Baan Mitratorn and Princess Ubolrat School in Chaing Doa

Baan Mitratorn is a Catholic Aids/HIV orphanage in Chaing Doa, that takes in children with Aids/HIV or who have been affected by it. In the little I saw of the orphanage and from reading some of the stories about the kids, it seems that they are well taken care of and given every chance to succeed. They all receive anti-viral medication and is provided free of charge by the Thai government for all Thai citizens with Aids/HIV. When they are young the people running the orphanage only teach the children that they are sick, like how everyone gets sick, and that they need to try and keep their body healthy by taking the medication and taking precautions to keep themselves healthy. As they get older and can comprehend more, they are taught more about their illness until they can fully understand it and accept that it is a part of their life. They are also given an education at a nearby school called Princess Ubolrat School and treated like everyone else and are not discriminated against because of their illness. Some of the classes at the school are in place so that if they do not excel in studying and do not plan on going to a university they still have options. Some of those classes are crafts and agriculture as well as English, which can help with any job that has contact with tourists.



The school is a Catholic school so I expected much of it to be based on Western Education, but was pleasantly surprised with some of the ways it was run. For example the teaching of other subjects besides the traditional ones, like crafts and agriculture. They were teaching the students about life skills that they would need if they didn't go on to university. In the states many of the schools I have seen or talked to people about, do not always offer other options. I think this is partially because we put so much emphasis on standardized testing, that there is not enough room in the curriculum for practical skills. When talking to the English teacher I found out that while there is a standardized test here in Thailand that focuses on Math, Science, English, Thai, and Social, at the school they do not worry about the test results as much because they are working with students that are not as privileged as other children in Thailand. Also because it is a Catholic school they focus a lot on how to live their lives with moral and self sufficiency. When I get home I plan on talking to some friends who attend Catholic school in the states to see how it might compare to this Catholic school in Thailand. Like how they start their day with all of the students and reciting a Catholic prayer, the focus on morals and living your life by them, and the inclusiveness of everyone.


Another wonderful thing about this school is the inclusive feeling it gives. None of the children who have HIV/Aids or who are affected by it are discriminated against and the people from the hill tribes are welcomed and show their pride by wearing their traditional clothing every Friday. It will be interesting to see how other schools act toward their hill tribe population and how the hill tribe schooling differs from the city schooling. There is even a room at the school filled with clothing from the different hill tribes and artifacts from them as well as a few paragraphs about them.

Like many schools I have seen and heard about in the states money can be problem, especially since many of the students at the school are from the orphanage and do not have money for schooling. In the library most of the books there are donated from Bangkok and are school books. While they did not have a ton of books, the school still looked to be in pretty good shape, with white boards and computers, although the computers did not have Internet which is something I expected in the smaller towns. One thing the school did have though, was good teachers, at least the one that I was able to observe. He taught agriculture and while I can not speak Thai to be able to understand him, he seemed to be doing a good job. First off the students were outside and physically looking at and touching a tree and soil, what they were learning about. They were not inside learning about it from a book in a stuffy classroom. When looking at the students they seemed engaged, at least as much as can be expected when there are two white students present. This was one of the many times that I wished that I spoke Thai, I am interested in how he presented the topic and how he kept them captivated about what he was saying.

I'm excited to see how the other schools I see in Thailand compare to this one, especially the one in the Karen village. The Karen people are one of the hill tribes and one of our next locations, and I am interested to see how much it differs from the city and village schools.

Erawan Nation Park Area

When we were near Erawan National Park, staying with a lovely lady named Won Pen I was able to talk to her about her three grandchildren as well as observe them in their daily life. On the last morning I was there I got the chance to visit the nearby school that they went to.

Talking to Won Pen I learned that while they do own a T.V., the children are only allowed to watch it after all their homework and studying is completed and even then only for a short period of time. While there the only time I saw them not running around being active was when they were doing homework, eating, or sitting with us and drawing. On one of the days we went out to explore the village and they all came with us. They led us all around showing us the town. At one point we were at the edge of pond and their was a fisherman setting up his poles, they went right up to him, and while I don't speak Thai, it looked like he was telling them and teaching them how it all worked. They are still naturally inquisitive children, learning from all around them.

When talking to Won Pen I learned that both her and her husband, Mr. Hay, teach the children everything they know. This includes cooking, farming, and about Buddhism, as well as many more everyday skills. In my observations of my cousins and their children as well as my childhood in America, the parents do teach a good bit to the children, but not nearly as extensively. It is mostly only what the child wants to learn and not everything that their parents could teach them. For example I was never very interested in cooking as a child, and am only now learning how to cook now that I am living on my own at college. But observing the grandchildren, they were learning how and observing their grandparents cook most days. If I had been as inquisitive, or if my parents had pushed me to learn, then this year would have been filled with much less pasta. But that was part of the privileged lifestyle I grew up in and I am catching up with my learning now.
As well as teaching the children, another way Won Pen and Mr. Hay help the children, is by earning enough money for them to stay in school. Since many families do not make enough money, those children stop school early to work. Won Pen has hopes for all her grandchildren to finish secondary school and then complete high school.

Most of the days that we were there, the nearby school was gone on a field trip, luckily though they were in session on my last morning there and I was able to talk to an English teacher at the school. I learned that while Thailand was never ruled by a western empire, their education system is similar to western education, or at least in that area of Thailand. They study eight subjects: English, Culture, Math, Art, Computer, P.E., Thai, and Social Studies. But they only have six classes a day. Grades 1-3 primary stay in the same class room all day long and primary 4- 3 medium move from class to class. The school day is a little longer here than at the schools I attend in Washington State. Here they start and 9am and end at 4pm, while at home I went from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm for elementary. Sadly I did not have time to observe a class, but when walking around the school I noticed that all classrooms had white boards and most had nice desks and chairs that did no look too worn, some had wooden stools and desks that looked like they had seen better days but were still usable.

Even though I didn't get to observe a classroom here, it was still useful to see a school campus, talk to a teacher as well as a grandparent and observe some of the children in their everyday life.