Children on the Edge

Green fingered children learn to grow their own groceries in Thailand

05/09/2012

 
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In February of this year we set up a new kitchen garden at the Children’s Crisis Centre that we support in Thailand. The Centre helps children who have fled Burma and have lost or become separated from their parents. It provides food, shelter, education and trauma counseling for those who have been through traumatic experiences. It is vital in the protection of children who are otherwise extremely vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation and abuse.

The kitchen garden was set up to meet a number of needs and in the last few months it has really taken off. One of the primary needs is food. It costs £30,000 to ensure all the children receive adequate nutrition for the year and this is a way for the centre to start to provide for themselves in the long term. It cost just £3000 to set up and run the kitchen garden including the rent of the land, employment of a skilled gardner and the purchase of tools and seeds. The aim is that the produce from the garden will reduce the Centres’s food bill by 20% each year.

In addition to this, the garden project is a fantastic opportunity for the children who work in groups of five and use the experience to learn about responsibility, nutrition and basic agricultural skills. Each year both the staff and the children will be getting specialist agricultural training where they can learn about the land in their area and how to get the best out of it.

Yeye Win (the director of the Centre) described how the program has given many of the children a great creative outlet during this month's summer school break and thinks it will be really helpful for preparing them with skills for their future.

John Littleton, our Asia Regional Manager says “The children are very enthusiastic about the project and considering they have plowed and planted almost 3 acres of land in 3 weeks and helped dig a well, I’m pretty impressed!”

So far the children have planted eggplant, chillies, tomatoes and pumpkins, and they expect to get their first crop in 2-3 months time.

Feel free to find out more about our work in Thailand and consider donating to the project. 

 

Flood waters take their toll at Children's Crisis Centre

10/21/2011

 
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Yee Win’s day began like many others at the Children’s Crisis Centre in Mae Sod, Thailand. Rising at 6.30 in the morning, she wiped the sleep from her eyes and glanced out the small wooden window next to her bunk bed. “I couldn’t believe it” she said “Our garden was gone. There was only water. Everywhere I looked there was water.”

Over the past three months, Thailand has endured its heaviest rainfall in a century.  With 75% of the country facing unprecedented levels of flooding, the situation has reached crisis levels. The government reports that the floods have claimed 281 lives this year, many of the victims have been children. Rising waters have inundated homes, shops and schools, directly affecting over 19 million people and causing an estimated USD $5 billion worth of damage.

Children on the Edge’s partners with an organisation called Social Action for Women (SAW) who have have borne the brunt of floods here directly. Stores of dry food like rice and beans have been contaminated straining already tight budgets. Piles of books and stationary at the nearby SAW migrant school have been ruined as well.

With most of the major roadways under water, usual supply lines are cut causing the price of staples to rise dramatically in rural areas. Vulnerable groups, such as migrant children, are the first to feel the effects of the crisis. With limited resources available to them, they have little choice but to make do with what is available. 

With your help, Children on the Edge would like to assist those affected by flooding in Thailand. Supplies of food and clothing are in acute need. Furthermore, numerous schools and shelters for children have been seriously damaged. 

Please help us intervene in this crisis by making a donation today. Text HELP FLOOD to 70080 to give £3. This small amount can buy three textbooks, or replenish 3 days worth of food for a child at the crisis centre. Thank you.
 

No more kicking up the dust

09/12/2011

 
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As the sun starts setting in Thailand, children all over the country can be seen playing ‘Takraw’,  a popular game similar to volley ball where the players don’t touch the ball with their hands but with their head, feet or any other part of the body. The children love leaping high into the air to punt the ball back to their opponents. 

On a recent visit to our Children’s Crisis Centre on the Thai-burma border,  our Field Assistant Satawat Sriprakarn had the opportunity to see the children enjoy a few matches of Takraw in the evening. He said “I saw them playing on the cement field that we made for the Crisis Centre instead of playing in the dust and getting dirt on their clothes”. 

The cement court is one of the new facilities that have been built as part of our renovations to the Centre in the last 10 months. The renovations have focussed on improving sanitation for the 75 children in the centre including new flushable toilets and a bathing area. 

For these children keeping clean is vital, but we’re fairly convinced the new playground’s appeal lies in the extra bounce it gives to their ball games rather than the extra clean appearance it gives to their clothes! 

The Children’s Crisis Centre was set up to support refugee children fleeing the brutal regime in Burma. Many of these children arrive in Thailand having been separated from their parents. Without parental care and support they are vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation, many have suffered traumatic experiences and have little or no access to food and education. 

The Centre provides much needed shelter, food, education and trauma councelling for these children. Where possible we work to re-unite children with their parents. We are thrilled to be able to make these improvements to the Centre this year thanks to the generosity of our supporters. 

Please feel free to find out more about our Children’s Crisis Centre and consider supporting the project by making a donation.