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Regents live and learn with a hill tribe
Regents’ students join the
Baan Huay Sapad School for a group photo.
Charlotte Summersby
Sixteen students from Regents International School Pattaya travelled
over 1000 kilometres to Northern Thailand over the mid-term vacation to live
with and learn from Thailand’s hill tribes.
For five days students in Years 8 to 12 exchanged friendship with the
Pakarkor hill tribe in Baan Maelid. They had lessons in the dance of Fon
Lep, local cooking and basket weaving before travelling to Baan Huay Sapad
School to assist in the construction of the school’s new canteen.
The final visit of their week-long trip included the delivery of over 3kg’s
worth of ring pulls collected by students at Regents. The ring pulls are
recycled to produce lightweight prosthetic limbs that are then supplied by
the Prosthesis Foundation in Chiang Mai.
Meena Charoensa-Nga, PE Teacher and Event Leader commented: “The students
thoroughly enjoyed living with and learning from the hill tribes and
contributing their time and efforts into building their new canteen. They
have had a great time and gained much reward from delivering the ring pulls,
knowing they have made a lasting difference to many people’s lives - a
quality I hope they will continue for many years to come.”
Daisy rolls up her sleeves and
helps the hill tribe gather wood.
Head of Psychology Sara
Calverley and PE Teacher Meena Charoensa-Nga prepare dinner.
Regents’ students add another
block to the new canteen at Baan Huay Sapad School.
The hill tribe teaches
Regents’ students the dance of Fon Lep.
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Regents’ students crowned Champions at history competition in Bangkok
Regents History Bee Team.
Tim Eaton
Regents International School Pattaya underlined its strong academic
credentials on 8 March, when a team of four boys from Year 7 clinched first
place at the History Bowl and Bee Competition in Bangkok. In doing so, they
became the only team entered to win every single round of the competition.
In a competition which included Harrow and NIST, the Regents team of Kevin,
Brandon, Jed and Sung Eun secured a place in the final with an unstoppable
sequence of victories. Facing the International Community School Bangkok in the
final, a quick-fire round on the death of Julius Caesar proved decisive and the
Regents team went on to claim the winners’ plaque. The team has qualified for
the Asian Championship to be held in Hong Kong later this year.
There were also a number of notable solo performances, with two Regents
students, Bel and Brandon, also making it through to the Asian Championships as
individuals.
Samantha Jones, Head of History at Regents, commented, “I was incredibly
impressed by all of our students who took part in the competition. The questions
were tough but nobody gave up, even if they lost a game they showed resilience
and dedication throughout the rounds. It was fantastic to see all our students
supporting the Year 7’s in the finals and amazing when they won!
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Hand to Hand
The best part of the day for most
of the children is snack time! Hand to Hand offers them the most food they can
get during their entire week.
Yerin Yoon
The year is progressing quickly, the second month of 2014 already coming
to its end. Hand to Hand has been welcoming of many new children this year, as
always, saving more adolescents from their insecurity, lack of shelter, hunger,
and fatigue. As I continue my work at this foundation every Saturday, I can’t
help but realize the massive changes Hand to Hand is bringing into the lives of
these children. I think that it is extremely important that we reflect on the
positive impacts charities and foundations like Hand to Hand have made on young
individuals.
One of the greatest changes that have been made on the adolescent’s lives is the
addition of adequate food. Many of the children, before becoming a part of the
Hand to Hand foundation, barely lived off of one meal a day. Most of their
parents were in construction sites all day long, which left the kids hungry at
home until their mothers and fathers returned. Even then, money has always been
an issue and an obstacle for obtaining food for the family. The parents cannot
provide anything more costly than a chocolate bar or ice cream, which adds to
the problem of a poor diet to the health of the children.
There are two Japanese ladies that come to Hand to Hand once a month, who weigh
and measure each child at the center. Having done this for twelve months since
the children arrived at Hand to Hand, they combined all of the data and
immediately saw a strong pattern. The children grow, put on weight, and are in
much healthier conditions when they are fed at the center, but when Hand to Hand
is on holiday, the children return always having lost weight again. Some lose up
to 5 kilograms, as if they are not thin enough already. This shows that at home,
they are simply not getting enough food to eat. Hand to Hand changes that.
In addition to this, many children come or return to the center with numerous
sores on their body. These often come from mosquito bites that have become
infected due to poor hygiene. When the children attend Hand to Hand, it is made
sure that any bites or wounds are cleaned and taken care of. The poor hygiene in
the slum homes primarily results from simply not having enough clean water and
essential toiletries for the family. Hand to Hand is a huge supporter and a
lending hand to reduce this problem.
Food and hygiene are not the only two things that these children need; Hand to
Hand is striving to provide them with more necessities. In order for the
foundation to continue bettering the lives of the children, financial support
always comes in handy. I believe that people like myself, who are lucky enough
to eat three hearty meals a day, to shower in clean bathrooms, and to be taken
care of when sick, should lend a hand to the center the way it lends a hand to
the poor.
Hand to Hand is located near
Sukhumvit Road behind Big C.
Non-perishable foods, toys,
stationeries, and toiletries are taken to the Pattaya slums every week which has
made a huge impact on improving their living conditions.
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GIS Celebrates International Day 2014
Even GIS’s youngest students joined in the fun.
Abhigyan Khullar
Photos by Robert Edwards
Garden International School has students and staff from more than 40 countries -
and its International Day was a huge celebration of this diversity.
Every year GIS holds an International Day; this year the school extended this
tradition to make it more fun and memorable. So from February 24-March 1 there
was a whole week of activities.
Students could choose from various cuisines, including some from China, Spain,
Russia and Italy. Not only this, but Head of Languages Ms Clifton, who was a key
co-ordinator of the event, also added fun activities. All the secondary students
were divided into 20 teams (representing countries not currently at GIS) and
were given daily challenges. These included making a poster for a given country
and building famous monuments of that country from recyclable material.
There was also a team quiz and team sports like plank racing, human camel racing
and volley blanket - but perhaps the most fun was the catwalk competition where
students had to come in the native clothing of a given country.
To end this exciting week, GIS held its International Day on March 1. The day
kicked off with a Samba Band and was followed by short extracts of all the
national anthems of countries represented at GIS. After this, Friends of Garden
PTA and teachers had set up food stalls that presented visitors with choices of
food from all over the world, including French snails, crocodile and pork pies.
Students then put on a spectacular show, which included Thai dances, dazzling
Spanish dances and a stunning Chinese fan dance, plus a stupendous Indian dance.
To end there were some K-Pop performers and a Ceilidh band, which had everyone
tapping their feet.
After such stunning performances, Friends of Garden PTA arranged a lavish and
delicious lunch for all guests with more foods from around the world.
GIS International Day was as colourful as ever.
Chile is one of 41 countries represented at GIS.
Thai students put on a classical performance.
Mr Shiells led the Samba Band as it launched
International Day at GIS.
The Samba band was loud and proud.
A Welsh trumpeter was one of the star performers.
A young GIS student enjoys International Day.
Hat’s amazing!
The Chinese fan dance was beautiful.
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Sotpattana School for the Deaf
celebrates 2013-14 graduating class
Somkiat Potiverayut
At the end of 2013 academic year at Sotpattana School for the Deaf,
parents and teachers were excited to congratulate the school’s 2013-2014
graduates during a ceremony held on the 7th of March 2014 at the Pattaya
Orphanage auditorium.
Among the eight graduated, six are deaf: Yok, Not, Hill, Me-Tang, Arm, and Game,
while Bank has Down syndrome and Shogun is autistic. Their teachers, parents,
friends and even the younger students, were part of the beautiful morning when
Fr. Michael honored the children with certificates and gifts.
We wish the very best to the graduates and their movements.
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