Posted by Nancy Lindley w/ Jerry Nelson
on Jun 22, 2015
This coming Saturday night (June 27th) at 7 pm, Pern's Restaurant on Huay Kaew (next to Salsa Kitchen) is holding another of its themed nights. This time its a Moroccan fest of music singing and dance and they've selected the Thai Children's Water Safety Project of the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club to receive 10% of the profits from the evening. In addition, their popular waitress, Mickey will be the mahoot for the Rotary's "JaiDee the Hungry Elephant" and collect donations from the patrons.
It will be an enjoyable evening with an authentic 6 course Moroccan style meal. There is a terrific Moroccan mystery dance and another dance entitled Dreams of Sheherazade. There will also be an acapella singer with a superb voice "One of the best in Chiang Mai". Price is just 595 baht for the 6 course meal and entertainment. Book early because seating is very limited. 086 111 7766 or at their website www.PernsFoods.com/bookings
Posted by John Schorr w/Jerry Nelson
on Jun 22, 2015
Did you know that the leading cause of accidental death among children under 15 years of age in Thailand is drowning? Our members have decided to do something about the problem. This will require a bit of fund raising and coordination with local schools and parents. Our initial effort will be directed toward 80 children. The best explanation is the actual letter that was presented to our board on 26 May 2015. The budget was approved as written and the Children's Water Safety Project will proceed.
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club Board Meeting
Community Partners: Kru Payu, Wanida, Heather, Imran
Initial Goals (from minutes of 5-19-15 meeting):
Short term we decided to seek funds from CMIR to sponsor a pilot project at two public schools with predominantly poor students. Our target group would be 8-10 year old boys and girls at Wat Puack Chang School and Sri Donchai School. We would seek to use a public pool and perhaps use university students studying physical education to help staff the program.
Kru Payu and Wanida agreed to manage the curriculum, staffing, and obtaining pool location and times. Heather, Imran, and the CMIR volunteers agreed to work together to get school cooperation with the program.
Ideally, the initial group of non-swimmers would be 10 boys and 10 girls from 2 schools. We would attempt to have 2 simultaneous classes in the morning preferably from 8am – 9am for 5 days M-F. We could then schedule the next group of 20 for the next week of lessons. Kru Payu informed us that basic water safety and drown-proofing can be accomplished in 5 lessons with this age group.
After we had conducted several sessions with our two pilot schools we would evaluate our program and modify it where necessary before attempting a second set of two schools, perhaps in Hang Dong.
Long-term, once we have our curriculum and our school/parental promotional materials perfected, we would plan to “market” this idea to community sponsors, so that it would become self-funding and ongoing in the Chiang Mai community and, perhaps, beyond.
Promotional Materials
To accomplish the above we will first need to develop and print promotional material in Thai for both parents and school officials. David and his wife have volunteered to take the lead on this first step.
Staffing: Kru Payu is confident we already have the staff capable of teaching this program available and that as the program grows he will take the lead on new staff training.
Timing: The committee agreed August would be a good month to launch the pilot program at the first two schools. The next step is request funding approval from CMIR.
DRAFT Budget *
*assumes 2 classes of 10 students per week for an initial period of 4 weeks. This would result in 20 students trained/week or a total of 80 students trained.
Item
Quantity
Unit Cost (Baht)
Total
Promotional Brochures
400
20
8,000
Posters
20
50
1,000
Swimwear (girls)
20
260
5,200
Swimwear (boys)
20
140
2,800
Pool Admission
400
30
12,000
Student Transportation
20 RTs
300
6,000
Teacher Days 2/class
80
150
12,000
Total
47,000
Fundraising: Many thanks to the River Market Resteraunt, the Chiang Mai Expats Club and of course Yale University's Whim'n Rhythm. The dinner concert on June 9th raised a total of 32,390 baht! Pern's restaurant has volunteered to help with a special Moroccan evening on Saturday 27 June. (See article above).
Construction of the new clinic site continues. The move will be in stages beginning in October or November. We anticipate the grand opening will be in
December or January.
The Sunrise Estes Park Rotary Club is preparing a global grant to allow the completion of the waste water management system. CMIRC is assisting.
We are organizing a trip to visit Mae Tao Clinic, departing Chiang Mai on Wednesday 16 September. We will visit Mae Tao Clinic and some of their ancillary projects such as the Child Development Center on Thursday and Friday. We will return to Chiang Mai on Saturday 19 September. Depending on the number of people who want to go, we will likely hire a van.
There are several exciting things on our CMIRC horizon including:
A night of fellowship is being planned for 15 August 2015 at the Khao Mao Khao Fang Restaurant. Save the date! Details will be forthcoming as soon as plans are finalized.
The Golf Ball Drop was last year’s inaugural fund raising event and it was a huge success. This year’s event will be even better. Ticket pricing has been adjusted to allow more participants and we will launch the campaign earlier than last year.
We intend to make this an annual event and will hold it in conjunction with the Thailand International Balloon Festival. This year's tentative dates are Saturday December 5th and Sunday December 6th.
The winter clothing appeal is designed to help children in the poorest villages in the area. More specific information will be forth coming soon. In the meantime, if you plan to come to Thailand soon, perhaps you would be willing to stop by the Good Will Store, or equivalent, and purchase some warm winter clothing for small children. If that sounds like a good idea, please reply to this bulletin.
Rotary District 3310 Conference will be held at the Empress Hotel, Chiang Mai 29 April - 1 May 2016. Save the dates. District 3310 comprises of Brunei, Singapore and parts of Malaysia (Johor, Malacca, Sarawak, Labuan FT and Sabah).
Posted by Laurence O'Keeffee w/Jerry Nelson
on May 31, 2015
Conclusion:
As of 29 May 2015, the children, teachers and staff at Ban Poa Wittatakarn School now have clean drinking water provided through an excellent water filtration system.
Summary:
The Ban Pao Wittatakarn School water filtration system was made possible by the cooperative efforts of great people from fantastic organizations. None of these people and organizations would expect or want more credit than any of the others. They are just good people doing good things for people who in need. They include:
GOL Iluminado, the foundation which supports Swiss Activa, making it possible for them to provide water filtration systems to those who need them and cannot afford them. Learn more at http://www.goliluminado.com
Actiwa Swiss, which donated the water filtration system and provided human resources to ensure that the system was properly installed and functional. Learn more at www.actiwaswiss.com
The Rotary Club of Kamloops West, British Columbia which donated 28,000 baht to cover the expenses of preparation and installation
The Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Thin Thai Ngam which introduced the school and provided much needed introductions at the site.
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club which coordinated the project and provided the water filtration system through Actiwa Swiss.
Project History:
The Ban Pao Wittakarn School in Chiang Mai Province is very well administered and supports poor hill tribe children. They are sorely lacking in any sort of budget and desperately needed a water filtration system. Now they have one, thanks to the fine people from the organizations listed above,
Project History:
The Ban Pao Wittakarn School in Chiang Mai Province is very well administered and supports poor hill tribe children. They are sorely lacking in any sort of budget and desperately needed a water filtration system. Now they have one, thanks to the fine people from the organizations listed above,
Rotarian Gary Soles from the Rotary Club of Kamloops visits Thailand almost every year and has become aware of the good work done by Rotarian Hope Watcharaprecha and her club, The Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Thin Thai Ngam. He mentioned that his club was looking for a project to support. She recommended the Ban Pao Witiyakhan School. In conjunction with the Chiang Mai International Rotary club due diligence was conducted and it was decided to proceed.
Members of all three clubs and the principal of Ban Pao Wittatakarn
Agreement was quickly reached between the Ajarn , the Principal of the Ban Pao Wittatakarn School, and the three Rotary Clubs; Rotary Club of Kamloops West, British Columbia, Canada, Rotary Club of Chiang Mai Thin Thai Ngam and Chiang Mai International Rotary Club. The project became official at the regular meeting of Chiang Mai International on March 17, 2015 when Gary Soles from Rotary Club of Kamloops presented 28,000 baht to CMIRC for disbursement.
The Agreement is Signed! .
Chiang Mai International Rotary Club would contribute the water filter system. Rotarian Colin Jarvis made the contacts and was able to secure the Actiwa Swiss water filter system with manual backwash with the help of a donation from the GOL Iluminado Foundation of Brazil. At the CMIRC meeting the agreement between the Rotary Clubs and the school was signed. On the 18th of March the first disbursement was made; the project is underway!
Rotarians Colin Jarvis and Laurence O’Keeffe coordinated with Actiwa Swiss and a installation trip was established. Jorkg Kalt and came to Chiang Mai on the 28th of May. Laurence reported:
On first arrival Jorkg from ActiwaSwiss immediately realized that the existing structure was unsuitable. My first thought was about the fact that he and Lutz had driven 7 hours from Bangkok to Chiangmai then another hour to the school- only to find that he couldn't install the filter with what was in place! Solution-based thinking quickly developed between he and Colin Jarvis particularly. "We need a tank and we need a pump and it will still happen". (A perfectly fine stainless tank which had earlier been donated by the Rotary Club of Thin Thai Ngam, was there waiting to be used).
The Stainless Steel Tank is called to duty
A quick call to Treasurer John Schorr established that the financial contribution from RC of Kamloops West still had sufficient reserve to provide what was needed- so we were back on track. A 20-minute trip to a nearby plumbing store provided what we needed and installation began early in the afternoon. Took a bit longer than expected but between ceremonies with the local Civic and Education communities, photo-taking and very importantly the video interviews taken by Colin, the structural process was mostly completed by the end of day one.
I'm Working Here!
The big test was on day two when the hydraulics and electrical were completed. Everything worked perfectly! Pipes were then flushed and sanitized, high fives all round and hearts full from a job well done!
Jorkg was well happy that he could complete the first of many such Rotary-related projects and all parties took a breath to recognize the good that has been done. Colin is working on the video and hopes to have it ready in a week or so.
This project is very important to CMIRC because it's our first official collaboration with other clubs. We recognize that one of the most powerful aspects of Rotary is our ability to come together for a common good. Even more importantly, because of the success of this joint project, we should be able to do much more in the future!
Job Well Done Everyone!
More photos are available at www.cmirotary.org Enjoy as you contemplate the good done here.
The children now have water that is safe to drink!!
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