Volunteer Mariusz helping in the children’s home and in the Rain Tree office

Our friend Mariusz from Germany helped us in the office during the past two months. During this time we renovated the kitchen at the Mae Hae Children’s Home, so he went to help with the fan installation as well. The kitchen at the children’s home really needed renovation and repairing; we cleaned the walls and installed a fan. It looks much better now, but there’s still a lot of work to do! This renovation needs to be done so the children can receive nutritious food on a daily basis that has been stored and prepared correctly. Additionally Mariusz did a great job helping us in our office in Chiang Mai with a lot of tasks. For example research, fundraising, designing new brochures just to mention a few. Our whole team appreciated his work and we want to thank Mariusz for his dedicated help.

Final report of the playground donation from “The Sting” and an anonymous donor for the children’s homes in Mae Na Chorn and Mae Hae in Thailand

It was a busy but successful year 2012 for the Rain Tree Foundation and the Thai Care e.V.. Through the generous donation of “The Sting” and another great financial support we were able to build the long-needed and by the children desired playground.The children’s home in Mae Hae, which is far from any main roads, got a new large trampoline (5 m diameter) which was on the wish list of the children. The main parts of the playground were already realized last year by a group from Hong Kong. Three years ago we already had a trampoline but with daily use of about 50 children the trampoline broke down after two years.A second large trampoline, three swings, a seesaw and a monkey ladder with rings was bought and built up for the second children’s home in Mae Na Chorn. After the metal parts had been mounted together we painted it to make the whole playground more colorful and nice.It is always wonderful and fascinating to see children playing and developing with each other. We try our best to create a save and child-friendly environment but unfortunately we often have a lack of funds. Therefore, it is great and impressive when other people get involved and dedicated towards children in need.
We would like to thank you very much on behalf of the children, house parents, the Rain Tree Foundation and the Thai Care e.V. for your support and dedication.

Thank You Stefan

Stefan headed back home to Germany after working with the RTF for seven years. He joined us in 2006 as a backpacker for a short term project. The goal was to move a solar cell system from one children home to another. After the task was completed he decided to stay and do more work. Time went by and by the time he left the foundation he was in charge of our BSF project, managing a children’s home, coordinating the foster children project with our German partner Thai Care e.V., and much more. To the surprise of all, he developed health problems that needed urgent medical attention and so he went back home to Germany. He is feeling better now, but he still needs proper medication and therefore will not return to Thailand. Everyone of the Raintree team, Thai Care e.V. Germany and the children want to say: “Thank you Stefan for the great work you did and the help you provided! We all hope you stay well. ThaBlue!!!”

New BioSand Filters installed

After the Songkran (Thai New Year) holidays we went up to the mountains to install more BioSand Filters in a rural area. There are two children homes which did not have access to clean drinking water and through the great support and donation of friends and companies we installed on each children home 2 BioSand Filters. There are around 25 children on each of the homes and the filters are highly appreciated by the children because from now on they will have every day safe and clean drinking water which is essential for every human being and especially for children. Thanks to all people dedicated to support our ongoing work.

Songkran 2013 in Chiang Mai

Two weeks ago we celebrated in Chiang Mai, but also in Thailand, the Thai New Year – Songkran. The word Songkran comes from Sanskrit and means the transition from one zodiac sign to another. Chiang Mai is one of the cultural and spiritual centers for Songkran and known far beyond the country’s borders for the festivities. In addition to the traditional customs and rituals the mutual douse with water in the streets developed as an integral part of Songkran. In larger cities there are excessive water battles that last for several days and where no one stays dry. nOur team had vacations was able to enjoy the festivities and participate in the one or another water fight. It’s great to be able to participate in such an event.

Heifer Thailand, 39th Anniversary

Our partner organization Heifer Thailand celebrated this month their 39^th anniversary and we joined them in the commemoration. During the morning we had the chance to see an overview of the work they have been doing with the hill tribes during this time and afterwards we enjoyed local Northern Thai food all together. Happy anniversary, Heifer, and congratulations on your 39 years of good work!

Karen Conference in North Thailand

Last week the Rain Tree Foundation team joined the KBC (Karen Baptist Convention) conference in the village of Museekee in Wat Chan (North Thailand). This is the most important gathering for the Karen people, and they come from all over the country to meet there. The main purpose is to get together, maintain traditions and their culture and also share their future perspective. For us, working mainly with the Karen hill tribes, is very important to understand as much as possible of their culture, traditions and values, so it is a great opportunity to assist to this conference, where not only we can meet lots of people and get the chance to talk, but we can also admire the traditional dances and songs.