Thread: Thailand : Swim-to-School Kids - You can donate

Originally Posted by theoldbugger

30 Baht to cross? Bollox. Would make him the richest man in the province.

It doesn't say if that is per child, or per trip for all of them

Originally Posted by sccrhound

Originally Posted by theoldbugger

30 Baht to cross? Bollox. Would make him the richest man in the province.

It doesn't say if that is per child, or per trip for all of them

Give em all season tickets.

Go to cut costs!

Near-tragedy leads Northern school to seek money for bridge
Janjira Jarusupawat
August 31, 2010


A school director is trying to drum up funds for the construction of a bridge across the Ngao River after strong currents nearly swept one of his students away.

"Fortunately, his friends saved him in time," Siam Ruangsuksai, the principal of Longpae Wittaya School, said yesterday.

The cost for the bridge will likely run about Bt300,000, but donations have reached just Bt174,000 so far.

The school is located near the confluence of the Ngao and mekong rivers in Sob Moei district.

Although it's a boarding school, some 40 out of the 156 students cross the river on weekends to spend time at home.

"Some of them are still in kindergarten. Teachers will always help the young children cross the river. But for the older students, they're on their own," he said.

When the Ngao rose too high, the school had to pay for a ferry that cost Bt400 per trip.

The school was also struggling with a muddy lane linking it to Mae Hong Son town.

"Only a 4WD vehicle can travel on this route," he said. "When we hire the vehicle, we need to pay Bt4,000 per trip (for the transportation of food and other supplies needed by the school). In all, the cost for this is Bt12,000 a month."

Without a 4WD, the school also found it hard to rush an ill student to a hospital.

"Our teacher has to carry the student across the river. Then, he must tie the student with a multipurpose cloth before starting the motorcycle trip down the rough road," he said.

Donations to the school can be made via at-call account 020021745649 at the Government Savings Bank.

A present of a used 4WD is also welcome.

nationmultimedia.com

Phuket Gives to Keep Swim-to-School Kids Dry
Wednesday, December 8, 2010


The suspension bridge that will keep schoolchildren dry in the rainy season










Click a thumbnail to view more photographs

PHUKET volunteers spent the weekend putting the finishing touches to the school ''walk not wet'' bridge in northern Thailand. Near the spot where children once had to ford or swim across a river to school, the new 80-metre suspension bridge now swings.

Once the extraordinary daily journey of the children became known, people on Phuket and around Thailand raised 884,847 baht in response to an appeal organised by Bangkok Hospital Phuket.

LongPae Witaya School is in the Sop Meoy district of Mae Hong Song province, in the north of Thailand. There are 250 children at the school, from kindergarten to junior high, with about 80 or so have to get there and back the hard way, by fording the river twice a day.

When the river ran too deep, the children were either obliged to stay home, or stay at the school, said school director Siam Ruengsuksai. Most of the children are from Thailand's hill tribes.

Pareeya Jullaphong, the corporate social responsibility project manager for Bangkok Hospital Phuket, in Phuket City, visited the region twice in November and December first to watch Army engineers build the bridge at minimal cost then to help apply the finishing touches.

''When we heard about it, we decided that the sooner we were able to help these children get to school dry, the better,'' she said.

Khun Pareeya was alerted to the need for a bridge by Nuchsuda Ngansinopon, who listens to the radio commuting to work o Phuket and heard one day about the kids who had to swim to school.

''I couldn't believe it,'' she told Phuketwan, ''so I checked and discovered it was true. Some days, if the water is deeper, the kids had to use big empty plastic water bottles to float across. The ones that didn't have bottles don't get to school.''

Money left over from the project will be devoted to a school library, uniforms and other necessities. Bangkok Hospital Phuket's csr policy is to help wherever needs are greatest.

phuketwan.com

840,000 baht !!.
how much to build that bridge ?
if the water is deep and you have to use plastic water bottles
then you go where the plastic takes you.
down river.
no ?
that does sound dangerous.