. One of the first things I did was join Child Voice Radio, DEPDC’s very own community radio broadcast. Child Voice Radio has a daily English show and I recorded a few new jingles for it. To my surprise, the silliest of them became one of the most popular.
DEPDC/GMS Blog Jingle
DEPDC’s blog had been dormant for two years and I suggested relaunching it. Thanks to the contributions of many writers, and of course, to the many events and activities held at DEPDC, the blog has since become quite successful and records up to 2,000 visits each month. I then created a Facebook page for DEPDC to further promote the important work the NGO does, and as time went on, I became more and more involved with anything media-related.
At DEPDC, one should be ready to help whenever and wherever necessary. One of my favourite memories is teaching English to several novice monks at the Community Learning Centre. The four monks worked their way through our English grammar class, culminating in the first English exam they had ever taken – and everyone passed! I will never forget how rewarding it felt when they told me that they had enjoyed the class, although it had been quite difficult for them.
Novice monks taking an English exam at the Community Learning Centre
After I completed my time as an intern at DEPDC, I returned to Korea to finish my degree. The knowledge and first-hand impressions I had collected proved invaluable as I wrote my thesis about comprehensive methods to prevent human trafficking. After my graduation, I returned to DEPDC – this time to join as a staff member responsible for public relations.
Much had changed during the time I had been away. The international team had expanded, but the funding had dwindled. Many NGOs are faced with the challenge of implementing their projects and helping their target groups in uncertain economic times, while also having to satisfy the demands of their funding organisations. Funding organisations rightly deserve accountability and transparency but meeting those demands becomes increasingly difficult for some NGOs and can lead to a strain on human resources.
Child Voice Radio and Radijojo! World Children’s Radio share one goal
As far as the work of the International Department was concerned, things had gotten easier. When I re-joined, the department had 10 members with great ideas and plenty of enthusiasm, so the work could be distributed evenly. It allowed me to split my time between DEPDC and Baan Doi, a local NGO helping children (often) from an ethnic minority background who live with or are affected by HIV/AIDS.
After six months, I decided to return to South Korea to conduct an independent research project exposing the negative side-effects of uneven anti-trafficking policies. I currently reside in South Korea and my research is coming along steadily. There is hardly a day that goes by in which I am not in touch with one of my former colleagues at DEPDC.
I learnt a great deal at DEPDC, and it has greatly helped me to further my research, just as I hope my work at DEPDC continues to help them.”
Are you interested in working at DEPDC? Click here.
