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Much of the population in the rural areas has been seriously affected by the AIDS epidemic in recent years, due to the practice of young women going to the cities and getting involved in prostitution, then returning to their village, marrying, and AIDS/HIV consequently infecting huge proportions of the whole village.

Oy and Anna playing with orphans born HIV positive.

Joanna has fun with HIV positive children from Care Corner orphanage.

Among other consequences, many children lose their parents to the epidemic, and end up in the care of their elderly grandparents. The children end up lacking a proper education, are often ostracized by society and without the basic essentials for a healthy upbringing - food, clothing and medical supplies.

Four of the children play happily with their new toys.

Simple kindness and attention go a long way with these kids.

We work with the various orphanages that take care of HIV/AIDS orphans, as well as assist families and children in need taking food and supplies to help them.

Sally listens as Jai explains how his parents died from AIDS.

Rose and Bengt delivering food to a needy family whose mother has AIDS.

We visit outlying provinces to donate new bicycles and toys to children who’ve lost both their parents to the HIV/AIDS virus.

Tommy and Rose about to unload truckload of new bicycles for AIDS orphans.

Kids pose with their new bicycles donated by CMS.

We also regularly deliver food, clothing and toys and helping with the needs of the children at several orphanages in the Chiang Mai area.

We are in touch with supermarkets, fruit and vegetable markets, as well as bakeries and factories, which donate food on a regular basis, which we then deliver to the orphanages.

Dennis and Sally preparing rice and curry for 400 children	Social Welfare School children enjoying a healthy meal
Lovely students from the local Social Welfare School	Dennis and Family Services staff take orphans on outing

Helping the Disadvantaged in Institutions

We have ongoing programs with several other institutions and centers in Chiang Mai and the surrounding provinces to help encourage and reach out to those interned in these institutions.

Some of the 160 boys in an orphanage, aged 5 - 15, who we help on a weekly basis.

Donation of clothing to an institution housing over 200 handicapped teen & adult residents.

These facilities presently include the Chiang Mai School for Mentally Challenged Children, and the Medically Handicapped Center in Chiang Rai.

Laura presenting the Chiang Mai Boy's home with donated T-shirts from a sponsor.	Happy boys at Chiang Mai Boy's home with their new T-shirts on!
After a program at an orphanage.	Lee making balloons for the children at the orphanage.
Sally, Ben & others donating new bicycles to Wat Don Chan Orphanage.	Orphans playing a water game during Thai New Year Festival. (Songkran)

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English language program offers opportunity

"We work in the famous Golden Triangle area of Thailand", shares Sally Golding, project manager of Chiang Mai Family Services. "A large percentage of the world drug supply comes from or through this area. It is essentially a farming area populated by families who can usually manage to grow enough to eat but who have very little else for the other necessities of life. Many of them are either forced or choose to engage in the drug or flesh trades."

The young women from the area are considered some of the most beautiful because of their fair skin, which is prized in Asian countries. Those who find themselves in the flesh trade return home when they are ill with HIV/AIDS. Some keep this a secret and then pass on the disease to their new partners. This in turn affects the children and youth of this area drastically.

Our English language program offers the opportunity for a way out of this cycle as it greatly enhances their occupational choices. With the help of a grant from FCF we have been hosting an ongoing series of 2-day camps at schools throughout the Golden Triangle, focusing on teaching English skills as well as drug prevention.

In most of these schools, 80% of the students are either orphans or have at least one parent in prison serving long sentences. Or if their parents are alive, they often work away from home leaving the children with older grandparents who struggle to meet their needs. So suffice to say, a lot of the students we teach are in a 'at risk' category and desperately need help and training to secure a better future.

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Raising the Education Standard

Believing that children are the hope of the future, and that learning the English language is a major asset in improving their lot in life, one of our main focuses is holding English Day Camps at a number of schools in Chiang Mai and the surrounding provinces. Each year we hold several Camps, attended by students and teachers alike. These camps provide students with the incentive to learn English to help with their careers, while at the same time showing that learning can be fun.

Anna teaching English, utilizing the approach of language-learning through song.

Maggie teaching English, utilizing the approach of language-learning through song.

By working together with many of these children's teachers and school directors, the exercise lends an opportunity to help these instructors likewise broaden their own horizons, liven up their deliveries, and experience new educational materials for schools and educators.

Additionally, we hold regular seminars to help train teachers in the government schools in early learning techniques and innovative teaching ideas. It's been our experience that a number of teachers in Thailand's government schools sometimes lack vision and modern approaches to teaching, so these seminars in themselves do directly help improve the quality of education.

Sally using word recognition game to teach vocabulary.	Class in session, utilizing an enjoyable board game.
Darika teaching young Thai students.	Donating computers to rural school.

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Sponsoring the Handicapped Special Olympics

For several years running, we've assisted in hosting the annual Special Olympics program, featuring a couple hundred handicapped children from the northern area. This includes finding sponsors for food and beverages for this three-day event, in addition to a full-time 2 - 3 week involvement by our team of staff and volunteers.

Sally serving food to the happy, well-fed participants at the Special Olympics.	Aurunee and Rose with young girls at the Special Olympics handicapped program.
Aurunee encouraging a young handicapped girl.	9-year-old Tong, who enjoyed the bowling competition
Sally receiving a trophy from Adjan Ampar, one of the main organizers of the Special Olympics.	Sally wai'ing, while receiving a certificate of commendation from the Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai.

We were contacted by the Northern Thailand Association for the Handicapped to help coordinate their Handicapped Day, in which a parade was part of the events. Each of the organizations did a short presentation. The meeting was held in the main public area in the center of Chiangmai and presided over by the Governor, and televised.

We also recently participated in an eleven-day training seminar and workshop for teaching children with learning disabilities. There were only 40 people invited to the workshop, the others being heads of departments at large universities or directors of schools for the handicapped, or other leading experts. The seminar focused on integrating children with learning disabilities into groups of normal children and techniques on teaching mathematics to children with learning disabilities.

Since the seminar, we have been receiving further training at the Northern Child Development Center on how to help hyperactive and autistic children. We continue to supply material for hospitals, orphanages and AIDS hospices. We now supply eight centers in the Chiangmai area.

We have a socialization program to prepare orphan children for adoption to foreign couples, readying the children for the big change in moving to the West and living in a different culture. We take them out on excursions to hotels, the airport, restaurants etc., and have learning activities with them at their center, in addition to teaching them English. Every month a few new children are adopted overseas, and this program has proven successful toward the children's adjustment to the move.

Laura taking the children at the orphanage out for a donated lunch at hotel.	Laura enjoys an activity with the children up for adoption to foreigners at Vieng Ping Orphanage in Chiang Mai.
Lee on a zoo outing for orphans from a boys' home.	Sally with 3 orphans now placed with families in France.

Here we are taking some orphans from Bahn Vieng Ping Orphanage to a zoo, accompanied by 7 students from local universities who volunteer their time. We topped off the zoo visit with lunch and ice cream.

Sally & Oi with 4 orphans. The little boy in Sally's arms is actually 8 years old, has a heart problem and rarely gets to go anywhere.

Nee, the adoption program overseer, and Sally introducing the orphan children to the volunteers who came along. (L to R) Oi, Boo, Nik& Chris.