School start again :-)

Our children have been allowed to go back to school since July. Even if it is mandatory to wear a mask at school despite the high temperatures, the children are very happy that they can finally be back at school.
As you already know the German Embassy in Bangkok has often supported us with great campaigns. This time we could look forward to fabric for sewing the masks. A group of Karen women used every free minute on the sewing machine to sew an incredible amount of 2000 masks! Thanks to many other donations, almost twice as many masks were created, so that our children and their families can protect themselves in public from infection with COVID-19 🙂
Many thanks to the German Embassy, ​​the AVC from Switzerland, many other donors, and of course to the women on the sewing machines ❤️❤️❤️

Food Forest

Finally the rainy season has arrived in Thailand and we’re pleased to welcome one of the first volunteer teams from the local church on our community farm to help planting more than 1.000 trees.

Those trees will be planted on the Eden Farm near Doi Saket where we recently opened our first dorm for students.

In the next few years those little seedling will grow and are then part of a “food forest”, so we will become more and more independent, create income, secure our own food, and do our part for the environment.

“The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit”

2.000 face masks for children and families in Northern Thailand

Thank you German Embassy for helping people in northern Thailand.
www.raintree-foundation.org

Due to the Corona pandemic the 10 Years Thai Care e.V. anniversary event was cancelled.

But this does not stop us from celebrating together with our German partner organization Thai Care e.V. We congratulate Thai Care e.V. and their team for their dedicated voluntary work over all those 10 years !! www.thaicare.de

Thank you for thousands of hours of hard work writing emails, translations, sending letters, corresponding with foster parents and volunteers, fundraising events, Christmas market events, public relations and many other activities to help children and families in need. With the help of Thai Care e.V. and the donors we could provide over 1500 children with school education and food. Thank you very much for making huge positive impacts in the lives of the children !

We are grateful to have such a wonderful partner supporting the children all those years. We raise our glasses, cheers !!!

Change children’s lives by becoming their foster parent!

This week, many new children have been accepted into our foster program, whose families have been in need due to a wide range of family fates.

By assuming a sponsorship, you ensure that children grow up safely in their familiar surroundings and attend a local state school, because education is the most important pillar for a secure future. In addition, the children receive good health care, school clothes, healthy and regular meals and loving care from our advisers in the mountains.

If you are interested in a sponsorship, please have a look at our website:

https://raintree-foundation.org/become-a-foster.html

In the photos you can see the children who are currently looking for a sponsor. We would be happy to send you further information about the individual children on request.

All the best,

your RTF Team 

Sad to cancel our Anniversary

Dear followers,
unfortunately we have to cancel our anniversary event due to the corona pandemic!
We’ll definitely catch up on the festival, maybe we’ll celebrate our 11th anniversary? 🙂 let’s see!
The most important thing is that everyone stays healthy, because then we have more reason to celebrate in a good mood at a later date!
Stay healthy, keep your distance and protect your loved ones!

World Water Day 2020

World Water Day 2020

As every year, the United Nations announced World Water Day last week to draw attention to the important resource of water. This year, the day was all about climate change, accompanied by these three messages:

* We cannot afford to wait! *
* Water can help fight climate change! *
* Everyone has a role to play! *

These three sentences show the urgent need for our actions. On the other hand, they also raise hope that it is not too late!

It is astonishing, however, that this urgent appeal is necessary when you consider how important water is. Whether for animals, plants or our social life: everything needs water.

We often do not appreciate our privilege:
Turn the tap/faucet on –> water is running.

The pictures from Thailand show that not everyone has the opportunity to do so. The government’s water supply does not reach deep into the mountains of the north, so that the population there is dependent on rivers, lakes and the collection of rain. The water is cleaned by boiling it for at least 20 minutes, then it kills about 65-70% of the bacteria.

That is why we think it’s necessary to equip all villages in the mountains with biosand filters, which clean the water naturally and destroy up to 99% of all bacteria.

PRO: people are healthier, have fewer worms, do not have to take the exhausting walk to the water every day and collecting firewood is minimized a lot.

Negative: The production of the filter costs money, which of course the families in the mountains do not have.

But that’s all 🙂

And thanks to the many donations for biosand filters, we have already installed thousands of filters! THANKS for it ❤

If you would also like to donate a biosand filter, please contact thomas@raintree-foundation.org

The costs of 2800 THB include materials, delivery, installation and maintenance for the next 10-15 years.
So it’s not really that much, considering that we sometimes need to drive up to 4 hours to install the filters!

Get in touch with us 

Early departure of our volunteers

The Corona virus is currently in a state of emergency in many countries around the world. Thailand is also in a turbulent situation right now.

So last week we decided to evacuate our three volunteers from the mountains of Northern Thailand and let them fly home to their beloved ones. A befriended organization did the same, so that everyone (volunteers and employees of the organizations) gathered together for a final photo at the airport.

Unfortunately, the volunteers had to shorten their 12 months stay and leave 4 months earlier than planned. They are already missed by all the children who now ask: “Where’s my English teacher?”

Dear volunteers, you had a great impact on the lives of the children in your time and we thank you very much for your support!
We hope you now spend the time at home with your families and find useful activities during the shutdown in Germany! 🙂

The villages where the volunteers taught English were largely shielded from the outside world as the elders of the Karen tribe decided to block the streets. It has been practiced wisely in difficult times in the past.

So far, all of our children and team members of the Raintree Foundation have been doing well. The children were able to complete their exams and are now officially in the Thai summer vacation.
In the meantime, the delivery of further biosand filters is being prepared and we will get some renovation work done in the children’s home.

At the same time, we are increasing our first aid stocks and ensure that there is a larger food stock, so we can cover everything in the event of any future problems.

Do not worry!
Thank you very much for your support in this difficult time.

A different message !

It’s been a little while, but isn’t it great to get such a cute video from your foster child? If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, please contact us via info@thaicare.de

Volunteer Activity

Our dear volunteers wrote a report of the January’s activity:

“Our first stop this morning was the „Royal Flora Park“ where we could drive around on bicycles. We really enjoyed this since we were not able to for the past few months and we may have lost Khruu Noi a couple of times. The perfect weather and these historical temples just got us pretty excited.
After this floral experience we headed to a handicraft market where we took the chance to buy some gifts for our students, especially those who will leave the school in March and since everything was cheaper than on an actual market we made some great deals 🙂
Afterwards it was time for lunch, which did not cease to amaze us. The buffet in the fancy hotel near the Maya mall was exquisitely fancy and we felt really close to celebrities, even though we were literally just eating like we have not eaten before.
Then we visited the „Central Festival Mall“ and spent a good amount of money on necessities, because we are going to Hua Hin for the next few days for our midterm seminar. Although we were we still pretty full, we were headed to the next food location which turned out to be for Farangs only. But as usual, it was more than fine to hear a familiar language and also to see a known face, because one employee is actually from Chaem Noi, the village where Charlotta is staying.
This mostly concludes this volunteer activity, although Khruu Noi drove us in the center of Chiang Mai where we finished of this awesome day.
At this point it only seems right to thank everyone who organized this day and was kind enough to take us along. Thank you so much!”