Project location
Doi Saket District, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Project duration and start
1 year, 2010
Project sponsor(s)
Thomas Cook Reisen, Neckermann Reisen, Thomas Cook Austria / Neckermann Reisen Österreich
Project description
In the north of Thailand, different ethnic groups inhabit the region between Chiang Mai and the border to Myanmar. They often speak different languages, some do not have citizenship and they are often extremely poor. As a result of this problem constellation, child trafficking, child labour, begging, stealing and prostitution are widespread.
The School for Life is a project that gives children from extreme conditions the chance to come to terms with their traumas and to lead a happy life. The School for Life currently offers approx. 120 girls and boys a family, an education and a future. The children are Aids or tsunami orphans and children whose parents were imprisoned or killed while fleeing from the police, or who live in mountain villages where they have no opportunity to go to school. The School for Life secures their existence, offers therapeutic support and the best education, according to the guiding idea "The best for the poorest".
The state-approved Social Welfare School runs a kindergarten, a primary school (grade 1-6) and a junior high school (grade 7-9). The governmental curriculum integrates further areas, which encourage the children and adolescents to develop and test business ideas through fun and games. With support from Futouris, they learn to practice organic farming and are sensitised towards the conservation of their country's cultural diversity. Various programs help to prepare the children for later situations, where it will be important to create jobs for themselves and for others to overcome poverty. Furthermore, the school offers people from the region employment both in the educational sector and in the projects dealing with organic agriculture.
Project goals
- Lasting education for orphans to overcome poverty and to secure their own formation and existence on the long-term
- Communication of organic farming methods
Project partner / Project coordinator
Project organisation: www.school-for-life.de, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Project coordinator: Inge Strieck
