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An Asian experience:
Summer University 2009
Susan Joyce
Thirty nine students from thirteen different countries have just
enjoyed being a part of Asian University’s fourth Summer University program.
Students came from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Japan,
Russia, Slovenia, Spain and elsewhere, making it a truly international
experience.
 Learning
traditional Thai massage is all part of the experience.
They spent a week at the university campus, meeting the students, and
learning from them about the Thai way of life. A Thai evening of
presentations by the Thai students was followed by an international evening,
with the visitors telling everyone about their home countries.
Several of the visitors had brought along food and drink from their
countries for everyone to share. People either loved or hated the salty
licorice from Denmark! However, most people enjoyed tasting the wines.
Then a weekend on Koh Samet to relax, including dinner and a fire show on
the beach, before enjoying a week at the Jomtien Sea Breeze Hotel. The final
week was spent based at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok.
 International
students take an exciting elephant ride.
The courses offered the young people a chance to listen to many experts and
practitioners to improve their knowledge about business and tourism in Asia,
especially in Thailand.
Visits to local businesses gave them an insight into the wide variety of
products and services here. They enjoyed seeing behind the scenes at the
Royal Cliff and Amari hotels, where they heard about hotel management in
Pattaya.
They were very impressed by the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, where Dr. Iain and
Neil gave a presentation and showed us some of their facilities. Other
places visited included Mama Noodles production plant (Thai President
Foods), Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens, an authentic Thai meal on the beach at
Tung Seafood, Tiffany’s, and Henry J Beans.
In Bangkok they went to the Grand Palace and the Stock Exchange of Thailand;
they learnt the benefits of traveling by Skytrain (BTS) and found plenty of
evening entertainment venues to explore. Of course shopping was on the
agenda, in both Pattaya and Bangkok, with visits to malls and
street-markets.
 Learning
to cook Thai food with an experienced chef.
Everyone enjoyed hands-on classes in Thai massage, fruit carving and cooking
Thai food as well as an introduction to the Thai language and Muay Thai
boxing. The students heard about the art of meditation from Pra Suchart at
Wat Yan, and gave alms to a group of monks early one morning at the
university.
The special guest speaker this year was Chung Po-yang (Po Chung) OBE, SBS,
JP, a co-founder of DHL International, and a very successful entrepreneur.
This lecture was open to the public and Po Chung came with his wife, and
told everyone about his life, so far, before telling us about his many
business and philanthropic ventures. His talk was an inspiration to the
young students who are just starting their working lives.
Some of the comments on the course included “Awesome!”, “Very well
organized”, “I liked the chance to talk with the lecturers” and “The mix of
international students.” Staff at Asian University are now staring the
planning for Summer University 2010.
Regent’s new staff spend
a morning of induction
at the Fountain of Life
Paul Crouch
As part of their induction program to Thailand, Pattaya, The
Regent’s School and Round Square, all new academic staff and their
families were treated to a cultural insight on Tuesday August 17.
 Ben
introduces himself to his new friends.
Kindly and efficiently organized by Krue Wannee of the Fountain of Life,
over 40 Regent’s staff were treated to ‘a day in the life of the centre’
in an hour and a half.
Welcomed with cool drinking water and a quick tour of the building
everyone was quickly finding a seat in the library ready to watch an
informative program about the centre. It clearly set out the history and
objectives of the Fountain of Life and how a typical day may transpire
for the many children that attend. The new guests were soon aware of the
many good things that the centre offers to the street kids of Pattaya.
Inspired by the message that Krue Wannee and the Good Shepherd Sisters
had delivered in the library all the new staff were challenged to make a
new friend and find out a little bit about them. This task involved the
breaking down of cultural, language and inequality boundaries. It was a
huge success resulting in numerous new friendships being made and many
games also being initiated between the staff and the children.
Before leaving much baht was departed with as many hand made cards,
beaded bracelets and t-shirts were bought and proudly displayed on the
way back to The Regent’s campus to continue the induction program.
The Regent’s School would very much like to thank Krue Wannee and her
wonderful staff for the hospitality and informative talks they provided,
and we very much look forward to working with the Fountain of Life for
many more years to come.
John learns about the children’s future
dreams.
Roslyn demonstrates her building skills.
Varittha Sanphuang enjoys
success at Asian University
Susan Joyce
Varittha Sanphuang, a fourth-year electrical and electronic
engineering (EE) student, won an IEEE MTT-S (Microwave Theory and
Techniques Society) Undergraduate/Pre-Graduate Scholarship of US $1,500
to carry out her research during 2009-2010 at Asian University.
 Varittha
Sanphuang.
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the
world’s leading professional association for the advancement of
technology. Only six students around the world receive this IEEE
scholarship each year.
She will work on the following research topics: “Analysis and Design of
Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) Metamaterials and
Negative-Refractive-Index Transmission-Line (NRI-TL) Metamaterials Using
Equivalent Transmission-Line Models with New Graphical Tools.”
In addition, she also won an IEEE AP-S (Antennas and Propagation
Society) Pre-Doctoral Research Award of US $1,000 during 2009-2010. For
this research award, she will work on a similar research topic as above.
Her research projects will be carried out under the supervision of
Assistant Professor Dr. Danai Torrungrueng, a senior IEEE member, at
Asian University. These scholarships will be used to support her in
attending international EE conferences. She expects to publish journal
and conference papers based on her research work. Let’s congratulate Ms.
Varittha for her excellent academic achievement.
Jesters Care for Kids kicks off Sept. 13
(Seated, left to right)
Pratheep Malhotra, Lewis ‘Woody’ Underwood, Deputy Mayor Ronakit
Ekasingh, Bernie Tuppin, and Sopin Thappajug, along with friends and
supporters announce the upcoming “Jesters Care For Kids” Charity Fair
and Pub Night.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
This year’s annual “Jesters Care for Kids” celebration will be
held Sept. 13 at the Diana Garden Resort in North Pattaya with proceeds
going to help underprivileged children at seven area schools and
centers.
 Pichit
Kaewkibin, a student at Banglamung Industrial and Community Education
College, will soon graduate thanks to the Jesters Care for Kids.
The 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. festivities were officially announced Aug. 25 with
a press conference attended by Pattaya Jesters Club leader Lewis ‘Woody”
Underwood, Diana Group President Sopin Thappajug, Pattaya Deputy Mayor
Ronakit Ekasingh and Pattaya Mail Publishing Co. Ltd. Managing Director
Pratheep Malhotra.
Beneficiaries of this year’s event include the Fountain of Life Center,
the House of Eastern Children’s Welfare, the Pattaya Redemptorist School
for the Blind, Ban Metta, Ban Jing Jai orphanage, the Youth
Rehabilitation Camp, the Fund for Continuous Education of Street Kids
Home and others. Care for Kids has been an annual Jesters activity since
1997 with more than 46.5 million baht raised.
 Sister
Piyachat Bunmoon from the Fountain of Life Center thanks the Jesters
Care for Kids team of organizers.
This year, the fair will include a chorus from the Pattaya Redemptorist
School for the Blind, demonstrations in the art of self defense and
technical sports training. There will be more than 80 goods and food
booths. There will also be a children’s playground for several games,
including family entertainment activities. The ticket fee is 50 baht for
adults with all income given to needy organizations without any expenses
being deducted. Furthermore, there is also a mini concert from Grammy
led by Cha Cha, DJ. Ikkyu, and Techin.
Underwood said the Jesters group has already staged 39 projects to
support impoverished children, including those at the Fountain of Life
Center, the School for the Blind, and Ban Jing Jai. It has also
supported several projects through the Pattaya Young PR Project,
including providing utilities in upcountry schools, such as bathrooms
constructed for Huay Muak School, a cafeteria constructed for Nongprue
School and support of Chonburi’s prison children by construction of a
camp for them to be united.
Jesters’ work started several months ago by sending letters to
organizations and companies to inform them about Jesters Care For Kids
activities, which received good support from Pattaya Mail.
Underwood added that apart from the charity to raise income this month
there will also be a party night on Sept. 19 at Jameson’s Irish Pub at 6
p.m. Items up for auction at this year’s party include a ball signed by
Pele, a Manchester United Team t-shirt with signatures from the entire
team and other items.
For more information to make donations or for those wishing to donate
their time for society, please contact or participate in the “Jesters
Care for Kids” project by calling the coordinator at 038-411-240-1 and
038-413-240-1.
PILC donates to
Koh Pai Kindergarten
Happy faces all around
during the presentation.
Kavita Lamba
As the new school year rolls around, Pattaya International
Ladies Club (PILC) was delighted to present a large donation of THB
174,000 to Pim’s very successful Goh Pai Kindergarten project.
This money will once more pay the salaries for two of the teachers at
the centre, which provides a safe and caring environment for those
children considered ‘at risk’ who live in Chumchon areas of Soi Koh Pai.
The nursery school was started about three years ago, and has almost 70
“students” now, ranging in age from 2 to 6. When the children are of age
they will leave to start in the government school system.
With this facility parents are able to go out to work and improve their
standard of living and the children have an early start in their
education in both Thai and English.
This donation is made possible due to one of the biggest fundraisers
organized by the PILC, the Holiday Bazaar. This year’s bazaar will be
held at Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Peach Exhibition Center on Saturday
October 3 starting 10 a.m. There will be over 70 vendors present from
Thailand selling their wares with a children’s play room. It’s a great
shopping day out with a great variety of goods all under one roof.
For more details contact Chantal on coldaker@gmail. com and put this
date in your diary.
Sattahip Dance Club looking for sponsors
Youths are being taught to
dance in Sattahip with the hope that a continued interest in dancing
will keep them from drugs and alcohol later in life.
Patcharapol Panrak
A Royal Thai Navy couple who believe dancing can keep kids out
of trouble are looking for sponsors who think the same way.
Chief Petty Officer Chai Sucharit and Lt. Prapa Sucharit, members of the
Navy’s Training Division, are the force behind the Sattahip Dance Club
which since 2007 has been training youngsters free of charge to complete
in national dance competitions.
Two students - Chaiwut Kosa and Theeraporn Theekayu - placed second in
the Junior 1 category at the 2008 Thailand Dance Championship.
About 60 6-year-olds took part in the latest of the classes, which are
taught in the officers’ spare time. The goal is that some of the young
dancers will be able to compete at the National Sports Games in Trang
Sept. 10-12.
The problem, said Chairwoman Sumon Chaikis, is that the club doesn’t
have any sponsors to fund the trip or its operations. The Navy couple
and other club members had approached the Sattahip government about
taking a role, arguing that programs such as these keep kids off drugs
and out of trouble. However, the city has so far not signed up.
Slated to complete next month are Chaiwut and Theeraporn in the Junior 1
category; Songyot Juichit and Kannika Kulmee in the Latin competition
and Rapeepat Hongsuwan and Waree Sararak in the Juvenile 2 (11 years
old) category.
Jesters Children’s Fair is next weekend
Are you ready?!
Mike Franklin’s daughter,
Sam, at the Fair 8 years ago.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony at
2002 Fair: (left to right) Noi, Woody, Mike Franklin and Graham
Macdonald.
Lewis Underwood
Our Main Event is right around the corner next weekend on
Sunday, September 13th at Diana Garden Resort and Driving Range. This
will be our 8th straight year there and we sincerely want to thank Khun
Sopin and her Diana Group for giving us a place we can call home.
To put you in a fair-going mood we have included some pictures from the
first fair we held at Diana in 2002. These photos were taken by
professional photographer Howard Greene and are posted here in his
memory.
If we don’t see you at our fair stallholder meeting at 7 p.m. at
Jameson’s next Monday, September 7, we will certainly hope to see you
soon after on Sunday, September 13.
Remember the fun starts at 10 a.m.!
Moo, Aum and Ouan in the
sponsored pushbike ride garb.
Fair kids holding banner
that is supposed to say:
“Thanks for making us smile today”.
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