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.
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.
Great story, thanks for posting this. Living here in Phuket you forget sometimes that life is tough for a lot of people in Thailand!
Posted by Lana on December 8, 2010 16:54