By Cheri Stutzman Edited by Debbie Stutzman | Education Matters Coordinator
Baan Jaru: a slum in one of the poorest regions of Thailand. The streets, made up of dirty cement, wind past tin shacks, faded clothing hanging outside to dry, and stray dogs that bark at strangers walking past their doors.
Most residents are temp-workers, making a living off of whatever day jobs they can find. Alcoholism affects many of their lives.
Along these streets, Tomi lives with his mom and his grandmother in a shack similar to many of the other homes that line the streets. As a single parent, his mom is a day worker, finding work wherever and whenever she can. Income isn’t much and comes in irregularly but out of all the expenses, she desires most of all for her youngest son to go to school.
Tomi is a ten-year-old, who loves his class in Thai and playing soccer. He began school in first grade, behind many other children in the class because he didn’t have the opportunity to go to kindergarten and learn his alphabet.
Even though Tomi’s mom works hard to provide for her son, it is not enough. But, because of your contributions to Education Matters she now has the gas money needed for Tomi to get to school every morning. Tomi is able to get an education, one that gives him, with a little determination, the chance to become whatever he wants to be. It gives him the opportunity to dream about his future.
You are helping 40 children, much like Tomi, in Isaan, one of the very poorest provinces of Thailand, go to school. The Thai school has just started up again and we have opened another whole area in the same province for the new school year. Your contributions are also helping children in the slum areas of the city of Chiang Mai get the education that they need to break the cycle of poverty.
* Pseudonym
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser