Dear Chiangmai Mail,
Since reading about the school of life in Chiangmai
Mail last month (issue 27), I wanted to go there and check it out
myself. Last Saturday I finally made it.
Bad
luck that it was raining but the day was set and I wanted to have a better
impression, if the things written about it are true. I have to say, that I
did not regret one minute. The farm itself is built in an area of the royal
project which automatically seemed reliable to me.
After a ‘control security point’ it was about 2 –
3km until I reached the farm which was only 5 houses with an open kitchen
whereby one house is badly damaged by storm.
2 small houses for guests and volunteers, one for the
farmers, one for the boys and a smaller one for the girls which has an
integrated veranda used for school lectures.
All that is still not ready and I have to praise Jens
Kronberg, the coordinator of the school of life, for what he has achieved
during the last 3 months.
I
watched 2 boys ‘helping’ to paint the wall - every ‘Farang’ mother
would have had a stroke right there - and it was not clearly visible what or
who had most of the color - the boys or the wall... It was amusing to watch
and clearly stated that they were proud to be allowed to help because it was
done for them and they wanted to do their share.
The whole atmosphere there was pleasant and I am full of
admiration for the people creating this. I watched a teacher coming to the
‘school room’ and handing a mobile phone to a small girl who talked
non-stop on it. He later translated to me, that it was her grandma, asking
what she was doing and how she was feeling. He later told me the girl said:
“… I am very fine, I found many friends, I am not hungry, no, I am very
full, and right now I am in class…”
I
walked around the gardens, where every child can have his/her own little
space and I even shared some food with them, which was simple but very
tasty.
I have to state that your report regarding the school of
life was very correct and the help which is received is clearly ONLY for the
CHILDREN. The most important thing there is now to strengthen the whole
project before thinking about taking on more kids. Here are people helping
who don’t work regarding a ‘short time’ project but thinking of the
future, who do not only talk but have hands on attitude. I was very happy to
see by myself that I can advise people to help without feeling funny about
it and I personally will do my best as well to be a part of making this
project a success.
If anybody wants to learn more regarding the school of
life, they can email the coordinator Mr. Kronberg (J.Kronberg@School-for-Life.de)
and I am sure, he will give them the same attendance and help which I
received. I don’t want to discriminate any other project but this one I
saw and visited myself, that’s why I thought I have to write it down.
As a conclusion: always look behind the scenes, you can
only stand behind a project if you’ve touched it, so it could touch you!
It would be so nice to see some collecting boxes in some
of the bars or restaurants in Chiang Mai, so people can give some
‘direct’ help. The amount of a bottle of beer is not much for a single
person but added up; it is a lot for the children of the school of life.
I am including some pictures of ‘my day’ at the
School for Life which do not need further explanation.
Raimund Haerthe
Chiang Mai
Educated
at Newcastle High School Stoke on Trent, Bill spent his working life in the
pottery industry as a ceramist and worked all over the world: USA,
Venezuela, lived and worked in Africa for some years, Iran, Singapore,
Thailand, Europe. He leaves two children, son Mark and daughter Jane, as
well as one granddaughter. Bill was very well respected in the ceramic
industry - you could not visit anywhere connected with pottery without them
all knowing of Bill and his knowledge. He was the first person to develop
casting press dies in resin - now used world-wide.