Samsara was established in 2001 as a charitable Foundation under Dutch law. Its aim is to support the education of poor children in Thailand. Samsara considers education key to poverty alleviation and the development from a poor to a more developed society.

Samsara works in the North of Thailand and especially in one of the country’s poorest provinces, Mae Hong Son. Its focus is on remote mountain-villages, home to many hill people like the Karen or the Hmong. The average annual income per family per year is around 10,000 baht (approximately € 222, US $ 295 in 2009).
 

Priority is given to very basic and concrete projects like the installation of water purification, the building of kitchens and dormitories and the provision of educational tools.
Besides these projects, Samsara provides scholarships for individual children who have promising school results, but who do not have the means to continue their study after middle school.

The Capital Projects Program is managed by Annelie Hendriks, who now lives in Chiang Mai and Ratana Keunkeaw, a Thai citizen. They work in close collaboration with the Department of Education in Mae Sariang District and the directors of the schools involved. Their work is done on a voluntary basis so the project overhead costs are kept at a minimum.
It is Samsara’s philosophy to seek and actively promote the participation of the community. Villagers therefore do most of the construction work voluntarily. Many of them are parents of the schoolchildren. This contributes to a better relationship between the school and the village, and ensures support for education of the children by the community.
Samsara’s Scholarship Program is managed by Carl Samuels with assistance of Tony Kid en Oraboon Imcha. All three are volunteers and live in Chiangmai.

Most of the schools in the mountains of Mae Sariang (185 schools with 27,000 children) are only accessible in the dry season. The rainy season makes it impossible to use the small, muddy and slippery roads. Construction and monitoring therefore must be accomplished in a seven-month period (November through May).

Samsara visits each school where it has a project at least three times. The first visit concerns the project feasibility, the second the monitoring of the construction and the third assesses results and conducts an opening ceremony. Payments are made in three installments. Contracts are signed before the actual construction starts.

As a Netherlands-based foundation, Samsara has established in 2002 a cooperative arrangement with the Thai Foundation, FERC (Foundation for the Education of Rural Children). This relationship provided Samsara the legal status to operate in Thailand.
In March 2008 Samsara Foundation, Thailand has been established and was registered as an independent local NGO (non-governmental organization) in Chiangmai and so Samsara has now its own legal status to operate in Thailand.
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At first Samsara did not fully realize what would be the positive side effects of its interventions. As a result of the focus on just one region, returning year after year to do what was promised, helped us develop an important and enduring relationship with the Department of Education, the directors, and the teachers.

By securing good school facilities by Samsara at the mountains schools, the Department of Education of Mae Sariang realized that it is worth the effort to invest in higher levels of education at those schools. More schools now start with Middle School and thanks to huge dormitories, built from donations from Samsara, the first high school at the mountain school Huay Puung Mai started in May 2008.

1.Mission/ Vision Samsara Foundation, Thailand

2. By-laws Samsara Foundation, Thailand

3. Samsara's 10 core principles