Volunteers are crucial in implementing our projects.
Samsara’s overheads are low. It spends no more than three percent for expenditures necessary to monitor the projects. Overheads are low because everybody who works for Samsara does so on a voluntary basis; in the Netherlands and inThailand and also in other countries. Volunteers raise funds, manage the websites, undertake pr-activities, are active as board members and manage the construction projects and scholarship programmes. However, most of Samsara’s volunteers are teachers and the schoolchildren’s parents. The parents build the school facilities with the assistance of the teachers, who also select and propose pupils for the scholarship-programme. Samsara hires no contractors from the city, but organises the building process with a commitment of local volunteers - a traditional way of working in Thailand. Every school has a teacher-parent committee, which unfortunately is more or less dormant. Commonly the teachers attempt to activate this committee, invite the village leaders and together assess the building procedures. At times dozens of volunteers work at the building site on a rotational basis. In these instances the work takes place under the guidance of a professional builder who gets paid. At other times a small group of volunteers work with the school technician who participates in and oversees the building activities. Janitors from schools that have had some building experience can assist schools that lack building experience. Other than the construction work, parents also help clear the land for new buildings and fetch and carrying stuff. Teachers do their bit in the weekends. As schools best know the local situation they organise the work of the volunteers. Samsara allocates a budget for materials and food for the volunteers. A small amount is also made available for hiring professionals, with another five per cent of the project budget used for miscellaneous expenses e.g. paying for extra professional help. The use of volunteers allows Samsara to keep its costs low and is therefore able to realise more projects. The schools appreciate this and it strengthens the solidarity between schools. The improved relation with the parents leads to their greater involvement in the education of their children. All children are sent to school not just the oldest child as was done formerly. The improved relation with the village leadership leads to faster solutions to problems such as the lack of water in the dry season. Samsara is happy with these results and likes to express its gratitude to all volunteers for their commitment and efforts.
Projects, realised by Samsara in 2010.
Wild Geese Foundation and NCDO Foundation in the Netherlands support Samsara in building seven dormitories at six mountain schools.
In the summer of 2009 Samsara applied for support for the construction of six dormitories at the Foundation “Wild Geese” and NCDO. The project budget amounted to 35100 Euros of which Samsara needed to raise 14000 Euros from other sources. Thanks to many generous donations the money was quickly raised, especially thanks to the Foundation “De Beer” and KPMG.
In November 2009 construction started on six mountain schools and in March 2010 everything was finished with money to spare. The schools were Nong Muan, Mae Sameeng, Doi Ngaam, Um Long Luang, Ratana Pratiip and Huay Haa. A donation from the Carl and Henrietta Herrmann Family Foundation from the USA allowed a seventh dormitory to be built at the Huay Haa School. In additon a shower and a toilet building at the Um Daa Nua School plus tables and benches for a new canteen at the Khun Mae La school could also be provided. Dormitories at mountain schools are essential for providing education in these remote areas. A 25% increase in the number of children attending school within one to two years has been experienced.
For this project Samsara has been awarded the yearly “Doener Award (Doer Award), 2009 Best Project” by “Wild Geese” and NCDO at 3 October 2009. Samsara is extremely pleased with the financial support from “Wild Geese” and NCDO.
Net4kids Foundation (the Netherlands) raised another 50 000 Euros for facilities at two schools.
As was in 2009, Net4kids has made it possible for Samsara to start building facilities at two regional mountain schools. At the Mae Khit school dormitories were built for six teachers and 40 pupils respectively. In addition to beds and cupboards for an already existing dormitory Samsara also provided furniture for an existing canteen and a clean water installation.
At the isolated Le Kho school dormitories for pupils and teachers, a toilet building, a canteen with kitchen, 80 desks for a new school building (build by the government) and a rainwater collection tank were built. The Thai Government kept its promise to Samsara to build new school buildings. The donations of Net4kids are essential to get children to school. The pictures show the canteen and dormitory to be replaced and the newly built ones.
Private donor from the Netherlands donates 35000 Euros for a school television on solar cells project.
The mountain schools in the region where Samsara works suffer from a lack of teachers. The harsh conditions under which they need to work (isolated situation/inadequate facilities/extreme climate) result in lack of enthusiasm to work at the small schools high up in the mountains. To temporarily cover this teacher shortage Samsara started a project through which schools will be able to watch the lessons provided by the National School Television, either directly broadcasted or on DVD. Children can watch the lessons and work independently for a period when the teacher is needed in another class. Very remote schools don’t have electricity. Samsara has installed solar panels, batteries, television sets and connection cables for two classrooms. Children from these isolated areas will have the opportunity to see images from other parts of Thailand and will be offered more education. In 2009 Samsara realised an identical project in 18 schools with a contribution from the same donor.
The Dr. Hofstee Foundation from the Netherlands donates 5000 Euros for a canteen at the Huay Haa School.
Samsara received a donation from this foundation for the second time in a row and wants to express its sincere thanks. The ramshackle canteen at the Huay Haa School, a school for Karen children, has now been replaced by a beautiful new building.
Private donations make the building of a dormitory for teachers at the Um Lo Nua School possible.
Small or large, all donations help. The 5000 Euros raised in 2009 was used for a beautiful new dormitory with furniture and a separate kitchen for teachers at the poorly equiped Um Lo Nua School. The school has no director and too few teachers. The janitors of neighbouring schools assisted with the construction. The new building will offer better facilities for the teachers, hopefully increasing teacher numbers by the start of the new school year.
The 2500 Euros from the “Doer Award, 2009 Best Project” awarded by “Wild Geese” and NCDO was used for the construction of a dormitory for teachers.
With the money from this important award Samsara built a dormitory for teachers at the Mae Sameeng School in the Spring of 2010. A donation from the Hawfield Family (USA) added the tiles and furniture to this building.
The Jan and Oscar Foundation from Switzerland donated 220,000 Baht for facilities to do homework and do the laundry at the Long Phe School.
This Foundation donated money for the fourth year in a row. At the remote Long Phe Wittaya School hundreds of children spend a good part of the year at the school. There was no place to go after classes other than the dormitory. Now there is a small building where students can stay after classes and do their homework. Another building provides water and shelter for washing and drying clothes. In the past they needed to do the laundry down in the river, which in the rainy season was hazardous.
The Carl and Henrietta Herrmann Family Foundation from the USA donates 20000 dollar for sanitary facilities and dormitories for teachers.
This private foundation has supported Samsara year after year. This donation provided three toilet buildings and two rainwater-collection tanks at five schools. A dormitory for teachers was constructed at two other schools. New dormitories attract more teachers to the mountain schools. It is often the case that the parents of young teachers do not allow their children to stay in remote mountain areas. New and better facilities reduce parental concerns.
Global Playground (USA) donates five computers with software and peripheral equipment to the library of the Huay Puung Mai School, which was financed by the same organisation a year before.
Global Playground aims at establishing an exchange-programme between schools in the US and the Huay Puung Mai School. This exchange would be virtual on-line. The Huay Puung Mai School had no computers, no stable electricity supply and no protection against theft. Both stable electricity supply and theft protection have been installed at a cost of 7000 dollars. A generator that runs on oil has also been installed. The windows have bars added and the door has been reinforced. The computers have been connected to the Internet so that everything is in place to start the exchange in the new school year.
The Ralph Scriba Family Foundation (USA) donates again 50000 dollars, this time for five canteens at five schools.
For many years Samsara received donations from this private foundation. From this year’s donation five canteens with kitchens were built, including kitchen equipment and furniture. In March 2010 all five canteens were ready. They are multifunctional buildings with a stage where performances by children and meetings with the village leadership and parents can be organised. The five canteens are at the Padeng Luang School, the Mae Naa Chaang Nue School, the Mae Too School, the Mae Sawan Noi School and the Huay Mai Saang School.
All schools are exclusively attended by children from mountain people.
The Lloyd George Asia Foundation from Hong Kong donates 300,000 Baht for a dormitory at the Long Phe School.
The Lloyd George Asia Foundation donates annually to Samsara for which we are very thankful. We are proud to have this organisation as a supporter. Samsara has been able to help the Long Phe Wittaya School through the years with many facilities and more and more children attending classes at this school. The school was destroyed by a flash flood in 2005 and has now been relocated to a safer place. It is situated in an isolated mountainous area with a limited number of villages close by. The school was in urgent need of a dormitory with children having to walk long distances and many needing to stay overnight. The number of pupils has grown from 70 in 2005 to 320 in 2010. Thanks to this donation Samsara was able to build a suitable dormitory with the opening ceremony being held in February. We are waiting for further donations to provide furniture.
AsianKidzSupport from the Netherlands donates bunk beds and mattresses for the Huay Haa School and intends to raise funds for Samsara in the Netherlands.
The two founding members of this foundation have accompanied Samsara twice during a monitoring visit at mountain school projects. They were so impressed by Samsara’s work they spontaneously donated 66,000 Baht for mattresses and bunk beds. Next year they will attempt to raise funds in the Netherlands for a dormitory at the Mae Naa Chaang Nua School and a clean water installation at the Padeng Luang School. We wish them a lot of success with this fantastic initiative.
Angela, 11 years old, collects money for stationary
Angela is the daughter of Ratana Kheuankaew who oversees all Samsara building projects with Annelie Hendriks. Angela joined the monitoring visits every once in a while and observed that Samsara Foundation often received some small presents like handbags and shawls made by the children or their mothers. She came up with the idea to sell the articles in the Chiangmai neighbourhood where she lives and to buy stationary for the schools with the proceeds. An excellent idea and all contributions help.
Net4kids from the Netherlands raised 25000 Euros for Samsara to install solar panels to generate electricity at remote schools.
Samsara is very happy with this donation. Remote schools don’t have electricity. With the money Samsara can install solar panels for electricity generation at the Huay Heng, the Si Waa Deu and the Cho Sii Deu Nua School. All classrooms, canteens and dormitories now have electricity. Installation at the Cho Sii Deu Nua School will not be simple. Overland the school can only be reached on foot, boat or elephant. Samsara negotiated with the army to transport the solar panels by helicopter at a reasonable price. Smaller parts were transported by elephant. The batteries used in this system have a duration of 25 years, which is much better than the durability of 2 years of the batteries used before, which saves a lot of money for the schools. Max Woll, partner of Ratana, with his Thai crew, installed the systems. Not an easy job at those remote schools for which Samsara is grateful to them. After the installations were installed the whole villlage came to the school to watch for the first time dvd movies on television.
Net4kids from the Netherlands donated 24000 Euros for clean water installations at 20 schools and rainwater collecting tanks for nine schools.
Of the 185 schools in the region where Samsara operates at least 100 schools have no clean drinking water and children often experience illness. At the end of the dry season a number of schools have commonly no water at all. Conflicts with the neighbouring villages arise about who will get the water first. Water collecting tanks store enough water to get through the worst time of the dry season. Net4kids donation contributes to solving the water problems of the schools.
Friends of the Samsara Foundation, The Netherlands donated 12.000 euro for a canteen at the Hua Mae To School and a dormitory for teachers at the Long Phe Wittaya School.
Both facilities were built in record time. Which is a great achievement at those remote schools. All materials needed to be transported in the back of a pick-up car. De opening ceremonies were very well organised and the schoolchildren contyributed with traditional and modern songs and dances.
The Ralph Scriba Family Foundation donates every year huge amounts to Samsara of which many facilities were built.
For 43,000 dollars Samsara has built a canteen and a dormitory for students at the Mae Ok Nua School, a canteen at the Mae Ok School, a dormitory for teachers at the Um Daa Tai School and schooldesks for the new schoolbuildings at the Le Kho and the Po So Schools. These facilities contribute highly to raise the numbers of students and teachers at remote mountain schools.
This year the Jan & Oscar Foundation from Switzerland donated 8800 CFR for a canteen at the Ratana Pratiip School.
It took the head principal of this school only 7 weeks to build, together with the parents of the students, a beautiful new canteen. It happened only 2 months after he became the new principal of this school. But at his former school he has built several facilities donated by Samsara and by that got a lot of experience.
David and Eleanor Williams from Chiangmai donated 3000 dollar to the Huay Mae Saang School.
David volunteered at this mountain school some years ago. It hapenend that he visited together with Samsara the very same school and the family decided to donate funds for a new school toilet building and a rain water colleting tank.
In 2010 Samsara raised 12,569,466 THB (300,000 euro/440,000 dollar) for facilities at mountain schools for hill tribe children.
Samsara sincerely thanks all donors and volunteers for their efforts and commitment. Without them Samsara could not realise so many projects. And every contribution helps!