Kophai Kindergarten is located in one of the worst slum areas in Pattaya, close to Sukhumvit Tai. When Pim Seaton, a Pattaya International Ladies Club (PILC) member and the chairperson of the Seaton Foundation, visited the area six years ago she couldn’t help but notice the terrible living conditions of many of the young children. Many children, with no proper care, were left more or less on their own while their parents went to work.
Pim, a woman with a huge heart and an ambition to help underprivileged children, saw that help was needed and she organized the creation of the Kophai kindergarten to help these children. She started the kindergarten with only 10 children and now, six years later, this number has grown into a total of 60.
(L to R) PILC President Ann Winfield with Pim Seaton and Helle Rantsen, PILC welfare chairperson.
The children, aged from 18 months to seven years, start in the preschool program which provides them with a basic knowledge of reading and writing both in Thai and English. They also get a daily lunch. The children learn in safe and secure surroundings with staff that cares for each individual child. The children leave the kindergarten at the age of seven to enter into the Thai Primary School system. Pim is very proud of her staff and her children as the children who leave the preschool program under the Seaton Foundation receive the absolute best basic education to prepare them to excel when they enter primary school. She has received much feedback telling her how well-prepared her children are to handle school work.
The Pattaya International Ladies Club has been supporting Kophai Kindergarten ever since it started six years ago. On the 30th of April PILC president Ann Winfield and PILC welfare chairperson Helle Rantsen went on a visit to the kindergarten to present the this year’s donation to Pim and all the smiling children, wishing everybody a successful new school year. The children were pleased to see the foreign visitors, and Pim thanked the PILC for its generous support.
