We survived the rainy season and are now entering into the cold season of November through January with a double celebration at the end of October of both Halloween and a much-scaled back Loy Krathong Festival. Businesses and people in Northern Thailand still remain under stresses created by the Covid-19 pandemic. A third of our membership remains “locked-out” of Thailand due to Covid-19.

Our service project involvement in our community has been quite intense with the Children's Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Project (CWS&DPP) currently underway here and in Phrao. Our newly initiated CMIRC School Vision Screening Project (CSVP) came on with a roar due to the Tessaban schools wanting all students screened before the end of the year (with an intervening one-month November interval of no screening due to school exam and holiday schedules). The goal is to screen all 3rd and 5th grade students in all eleven Tessaban schools before the end of this calendar year. In addition, our annual Children’s Winter Clothing and School Supplies Project has kicked off with the start of cold season. You will read more about these projects, with more detail, from the project champions.

Our involvement continues with the Burma Children Medical Fund's BCMF B.K.Kee Patient House and with The BEAM Education Foundation. The B.K. Kee Patient House has returned to near normal. The BEAM Foundation is still evaluating the role our members can play in their new “remote learning “environment.

Our officers and committee leadership need to be identified for the RY 2021-2022. The following positions have persons nominated to fill the position: President – Dylan Thomason; Secretary – Nick Dale; Treasurer – Nancy Lindley; Foundation Chair – Roger Lindley; Youth Programs Director – Chili Humphrey; Membership Chair – Viki Thomason; Public Image Chair – Roger Lindley. The following positions need to be filled: Service Projects Committee Chair and the Fundraising Committee Chair.

A reminder on several upcoming events. The first is the Inter-City meeting on the afternoon of November 28th and morning of November 29th at the Garden Resort, Muang District, Lampang Province. I sent an email to all members about this event and if interested in attending please contact me. The other is the opening ceremony for GG 2010441 – Cultivating Sustainable Peace Culture in School on Tuesday, December 8th at 2:00 PM at Ban Sanphakwan School in Hang Dong. Our club provided 500 USD of our District Dedicated Funding (DDF) in support of this project. Other partners in this project will visit from Rotary Club of Bangkok and Rotary Club of Dhonburi. For more information please contact me or IPP John.

Finally! The CMIRC School Vision Screening Project is in operation!! We have a great team of trained volunteers including nine CMIRC Rotarians, two Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Wattana Rotarians and two Rotary Club of Chiang Mai North Rotarians. We also have eight non-Rotarians (some will soon become Rotarians!!) including opticians Khun One and Khun Wut.

We began on October 8 at the Wat Suan Dok School by screening all 3rd and 5th-graders and children from other grades who the teachers had identified as having vision problems. We then continued screenings during the month of October at the Wat Muen Ngern Gong, Wat Chiang Yuen, Wat Puak Chang, Wat Sri Suphan, and Wat Pa Phaeng Schools. (left is an overview of our screening at Wat Sri Suphan)

Those children who exhibit vision problems during the screening then see our optician partner Khun One from Wen One Optic for an on-site examination and prescription, if needed (pictured right). In all, we screened 459 children and wrote 68 prescriptions for glasses, which the children will receive free-of-charge, and distributed 12 reading glasses.

CMIRC would like to recognize the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai North for their support for children with serious vision problems that go beyond what an optician and prescription glasses can address. We have identified such a child (Nong Nichaporn) at Wat Suan Dok School and have made arrangements with her dad and school staff for her to be examined by a pediatric ophthalmologist at the CMU University Medical School Hospital. (In the photo, Nong Nichaporn is holding her dad's hand, with school staff at right, and I'm at left with my wife Phijitra, who is a valuable asset for this project.)

In December, we will provide vision screening for all 3rd and 5th grade students at the remaining 6 Tessabon (Municipal) Schools in Chiang Mai. We will then have screened children at all 11 municipal schools where the poorest families send their children. We estimate that with the Wat Suan Dok School included we will have screened over 800 students this year!!

This program is being made possible by the very generous donation from the Rotary Club of Spokane #21; their gift to the children of Chiang Mai will cover all costs with the exception of the children’s frames. One thousand, high quality New Balance children’s frames have been donated by Eyewear Designs Limited of Bethpage, NY, USA.

Our School Vision Screening Team:

The Children’s Winter Clothing & School Supplies Appeal has now been running for two weeks. We must say that even this initiative feels the negative aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to our experiences, fewer clothes are being donated. Regardless, our generous donors have supplied 10 boxfuls of winter clothes so far. We’re delighted to announce that two campuses of the Lanna International School (@Airport & @North Hill) and the Interact Club of the Chiang Mai International School and Unity Concord International School  have each expressed interest in managing a donation box on our behalf. We’ve been offered help by some of the Chiang Mai Expats Club members too. We are truly grateful for the commitment of our community. Keep up the great work!

We’ve already started the distribution of donations during the last week of October. The timing seems right, as temperatures already dropped below 10C degrees on Doi Inthanon, the highest peak of Thailand.

This year, our first destination was the Ban Pui School in Hot District of Chiang Mai Province. What started out as an easy-peasy 2 or 3-hour drive between Chiang Mai and Bo Luang, turned into an 18-hour adventure (survival?) trip to deliver winter clothes, driving through jungle pathways, crossing rivers, and navigating through 4x4 wheel-drive worthy “roads.” Even though our tireless Rotarian Dylan arrived well after dark, the donations were truly appreciated, as shown below.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES NEEDED - As you may know, many government schools in Thailand don’t have the basic resources at their disposal to meet their educational needs. They lack pencils, paper, books, and lots of items critical to learning effectively. The Chiang Mai International Rotary Club is dedicated to helping these institutions throughout Northern Thailand by collecting and distributing essential supplies they need to provide quality education to their students. Would you like to get involved? Click here to read about the different ways you can help.

This year has certainly been a year of throwing everything out of the pram. Time has flown and we've had the Loy Khrathong festival early on 30-31 October, as dictated by the lunar cycles. In rummaging among the shelves in Robinsons, DIY, M&S and so too with many other stores, you are greeted with Christmas decorations and other tempting goodies; 2021 is just 10 weeks away

At the BEAM Education Foundation they are planning on two fronts: the GED exam timetable for March-April 2021 and a Global fundraising campaign for migrant teachers -- see their request below. If you are able to help or have ideas, please make contact directly to Beam Education Foundation.

Contact details are supplied. Thank You

*******************************

Dear Friends & Partners,

Greetings from BEAM Education Foundation. We hope this email finds you each safe and stay healthy.

There are over 700 migrant teachers currently serving in 64 Migrant Learning Centres (MLCs) in Mae Sot, Thailand. The migrant teachers work with inadequate resources, have fewer training opportunities, and are underpaid for the valuable work they do to ensure that migrant children are not left uneducated. In response to the urgent needs of these at-risk migrant teachers, BEAM has recently launched a Global Giving campaign to raise funds for the remuneration, capacity building, safety, and security of 20 migrant teachers for one year.

Please consider donating to our latest project to help migrant teachers teach out-of-school children. No amount is EVER too small. To donate, visit: http://goto.gg/49434

Beneficiaries for this campaign include migrant teachers, youth, and children in marginalized communities. Thank you in advance for your support and generosity! Do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have any questions about our campaign.

Please take a minute to share this post with friends and partners to support our work. We are always grateful. Thank you.

Best Regards,

Wai Phyo Aung, Deputy Director

BEAM Education Foundation www.beamedu.org

Office: +66 (0) 81 993 8227, Tel./Fax. +66 (0) 53 200024

We made two visits to the Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K.Kee Patient House during the month of October and both visits were quite enjoyable. Our October 4th visit was a musical and dancing game (left) that has become a regular activity the residents fully enjoy.

The second visit was Halloween-themed and the creative juices were really flowing that day. The residents and family members had choices to color, draw or paint. We brought some orange balloons with us and at the last minute realized these would be great to blow up and paint to resemble a jack-o-lantern (right). Great fun was had by all. 

Our annual Christmas Party will be on December 20th, beginning at 11:00 and ending at 1:00. As the time gets closer, I will be coordinating with members and Patient House staff to obtain as accurate a count as possible for the number of patients, family members and staff as well as ages of the children and young adults who will be present. If you plan on attending this year, could please email current Project Champion Bill Pierce at depeche41@aol.com 

If any Rotarians are interested in joining us on our every other Sunday visits, please reach out. (See above email address) We are required to wear face coverings during the entire visit. We leave the Shell station on Huay Kaew Rd. at 11:00 and usually complete our visit around 12:30.

For the past three years CMIRC has donated the proceeds of our 2nd quarter (the current quarter) raffle, which we conduct at each club meeting, to cover the yearly room and board costs of a foster child at the Warm Heart Foundation in Phrao.  For the past two years that child has been Nong Gai, now 15 years old and in 9^th -grade (M-3).  I had the chance to visit her on my most recent trip to Phrao in October (photo, left).  She is growing up!  She says thank you to CMIRC for helping her to live and attend school in Phrao.  In her village, she was unable to attend school beyond 6th grade (P-6). (Nong Gai is pictured, right, with me and Evelind Schecter, the co-founder of Warm Heart Foundation, a year ago!)

These meetings are an outgrowth of the ZOOM meetings that were started due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 outbreak on holding face-to-face regular meetings. They have continued as the 9@9 Meeting as a means for the club members here to stay in monthly contact with our members who are presently outside of the country. The 9@9 designates the meeting on the ninth day of the month at 9 PM Thailand time.

The moderator for these meetings is IPP John Schorr with our SAA Bill Pierce acting as the “gate keeper”. Members of the club are on the invitation list for these meetings. If a member feels that the attendance of a non-member to one of these meeting would be beneficial for member recruitment, you may share the meeting name and password with that person BUT please let them know this should not be shared with others and please inform SAA Bill of the person’s name for admitting them to the meeting. If not on the admission list, they will not be admitted. This is done to prevent unwanted crashing of the meetings or the introduction of inappropriate content into the meetings.

These 9@9 Meetings are not intended to be used as inter-club meetings or for the purpose of make-ups by non-club members. Inter-club or other meetings can be identified, setup and announced as such, and conducted at another time besides 9@9.

In the next several words I will attempt to answer a few questions that I’ve been asked in the past month and then provide some information about our activities. My hope is that you will join us in our passion to stop human trafficking, especially of children in Thailand. 

Tell me more about your Rotary E-Club. Rotary Club Ending Human Trafficking is an e-club based in District 5950. Our focus is Ending Human Trafficking. Contact info@endhtrotaryclub.org for more information.

What is RAGAS? Rotary Action Group Against Slavery. Most RAGAS members are Rotarians. However only District Ambassadors, Coordinators and Board Members are required to be active members of Rotary. Learn more and join at http://ragas.online. The level of activity is up to each member; many are extremely active while others view their membership as a sign of solidarity in the fight against modern slavery. We need you!

What is TRAGAST? Thailand RAGAS Team. We are RAGAS members active in Thailand. Our primary goal is to eradicate trafficking of children in Thailand. We are also investigating possible projects with other organizations which may involve wider aspects including prosecution and protection, as well as prevention.

TRAGAST Activities

1. We are raising awareness by making presentations to Rotary Clubs and at Rotary Events, such as the 31 October presentation to the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Phuping, (poster right). 

Here are upcoming presentations, both in-person and on-line: 

11/13/20 Rotary Club of Bangkok South 12:00 p.m. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bangkok

11/19/20 Rotary Club of Santa Maria Breakfast 07:00 a.m. PST on Zoom

11/28/20 - 11/29/20 District 3360 Inter City Meeting Pang Luang Garden Resort, Lampang

12/08/20 Rotary Club of Bankapi 12:00 p.m. Grand Hyatt Erawan, Bangkok

12/17/20 Rotary Club of Chiang Rai North 06:30 p.m. The Riverie by Katathani, Chiang Rai

01/17/21 “The Longest Lunch” Awareness/Fundraising Event 12:00 p.m. Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club

01/21/21 Rotary Club of Chiang Mai 07:00 p.m. Dusit D2, Chiang Mai

2. We are preparing presentations and projects designed to teach children, their teachers, and their parents about human trafficking and what they can do to protect themselves. We are looking into working with government and community based organizations and private schools.

3. We are working and coordinating with various organizations to expand our reach. Based on a recent meeting with Amnesty International and other organizations, we intend to increase our human trafficking prevention curriculum to include peace and conflict resolution, human rights, alcohol and drug prevention.  At left, Thailand RAGAS Team visits Amnesty International.

4. We are developing a series of presentations designed to raise awareness about the danger pedophiles present to organizations. The first presentation will be at Chiang Mai International Rotary Club on Tuesday 19 January 2021.

5. We are in the early stages of forming a consortium of organizations involved in the fight against modern slavery/human trafficking.

Specific Help Wanted:

1. Individuals wanting to make a difference are encouraged to join RAGAS and perhaps become involved with TRAGAST.

2. Rotarians and Rotary Clubs will be given an opportunity to participate in all of the events we are creating. Without your help, we cannot help the endangered children.

3. We are meeting with Rotary Clubs in preparation of choosing partners for larger projects, including Global Grants.

4. We would appreciate introductions to other organizations that are involved in the fight against human trafficking or may want to be.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, from Edmund Burke. He also wrote "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." These were written over 200 years ago and still remain as absolute truth!

The regular every other Sunday morning visits by club members to the patients and their families at Burma Children Medical Fund's B.K. Kee Patient House here in Chiang Mai where members socialize, play games, bring food and engage in craft projects with the patients and their families.

On the first and third Fridays of the month, club members attended the Chiang Mai Expats Club breakfasts to promote CMIRC and swap "Change for Children" owl banks. Also, we promoted CMIRC at CEC's monthly General Meeting on October 24. Three stuffed owl banks were returned by club supporters. (one pictured left with Treasurer Nancy).

A busy month with many members participating in CMIRC's School Vision Screenings at these local schools: October 8 at the Wat Suan Dok School; October 19 at the Wat Muen Ngern Gong School; October 22 at Wat Chiang Yuen School; October 26t at Wat Puak Chang School; October 27 at Wat Sri Suphan School; and, October 28 at Wat Pa Phaeng School.

Tuesday, October 6 at our regular club meeting at the Royal Peninsula Hotel, the program was presented by Sallo Polak of Philanthropy Connections on "The Work and Mission of Philanthropy Connections Foundation in Thailand."

Friday, October 9 our monthly 9at9 ZOOM meeting at 9 PM to stay in contact with club members who are presently isolated in overseas, unable to return to Thailand. We had a visitor, Frank Bures, a writer for The Rotarian Magazine.

Tuesday, October 20 at 7 PM our CMIRC regular club meeting at the Royal Peninsula Hotel  where PP Siriluck Chaiyawong of the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai spoke on the topic "Rotary District 3360 Youth Exchange Program for High School Students".

Saturday, October 24, CMIRC participated in the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai North’s annual Bully Bowl Fundraiser again this year.  Rotarians Colin, Nick, and John were able to field two teams. Rtn Sally paired with CMIRC Honorary Member and RC-CMN PP Elsie. CMIRC members acquitted themselves well but did not finish in the top three, except in their dreams. (At left, PP Colin and IPP John longingly hold the top trophy for a few moments, which is as close as they got to possessing it.)

Monday, October 26, an 18 hour adventure tour to deliver winter clothes to our very first destination this year, Ban Pui School in Hot District, Chiang Mai Province.

Thursday, October 29 at 1:00 PM, we had our monthly Board Meeting at the Royal Peninsula Hotel.