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Hello ! I want to tell you about our RIS Summer
School visit to the Duang Prateep Foundation
in Klong Thoei. Mr. Clynt Whitaker and I accompanied
my 11th and 12th Grade Values classes to learn
about the Foundation and to give a donation
to the care of the poor. Soon after we arrived
we were welcomed by Mr. Holloway, a foreigner
who assists with PR for the Foundation. He welcomed
us in a large conference room and served us
refreshments and snacks. He then talked to us
concerning the history of the organization and
the current projects that they are involved
with. We viewed an informative video documentary
that told us more about the DPF. After the video,
Mr. Holloway clarified what was seen on the
video documentary and answered questions.
From both Mr. Holloway's informative speech
and the documentary video, we learned a great
deal more about the Duang Prateep Foundation
and the plight of urban poor. The foundation
was founded by Miss Prateep when she was only
12 years old, and started from a school that
had its origins under the roof of her family
house.
The Klong Thoei community then suffered when
the government of the day wished to evict them.
With help from the media, Miss Prateep successfully
gained equal rights for the urban poor in Klong
Thoei and pressured the government to let them
stay.
Her school soon became an officially recognized
institution. After that, she won some money
from the United States of America and used that
$20,000 to invest in what became the Duang Prateep
Foundation. Since then, the Duang Prateep Foundation
has been involved with many projects, including
tsunami relief, youth groups for boys and girls,
and developing programs for the mentally challenged.
The Duang Prateep Foundation's logo was a Thai
letter (D Dek) which means "child"
and encompassed by a flame, which represented
a lit candle that can guide one's way in the
darkness.
After this introduction in the conference room,
the class was led downstairs to complete the
donation ceremony. We presented the secretary
and Mr. Holloway with our donations (snacks
and money) and took pictures on the steps. Then
Mr. Clynt Whitaker divided us into groups of
four to five people to tend to different groups
of kindergarten children.
I was in a group of five students and we went
to see the children. They were very lively and
easy to talk to. My group started by singing
them the ABCs and taught them simple English
words. We then played a Thai game called E Mon
Son Pa, which basically consisted of running
around in circles. The children were very enjoyable
and we took many pictures with them. However,
they soon had to go to lunch.
When the children were finishing up lunch, the
whole class went on the walk through the klong.
Truthfully, it wasn't as dirty or repulsive
as I thought it would be. We saw some people
in poorly built houses, but most of them were
smiling nonetheless. Some of us stopped occasionally
along the way to buy refreshments and snacks.
Mr. Holloway said that by buying things from
the poor, we were helping them and even the
country's economy. We then brought lunch. Some
of us ate there, while some ate on the bus.
When all of us were on the bus, we went back
to school.
I felt very touched by spending time with
the children, and it made me think of how very
grateful I am to be born more fortunate than
others. The klong people were no different than
the rest of us, but they live in social and
personal circumstances far removed from those
of us privileged to be at RIS. A classmate,
Pear, saw their living standards and also agrees
with me that we should be extremely grateful,
appreciative of what we have and how we live.
Another classmate, Usa, sympathizes with the
klong people and feels that many more wealthy
Thais should contribute more to society so that
the urban poor can work towards achieving a
better standard of living.
One thing is for sure, the DPF has a very
strong commitment to social justice, development
of education and infrastructure that helps people
to begin to make something of their lives. This
experience has opened our eyes and our hearts.
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