Thai School Girls Are So Appealing!

Giving your donations for school lunches to the head master.

A big moment... there was even a film crew on hand!

No school lunch so it's plain rice today.

A great smile but he must be hungry.

Rice alone just isn't enough.

At least she's got a tiny scrap of meat.

And this one's just so appealing!


I recently told you that we’re running out of money to pay for the lunches at our local school and I asked you for your help.

You generously responded and we’ve just been round to hand over your donations to the headmaster. It was a great atmosphere and we even had a film crew in tow!

For the next few weeks the children will not go hungry but after that we will run out of money again. The little girls and boys in the picture are now therefore appealing to you to help once more so that they can have proper lunches.

[For our lunch project see www.adoptavillageschool.org .

Donations can be paid to my account with Pay Pal. (Open www.paypal.co.uk and credit Andrew Hicks in any currency , quoting my email, arhicks56@hotmail.com.)

Other than a small Pay Pal charge, there are no other expenses and every cent you give is used to buy nutritious food and fruit when we can afford it.]

Our visit was a little sad this time as the headmaster’s fund of lunch money ran out about two weeks ago and the children therefore only had what their families could afford to put in their lunch boxes. Many had only plain rice to eat while some had a scrap or two of omelette or fried meat.

Families here are very hard pressed and particularly so in the current harsh economic climate with jobs being cut back and prices soaring. The parents are often away from home earning minimal wages from which a small amount is sent back home every month for grandparents and children. An ageing grandmother often has the tough job of raising the kids on almost nothing and finding something to give them to take to school for lunchtime must be very difficult.

The generosity of the donors who have helped fill this gap has thus been a boon for the children. The headmaster told us that there has been a clear improvement in their energy levels in afternoon school and also in their general health since the lunch programme started. It’s very sad if it cannot now continue.

We are thus at risk that we may have to give it up altogether unless we can find more money.

At first we aimed to spend 900 baht a day for the 90 or so children but the school has been cutting this down to make the money last longer. I wish we could get back to 900 baht day as this also pays for a little fruit.

Thai children are fixated on crisps and snacks and though there are none for sale here they buy that awful iced coloured water for a baht a time. Eating fruit will establish a healthy habit and I do hope we can stretch to providing it again soon.

Even more I hope we do not have to stop providing lunches altogether.

Andrew Hicks January 2009.