features
ABOT KAMAY
Building
a Future
Susan Kieliszewski of the Prem
Center’s visiting schools program
and senior Anna Lorentz report on
how the Abot Kamay group has
changed lives in northern Thailand.
I
n the quiet village of Kew Sua the locals live a simple life as
one of Thailand’s many Karen hill tribes. Young couples farm
rice, produce, and cattle along the surrounding hillsides. Elderly
mothers remain at home weaving and tending the livestock
beneath their houses, which are raised on stilts to improve air
circulation. In July 2007, students from this sleepy village school sat
in the sweltering heat and met their new English language teacher,
Miss Stacia Lee Davis, sent to them by FERC which is a Chiang
Mai based nonprofit. Experienced in elementary education, Stacia
had come to document her work with the children and complete
a personal photography project featuring Thai people and culture.
Her assignment within the village was for 14 months, but Stacia
had no idea when she boarded the plane from Washington that
her life was taking a sharp turn in the right direction.
Forty miles south of Kew Sua, or seven mountain tops away
in a valley along the Ping River, lies the jewel of Thailand’s north,
Chiang Mai. This bustling modern city is home to shopping centers,
clubs, and international cuisine making it sometimes seem worlds
away from the calm hillsides around it. It was here that Michael
Cumes and Alex Brodard were coordinating community service
opportunities for international schools. Michael, the head of the
Visiting Schools Program at The Prem Tinsulanonda Center for
International Education, hosts school groups looking for adventure,
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ABOT KAMAY
culture, and teambuilding-based trips abroad. Alex Brodard,
owner of Contact Travel, had worked with the Visiting Schools
Program regularly to connect with remote communities in need
of service. Schools often come to Michael seeking community
service opportunities for their class trips or clubs. Alex had come
across Stacia’s blog and approached her about bringing students to
provide service to the remote and under-funded school.
Thousands of miles away, in Tokyo, over 80 students at The
American School in Japan were in an Abot Kamay meeting
planning a haunted house for their Halloween celebration. Abot
Kamay is a student group that annually fundraises money for
community service abroad. They gather donations through school
projects such as haunted houses, and selling gifts on Valentine’s
Day, Spirit Day and Winterfest. Approximately 20 students from
the group travel across borders each year for one week in February.
High school counselor and club sponsor, Warren Lavender, knew
that the group had the ability to make a difference in someone’s life
but was wary of giving donations to an organization that wouldn’t
get it to the people in need. They all wanted to see the fruits of
their efforts flourish. At the time, none of these people knew how
perfectly their pieces of the puzzle would fit together.
In Febraury 2008, the first Abot Kamay group visited Kew
Sua to lay the foundation for a new kitchen. As the first group
of volunteers they were welcomed by smiling eyes, both from
the children and from Stacia. In the short time that Stacia had
been working, her heart had begun to grow and she dreamt of
giving the students a higher standard of education, higher than
the government’s funding could provide. Abot Kamay donated
roughly $3,000 USD towards a sanitary kitchen to prepare food
and school supplies. All building supplies were purchased and
transported to the village by Alex Brodard’s team at Contact
Travel. For the ASIJ students it was a learning experience without
walls; for the Kew Sua children it was a clean place to prepare
meals; for Stacia it was the beginning of much more.
By the end of Stacia’s assignment student groups from The Prem
Center’s Visiting Schools Program had completed a full eating area
and new kitchen. With funds from volunteers, a new dormitory
was built and a refrigerator was purchased for the Kew Sua
School. The dormitory, which houses 20-30 students, enabled
the school to reach students from six surrounding villages rather
than the four. The ability to house students brought a significant
increase in attendance from students usually kept at home to help
in the fields. Stacia saw the overwhelming support for improving
education and founded All God’s Beautiful Children (AGBC),
which received nonprofit status from the state of Washington
in June 2008. In August 2008, she returned to America to raise
funds for an English learning center.
Stacia wanted to improve the education of children in rural areas
all over northern Thailand. Many of these children come from hill
tribes, and some struggle with Thai as their second language. Most
schools in rural areas are not provided with appropriate funds for
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health services and are unable to offer sanitary conditions even in the
classroom, let alone the kitchen. In the poorest regions of Thailand,
the money just isn’t there. Farming in large plots in the countryside
is this village’s main income. Often children are expected to work in
the fields alongside their parents to provide for the family. On any
given day the school in Kew Sua will see 60-70 students out of its
86 registered pupils. Education is not always seen as a main priority;
putting food on the table always comes first. In this sense, parents
sometime believe that more can be learned in the home than in the
classroom, underestimating the value of the child’s education.
In February 2009, Abot Kamay returned to Kew Sua for a
second year of community service. Prior to their visit the group had
raised over $6,500 through various activities at school events. The
group of 20 visiting students brought tables, food, cooking supplies,
mosquito nets, books, stationary supplies, and also over 200 pairs
of shoes for children who often arrive at school barefoot.
Working with AGBC, the Abot Kamay group hopes to sponsor
students to continue their education past grade six. Annually, it costs
approximately $250 USD to send one student to secondary school
in Mae Wae. Abot Kamay will continue fundraising throughout the
year to provide as many scholarships as possible for the children of
Kew Sua and the surrounding villages.
More information on the Prem Center can be found on the web
at <www.premcenter.org>.
Out of Class
Abot Kamay is just one of 106 co-curricular activities for
students from kindergarten to grade 12. Other service clubs in
high school, include Habitat for Humanity, the Philippine Relief
Organization, Sok Sabay, Amnesty International, UNICEF and
the Global Issues Network (see page 13). From taiko and ballet
in elementary, to the middle school play, kyogen (see page
16) and the spring musical, there are plenty of opportunities
for budding performers to take center stage throughout the
year. Musicians also get to shine and show off their talents in
our handbell, strings, choir, vocal jazz and band concerts. On
the field, in the gym or in the pool, athletes of all ages can
compete in more than 40 sporting activities that range from
Tae Kwon Do and tennis to wrestling and volleyball. Student
leadership is encouraged in all the co-curriculars, but is the
focus of each division’s student leadership group, while other
clubs such as Model United Nations and Peer Counselors
provide further opportunities. With so many choices, deciding
what to do can be a tough decision for our students!
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A
bot Kamay was initially devoted to raising funds to provide
improved facilities for AIDS orphanages in hopes
that a cleaner, enhanced lifestyle would brighten,
or possibly even extend, the lives of afflicted children. Two
years ago, however, it became clear that although we had
not “cured” these children, we had done all that we could to
improve the facilities of the orphanages. They had received
generous donations from large organizations and it seemed
that our work there was done.
We expanded the club to support poverty-stricken
children and now we visit a hill tribe village every year for
several days, sleep in tents and help families by improving
the facilities of the villages. The first year, we built a new,
more sanitary kitchen, and this year our main project was
a new English classroom in the village’s school. We decided
that in addition to paying for new facilities in the village, we
should use some of the money we raise to give scholarships
to the village children who cannot afford schooling as we
believe that “education can end poverty.”
Although we only stayed at the Kew Sua Village for four days this
year, the difference in the amount of work we got done was really
visible. We almost finished building an entire classroom, painted the
kitchen that we worked on the previous year, and still had time to
play with the kids. This was my second time at the village and a lot
of them remembered all of us and asked why some people from last
year (who had graduated) didn’t come back. It had been a whole
year, so it was clear that we had left a huge impression on them and
were an important part of their lives.
We saw kids playing soccer barefoot the previous year, so we
made a point to come back and make sure everyone had a nice,
sturdy pair of shoes to run around in this year. After we passed
out the shoes from the shoe drive, the children were so content
with what they had already but you could tell that they were
very excited to receive the shoes. One of the boys who got the
light-up Batman shoes was dancing around at night and was
saying things like “No way, this can’t be happening! Red lights!”
in Thai. I learned that we are so lucky to have what we have
and to be able to live such a privileged lifestyle. I also learned
that teamwork can really accomplish anything. With a team
of 30 students all working hard mixing cement and putting
posts in the ground, we managed to build a kitchen in four
days, which will come to great use to the villagers.
A group like Abot Kamay is important to ASIJ because
it makes the entire student body and community realize
that there are so many people out there living under the
poverty line and who need our help. The club provides a
means of connecting us students to these needy people.
By helping out with Abot Kamay, you know that you are
making a difference in the lives of others.
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