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Samsara Foundation supports the education of underprivileged
rural children in Northern Thailand, regardless of religious
or ethnic background.
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 In 2008 Samsara embarked on a new program, called “Tomorrows Leaders”. Hill Tribe children from the mountains with top school results will be offered an opportunity to continue their studies after middle school with six years of Vocational School or High School; and for those who qualify College or even University. The goal of the “Tomorrows Leaders” program is for these students to obtain jobs, which require a higher education and the ability to occupy leading positions in their community. read more
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History 2008
“ Tomorrow’s Leaders”. |
 Within the three districts where Samsara focuses our work, people from outside the mountain region currently occupy all of the leading positions in the community. This is true for a wide variety of jobs: nurses, teachers, civil servants, police officers, shop owners and traders. Hill Tribe children simply lack the education for these positions. They almost never have the financial ability to attend vocational school or high school, much less higher education. Another important goal of “Tomorrows Leaders” is to prevent these youngsters from ending up in slums in big cities like Bangkok or Chiang Mai, but instead to offer them the opportunity to prepare for jobs, with which they will become role models for other children, and with which they will be able to gain recognition as leaders of their community. “Tomorrows Leaders” is a unique scholarship program developed by Samsara for children with the best school results.
In 2008 the “Tomorrows Leaders” program will start ten students in high school and another ten in vocational school. With satisfactory school results Samsara guarantees each of these students at least six years of educational support. Current Sponsors are the Lloyd George Asia Foundation in Hong Kong and the Ralph Scriba Family Foundation in Los Angeles, California. We are pleased to announce the beginning of this ambitions new program, but to realize “Tomorrows Leaders” vision Samsara still needs to do a lot of fund raising. |
Realized building projects during 2008. |
In het droge seizoen van 2008 heeft Samsara met uw donaties veel schoolfaciliteiten kunnen realiseren. |
Thanks to the 36,000 Euro matching funds donation of the Dutch Foundation “Wild Geese”, Samsara has been able to complete a number of school facilities during the dry season of 2007-2008. |
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Samsara’s building program supports the “Tomorrows Leaders” program, because the newly available dormitories give children from the mountains the opportunity to attend high school without incurring too many extra costs. Donations for these dormitories came from the Dutch “De Beer Foundation” and other individual donors; “Wild Geese” matching funds increased these donations an additional 60%. In the Mae Sariang valley, Samsara renovated a dormitory at the Boripath School; and high up in the mountains at the Huay Puung Mai school, Samsara funded a dormitory for 180 children. On 17 May 2008, the Thai government started a high school at the Huay Puung Mai School. This school is the first mountain school to offer these educational levels so that in the future Hill Tribe children from the surrounding area will not need to travel to the Mae Sariang valley. The construction of the Huay Puung Mai dormitory started in March 2008; it is scheduled to be completed by July 2008. Finally at Mae Ngaw School, a new canteen and kitchen has been constructed.
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The Dutch “Turing Foundation” donates 22,000 Euro for isolated schools.
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Cho Sii Deu Nua is the most isolated mountain school in Thailand. It is only accessible by a four wheel drive vehicle ride of many hours; followed by three hours by boat down a river; and finally a six hour walk. Next time instead of walking the six hours, an elephant ride of four may be a preferable alternative. Samsara built a dormitory here for children that live even further away. This dormitory was built of wood instead of concrete because it is very difficult to get the iron and cement required all of the way to this remote location. At Huay Muang, another isolated school, Samsara built a canteen with a kitchen; a toilet building; and a waste water system to prevent the spilling of dirty water on the floors and on the premises. The same donation provided schoolbooks for 15 other schools.
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During the past two years Samsara Thailand has received substantial contributions from the USA. Significant donations came from the Ralph Scriba Family foundation ($25,000 US dollars) and the Carl and Henrietta Herrmann Family Foundation ($15,000 US dollars). We also received smaller donations, which we equally value. Samsara has been able to accomplish a lot with these contributions: A new dormitory for the Chaw Poo Luang School; new canteens for the Duu Laa Peu and Luum Naam Wittaya schools; a new teacher’s dormitory for the Huay Puung Mai School. The existing dormitory at the Sang Wan Wittaya School was considerably expanded; and the Mae Chaang School received a study room.
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 We are grateful for the support of the teachers and parents who as volunteers did almost all of the construction work. Professionals were hired only for some specialized jobs. All of these many volunteers were present at the various opening ceremonies. Samsara’s USA donors have generously agreed for 10% of their donations to be used for the “Tomorrow’s Leaders” program as well as general scholarships funding. |
Rotary Club Calgary Centennial Canada in cooperation with the matching fund Wild Rose donate $40,000 Canadian dollars." |
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Two of Samsara’s volunteers from Chiang Mai moved back to their home city Calgary in Canada; they have remained enthusiast supporters and ambassadors for the work of Samsara; and have convinced their local Rotary Club’s to support Samsara’s work in northern Thailand. These donations provided the Huay Haag Mai Thai School with a dormitory for boys; a canteen with a kitchen; and a toilet building; The Mai Lae School with a canteen; and the Um Lo Saka School with a kitchen. Furniture and kitchen equipment for all of these facilities was included. In addition to the three schools already mentioned, another five schools received needed furniture; and eight schools installed water-cleaning systems. Completion date for all of these projects is June 2008.
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Lloyd George Asia Foundation from Hong Kong donates $10,500 HK dollars for the Huay Po School. |
 
The Huay Po School is rapidly expanding. In 2007 Samsara built a big dormitory and therefore more and more children were able to attend this school. However, it had only a small canteen where children had to take their meals in shifts; and the kitchen was miserable and poorly equipped. With the Lloyd George donation Samsara had a new canteen and kitchen built; and managed to build a new toilet building as well.
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The Jan and Oscar Foundation from Switzerland donate 270,000 Baht for a fully equipped dormitory. |
 Samsara has already made many improvements at the Um Loo Saka School. Three years ago there were only bamboo huts. The school now has a canteen, a dormitory for teachers, a toilet building, a clean water installation and two classrooms at its disposal. This donation from the Jan and Oscar Foundation was used for the construction of a dormitory for children and for school desks. Three years ago the school had 35 pupils; in 2008 the number will increase to 120. This is another positive example of the direct effect of the donations Samsara receives. |
Australian Partners of Samsara train Thai English language teachers how to improve the teaching of a foreign language. |
 During the last school term, Samsara sponsored three professional language educators from Australia teaching in 3 schools in Mae Sariang valley. Thai teachers were able to observe and participate in phonetic and action based learning methodology of teaching conversational English. At a closing event at the end of their stay a successful English language workshop was organized for teachers, directors and personnel from the Department of Education. The Australian educators raised the funds for their stay and the teaching material themselves. On top of that they raised money for 21 scholarships; and donated the teaching materials used during their stay.
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Students from the Netherlands and Germany do voluntary work. |
 Two students from the Netherlands and Germany who recently finished their studies assisted in teaching English language and organizing sports activities as part of their holiday trip in northern Thailand. This was a unique opportunity for Hill Tribe school children to come into contact and interact with foreigners. The students stayed for a period from two to four weeks. Room and board were provided. Samsara asked each student for a donation of five Euros a day that will be used for scholarships for students of the schools involved. If other students wish to volunteer, Samsara is willing to find a school for them, but students will be responsible for their own travel costs, visa and insurance. Life at the Mae Sariang schools is simple, but both of these volunteers said it was a life enriching experience.
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Every private donation finds a good use and has an immediate effect. For example, we have provided mattresses, bedding and canteen-furniture for many schools. Another example is the construction of a drainage system for a school that was flooded during every rainy season. Forty students have received scholarships from these private donations. These are students who do not meet the criteria of “Tomorrows Leaders” program, but will greatly benefit from a scholarship for many reasons. These scholarships are guaranteed for a period of three years.
