education for life

For scholarships next year

2011-11-23T14:38:00.004+07:00

Name Angkanan janpong Age 12 she live with her grandparents.

elf club baan ka

2011-09-06T08:32:00.003+07:00

after a break elf club for 3 weeks .on this week we play game , talking about education and careers counseling.

elf club Baan Ka School

2011-08-09T09:33:00.000+07:00

on elf club this week. we play games find words. talking about education and Mother's Day

elf club Baan Ka School

2011-08-02T09:41:00.002+07:00

on elf club this week.We reveal how to trick people into human trafficking. Through video, mtv exit.

elf club Baan Ka School

2011-07-29T11:43:00.005+07:00

Scholarship Ceremony 2011

2011-07-28T15:45:00.006+07:00

Know Yourself!

2011-03-02T16:44:00.003+07:00

This week on ELF Club, we spend our time in computer's lab (again) and done the test about ourselves.

Or you can go to >> http://sixfac.eduzones.com/test4/
...to see what you can be!

Graduation Party 2011 !!

2011-03-02T16:22:00.005+07:00

Happy Graduation!

On Saturday 27 Feb, we have a party for our scholarship-students, this year we have 75 kids come over! Half time in the morning is about education such as where you want to go or what you want to be after you finished your school program. And half time in afternoon we've played games and get a workshop from 4 bases (Nurse, Hairdresser, Air Hostess and Computer).

Thank you for all students and staffs. :)

The Born and Unborn

2011-03-02T16:03:00.003+07:00

The girls has requested for the video about the birth-operation and aborticide. So we watched the video about a guy who has dumped his girlfriend for 5 times and made an aborticide for 8 times already! After we finish the video, we have talked about how they feel with that.

Puppy Love on Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-16T10:16:00.010+07:00

This week on ELF Club, we watched the short film called "Puppy Love".

Which talking about the young love isn't long and last forever liked they were think.Nothing better than the love of your family. And we tell the kids, what is Valentine's Day. So now they've knew about St.Valentinus and his death that become the day of love on every February 14th.

Child Play, Children’s Day!!

2011-01-12T10:16:00.006+07:00

Every 2^nd Saturday of January the Thai people celebrate Children's Day by taking their children out to have fun. Many local authorities organize special events and other places of interests usually let children in for half price or even for free on this day.

"Children are the future of the nation, if the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous."

Used Bike Project Donation @ Community hall, Provincial hall, Prayao

2011-01-12T10:08:00.005+07:00

Goodbye

2010-11-30T13:49:00.007+07:00

This is my last post for the ELF Blog! I am moving home to America. I want to say thank you to Nong, Tung, Michael, Kai and Ton and especially to all our students for making my time so much fun. I will miss all of you. Here are photos from my last outing with our Baan Padaeng students. Special thanks to Paul Mitchell for supporting my time here. Chokdee ka!

Saying Goodbye to ELF Club

2010-11-23T10:53:00.006+07:00

I am moving back to America next week so this was my last ELF Club. It was sad to say goodbye to the girls, but I am so excited for their futures and their potential. Appropriately, we talked about what we are thankful for since this week is American Thanksgiving. The girls were thankful for their teachers, their parents and ELF Club. Thank you so much Baan Ka students and teachers for being so welcoming to me and for facilitating ELF Club. I will miss all of you so much!

Show at Baan Ka

2010-11-22T16:38:00.003+07:00

Japanese Rotary Visit

2010-11-20T10:50:00.028+07:00

This week 6 members of the Rotary in Japan and 3 Rotarians from Bangkok came to visit the water project two years after it was funded and implemented. They got to enjoy seeing Phayao, meeting some students, tasting water fresh from the filters and they got to see perfermances by some very talented students. Thanks so much for your support and for your visit, Rotarians. Domo Arigato!

Water from the filter. So clear!

Water before and after the water filters were installed.

MTV Exit : Intersection!

2010-11-16T16:01:00.004+07:00

This week for Elf Club, we watched the animation about the trafficking problem. And talking about how to protect themself and taking care of others.

Scholarship Ceremony 2010 (Part.2)

2010-11-16T15:12:00.006+07:00

ELF Photo Booth

2010-11-16T15:05:00.008+07:00

Scholarship Ceremony 2010

2010-11-12T17:32:00.013+07:00

We can do it!

2010-11-11T11:14:00.003+07:00

This week at ELF Club we talked about what being a girl means. We had a serious discussion about working hard, studying hard and then had fun making jewelry!

Introducing.... Tung!

2010-11-02T15:08:00.004+07:00

Hi. I'm Tung.

Happy Halloween from Elf Club.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T10:04:00.002+07:00

Our students and even some new ones came over for a Halloween party complete with trick-or-treating and bobbing for apples. It was one last party before school starts today. Back to school!

Chiang Mai Walking Street

2010-10-20T10:22:00.004+07:00

Last weekend the ELF staff went to the Sunday market in Chiang Mai to sell tshirts and get donations. Nong's family came with us and his boys helped us raise money with their cuteness!

Tonnam and Tonmai

Tung and Nong

School's out!

2010-10-05T22:41:00.002+07:00

School is out for our students for the month of October. See you in November!

Soccer Game

2010-09-28T13:08:00.001+07:00

Jewelry making

2010-09-21T12:40:00.007+07:00

This week in ELF Club the girls made pins and hair accessories. It was such a big deal you wouldn't believe it. They spent the whole hour placing rhinestones just so. I think they definitely preferred this class instead of learning English!

Hi from Phayao

2010-09-14T14:59:00.002+07:00

Bowling Fundraiser

2010-09-07T10:39:00.000+07:00

We had a great fundraising event in Bangkok this weekend! The Paul Mitchell-sponsored event was held at a bowling alley and all the teams made a donation. We're in our last fundraising drive before the scholarships are given out in November. Thanks to everyone who helped with the event or made a donation. If you'd like to buy a new ELF tshirt, please leave a comment below.

Crafting

2010-09-06T14:04:00.000+07:00

Here we are at ELF Club making people out of pom poms and pipe cleaners!

Where in the world?

2010-09-03T12:42:00.005+07:00

This week in ELF Club we're studying geography. Before, the students couldn't find Thailand on a map and now they can!

Art club

2010-08-17T12:43:00.007+07:00

This week at ELF we learned about great art throughout history. The girls then painted or drew works inspired by the likes of Picasso and Van Gogh and the King of Thailand.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-08-15T19:40:00.003+07:00

Last week in ELF we had the boys make bags for their moms for mother's day, which in Thailand is on the queen's birthday on August 12.

SIdewalk chalk

2010-08-06T09:41:00.006+07:00

Christi brought lots of fun toys for our after-school ELF Club too! This week we've played with parachute soldiers, sidewalk chalk and temporary tattoos! As you can see, the boys loved it.

Girls rule

2010-08-03T13:18:00.005+07:00

This week in ELF Club we had a visitor all the way from America come and teach us about reproductive health! My friend Christi, a nurse in Seattle, explained reproductive health to the girls and got to learn about staying healthy. Thanks, Christi!

After school

2010-07-29T18:39:00.003+07:00

ELF Club II

2010-07-11T15:29:00.001+07:00

We have started another ELF Club at our house for students from Baan Padaeng that live in our neighborhood. The kids enjoy movies, games, art and basketball! It's fun to have them show up after school ready to play.

Outtakes

2010-06-29T12:52:00.005+07:00

Where do you want to go?

2010-06-29T12:46:00.003+07:00

This week in ELF Club we reviewed the girls' life maps and then asked the question, where do you want to go? Some girls wrote a short paragraph, others did collages from magazines and some drew pictures. I forgot to take pictures because the day was so hectic and chaotic! Now that we have twice as many girls it seems we have half the time. But you'll have to take my word that it was lots of fun and the collages looked great.

announcing....

2010-06-25T17:31:00.002+07:00

a new logo!

Life Map

2010-06-22T14:10:00.005+07:00

This week in ELF Club the girls made life maps or timelines to chronicle the important events in heir lives. Many of the girls were surprised by how much has happened to them at such young ages, and, as always, the girls love every opportunity to be creative and draw.

ELF Club is BACK!

2010-06-08T13:31:00.007+07:00

ELF Club started again this week at Baan Ka. For the club this year we added 10 new girls (little sisters) that are going to be mentored by our girls from last year (big sisters). Below are the pairs of the bigs and littles. We're excited for another great year!

Teacher meeting

2010-06-07T09:18:00.004+07:00

Last Friday we held a teachers' meeting for the educators in the schools we work with in Phayao. 44 teachers came to learn about our scholarship process and upcoming projects as well as give feedback. Oh, and that's our new staff member, Tung on the far left. She moved to Phayao from Chiang Mai to help us with our projects.

Scholarships are here!

2010-05-31T12:51:00.006+07:00

Since school started here in Phayao, we here at ELF have started our scholarship application process.

1) Visit all of the 63 schools that we partner with.2) Get applications from teachers.

3) Interview every applicant.

4) Visit each applicant's house and talk with their parents.

5) Photograph every family at their house.

6) Compile all the interviews and review which will get scholarships this year!

happiness is...

2010-04-28T10:33:00.001+07:00

hitting/dancing the showers from constance dykhuizen on Vimeo.

ELF Camp Day 4

2010-04-21T17:05:00.002+07:00

Today we took students from Baan Huay Bong and Baan Jampawai to the Champatong waterfall. The park ranger came to talk to us about the ecology of the area, the wildlife and the trees. He said some of the trees are over 100 years old! Like yesterday, we also played games and had a picnic. Today concluded our ELF Camp for the summer. We look forward to more ELF Camp during the next school break!

ELF Camp Day 3

2010-04-20T13:28:00.008+07:00

Today at ELF Camp the kids from Baan Tom got to go explore the Champatong Waterfall. We played games, had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the cooling trees and water. It's HOT season here in Thailand so we're trying to keep ELF Camp as cool as possible.

playing games

the losing team had to pretend to be in love with trees as punishment

ELF Camp Day 2

2010-04-19T15:46:00.006+07:00

Day 2 of ELF Camp we took the students from Baan Padaeng to the swimming pool! There were many swimming lessons and kick boards and, as always, a craft.

2010-04-08T13:14:00.000+07:00

ELF Camp Day 1

2010-04-01T13:29:00.008+07:00

It's time for ELF Camp! This year we have our first summer program for students. We are having 1 day for each of 5 schools of activities, a tiny bit of education (it's summer after all) and a lot of fun! Today was our first day of camp with our ELF Club girls from Baan Ka.

We began with a lesson about accepting others and their differences complete with some role playing from the girls.

Then lots of team-building games provided by Neung (great job, Neung!).

We also did an Easter craft and I taught the girls a little about the Christian holiday of Easter (which is this Sunday). These girls love their glitter.

Our new Phayao Manager

2010-03-30T13:25:00.000+07:00

Meet our new Phayao manager, Neung! Neung has a lot of experience with nonprofits and government aid work so we are thrilled to have him and his ideas on our team.

School's OUT!

2010-03-18T13:39:00.003+07:00

The school year ends tomorrow for most of Phayao, meaning that students are now getting ready to move up a grade. At ELF we're making changes, too! Both Kim and Tern have left our team (sad face), but we have a new employee, Neung, already at work in Phayao. Neung has a lot of nonprofit experience and tons of ideas that will help improve our programs. The next month there won't be much blogging cause it's Thai holidays, but rest assured we are at working planning for the next year! The one thing we do have over the break is our first ever ELF CAMP! Stay tuned for pictures and information.

See you soon!

ELF logo contest

2010-02-24T13:09:00.005+07:00

For ELF Club this week, we challenged the girls to help us design a new ELF logo and paint it on a tshirt. This was our last week of ELF Club for the school year; we begin again next semester in June!

Here's the winning design:

2010-02-22T13:13:00.000+07:00

GRADUATION PARTY

2010-02-22T10:43:00.010+07:00

On Saturday we hosted our Second Annual Graduation Party; this year it doubled in size and we had 48 students (3 boys even!). Here's what we did:

We had a representative from Phayao Skill Center come and talk about the job training programs they have there.

A guidance counselor came to talk about attending university.

A nurse came to talk about growing up, safe sex and all that fun stuff.

We played a game to help the students from 29 different schools get to know each other better, and we watched an MTV animated movie to educate the girls about the dangers of trafficking and the sex trade.
In the afternoon, we held career workshops in which the students got hands-on experience with different jobs. We had nurses from th local nursing school, a masseuse, a yoga teacher and the lovely Joy from Paul Mitchell came to talk about hairdressing. The girls loved getting to try all the different careers.
Thanks so much to all our wonderful speakers, guest career experts and volunteers. It was a great day for our students graduating on to high school.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T01:00:00.000+07:00

At ELF Club we have been talking about LOVE. Who do you love? How do you show them you love them? Most girls concluded that they love their mothers and fathers and only sometimes love their brothers and sisters. We made collages about love and what love looks like. On this Valentine's day, here are some pictures of what love looks like to some of our students.

Ceremony at Baan Jum Pa Wai school

2010-02-02T09:44:00.009+07:00

After visited Baan Huy Bong school, we went to Baan Jum Pa Wai school. When we got there the headmaster and all of the students greeted us with a musical instruments band. Everyone looks happy that we came to visited. Here's photos from Baan Jum Pa Wai school.

Title..

Ceremony at Baan Jum Pa Wai school

2010-02-02T09:29:00.003+07:00

After visited Baan Huy Bong school.We went to Baan Jum Pa Wai school. When we got there the headmaster and every students greeted us with musical instruments band. Everyone also looks happy that we came to visited. Here's photos from Baan Jum Pa Wai school.

Title.

Rehearsal

2010-02-01T13:55:00.003+07:00

Here's a video of the girls rehearsing their dance before the Rotarians arrived. So cute!

Ceremony at Baan Huy Bong

2010-01-29T11:47:00.008+07:00

In addition to the afternoon ceremony, the Rotarians visited two Phayao schools in the morning to see the new nursing rooms in person. The students greeted them enthusiastically with song and dance (literally). These photos are from Baan Huy Bong.

Thank you rotarians!

2010-01-28T16:49:00.011+07:00

Today we hosted Rotarians from Bangkok and Japan to commemorate the medical project in which the Rotary donated medical supplies to 31 Phayao schools. ELF gave the Rotary gifts to remember their trip. In addition to the tri-lingual ceremony (Japanese, Thai and English), the Rotary gave the students and teachers lots of school supplies and the children gave the Rotarians locally made crafts and gifts. Gifts for everyone! Here are some pictures from the ceremony.

from school

2010-01-12T10:51:00.005+07:00

I teach English in three schools near our ELF offices. Here are some pictures from school.

Baan Mae School

2009-12-21T11:23:00.007+07:00

We're continuing to deliver medical supplies to schools' nursing rooms for the next month. The kit includes the following:

Mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, bed frame, height chart, scale, medicine like antiseptics and Tylenol, thermometer and pretty much whatever you would need when you're sick!

Medical Project

2009-12-17T11:29:00.004+07:00

Today, we started delivering medicine and supplies to 31 schools. Everybody looks so happy when they got new medicine from us. Thanks Rotary Japan for everything and for your support this project!

-Title

ELF Club Elves

2009-12-15T10:05:00.005+07:00

This week at ELF Club, our elves were hard at work decorating gingerbread men (and women) and learning Christmas carols. Merry Christmas!

We'll miss you Linda!

2009-12-02T13:21:00.003+07:00

A big thank you from all ELF staff and students to Linda for her hard work, organization and fun she brought to our work. She will be greatly missed!

Introducing.... Tle!

2009-12-01T10:48:00.005+07:00

Tle (pronounced Tern) joined the ELF Team as manager, taking over Linda's Bangkok responsibilities. Tle visited us last week in Phayao and already proved to be a huge asset by helping with ELF Club and the Sight for Students Project. Fluent in Japanese, Thai and English, Tle is not only smart but excited and full of ideas for ELF. Best of all, he's great with the students and already has fans at the schools. You can look forward to photos and a blog from him soon.

i can see!

2009-11-29T10:59:00.005+07:00

Sight for Students

2009-11-28T17:13:00.007+07:00

Many thanks to Sai Jai Thai, Rotary Japan, EGAT and especially Wankaew for all their help in bringing eye tests and glasses to our students and teachers in Phayao. We had around 600 students and teachers show up and be tested; many students walked away with brand new glasses! Here's how the process worked:

1. Registration2. Look really close at the eye

3. Eye chart4. Computer diagnosis

5. Try on a pair of glasses!

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2009-11-23T19:45:00.007+07:00

In America, children often go on "scavenger hunts" to compete to be the first to find a list of things and win a prize. A photo scavenger hunt is when you have to take a picture of those things to be the winner. Today in ELF Club we had a list of items in English that teams of girls had to find and photograph. Here is some of what they had to find and photograph:

A ball

A smile

A flag

A map

The letter "T"

A teacher

The team that won!

A trip to Bangkok

2009-11-09T11:59:00.010+07:00

The best part of last week's events was that three of our students came from Phayao to Bangkok for the first time ever! They were thrilled with CentralWorld's many stores and sights, but were mainly excited to ride escalators up and down and up and down.We got to show them their first McDonald's, took them on their first BTS ride and took them to an amusement park. It was a really great adventure and we're grateful to them for helping us out at the Cut-a-thon!

they loved the escalators the best

performing traditional Thai dance

they met a Thai celebrity!

presenting ELF founder with a thank you gift

sawatdee Ronald!

arriving at Siam Park

the water park was a huge hit!

CentralWorld Cut-a-thon

2009-11-05T19:21:00.010+07:00

ribbon-cutting to open the event!

ELF staff

stylists making donations

fortune-telling

thanks to the students who came from phayao to perform at the show

some of the great Paul Mitchell and Pivot Point staff

this guy got 12 inches cut off his hair!

Thanks to not only our stylists and volunteers but also to our sponsors Paul Mitchell, Pivot Point, CentralWorld, Hair Magazine, Yu sports drink, and Dairy Home yogurt

2009-11-02T22:18:00.002+07:00

CUT-A-THON!!!
Wednesday, November 4 from 11 am to 8 pm
CentralWorld Bangkok, First Floor "Dazzle" Area
Come get your hair cut by talented Paul Mitchell stylists for a cause (ours!).

See you there!

Cut-A-Thon Fall 2009

2009-10-17T11:10:00.005+07:00

ELF excitedly announces its second Cut-a-thon fundraiser for the year! This event will take place on Wednesday, November 4th from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm on the first floor of the CentralWorld Plaza shopping mall in Bangkok. Come by to get your hair cut and styled, to listen to great music and earn prizes all in support of our cause. Please email elfthai@gmail.com for more information!

ELF Club Dancers

2009-09-14T21:28:00.001+07:00

ELF Scholarship Ceremony 2009

2009-08-26T14:27:00.009+07:00

Today was the best day of ELF's year! We gave scholarships to a brand new group of 130 seventh grade students. Combined with the continuing students from years past, we gave out a record 357 scholarships. Thanks to our staff and donors for making this day possible. Many of our high school girls helped with the event and our ELF CLUB group from Baan Ka put on a traditional Thai dance. It was a great day to connect with students, teachers and the community.

Kim and a high school scholarhip recipient and volunteer

Our distinguished speakers including founders Michael and Panit and Phayao's Vice Governor

ELF Club girls!

Constance excited about scholarships

Michael really wanted to take care of this little girl

excited about scholarships!

Hiding from the camera

These students are an exception to our age requirement; they are all HIV+

ELF Staff

Empowering Women and Girls

2009-08-20T13:07:00.003+07:00

New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof wrote a book about how the empowerment of women is not only beneficial for women but is also vital to the world's security and economy. Here at ELF our programs are designed to do exactly that; to empower Thai girls through funding and education to make sure that they can live safe, productive lives. Here is a quote from the book:

"IN THE 19TH CENTURY, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape.

Yet if the injustices that women in poor countries suffer are of paramount importance, in an economic and geopolitical sense the opportunity they represent is even greater. “Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos. There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution."

You can read an excerpt from the book here.

Scholarships

2009-08-19T11:58:00.002+07:00

We are getting ready for our annual scholarship ceremony a week from today on August 26. This year we will be giving out our highest number ever- 357! People often want to know how our scholarships are spent. Here are a few examples of how students from Baan Rong Yang and Baan Pra Nangdin spent their scholarships:

Student 1

School Bag (X2)
Contributed to Class Party
Field Trip Fee
Notebook
Pair of Shoes

Student 2

School Bag (x2)
Shoes (X2)
Field Trip Fee

Student 3

Athletic Shoes
School Bag
Sports equipment
Uniform

ELF Club- Baan Ka

2009-08-18T10:16:00.000+07:00

We're still in our series on careers in ELF club. Here are a few scenes from this week:

Baan Ka School

Kim and Linda

Nook didn't want to smile

Reviewing Career Options

MTV Exit Short Film

2009-08-17T12:35:00.000+07:00

We partnered with MTV Exit a few months ago for an event. They have recently produced an anime-style short film that we will be using to show students the dangers of trafficking but in a relevant, engaging format. I encourage you to watch it here. There are both English and Thai versions.

Cut-a-thon: the talent

2009-08-03T12:47:00.001+07:00

Thanks to all the stylists and entertainers for keeping people coming to check us out!

2009-07-27T18:35:00.000+07:00

SUCCESS!

2009-07-27T11:08:00.000+07:00

Thanks to Central Pattana for the space!

Thanks to Paul Mitchell, iHealti, Guy Laroche, Pivot Point, Central Pattana, all our celebrity guests and volunteers, the ELF Cut-a-thon was a huge success! We had such a great turnout there was a long line. Our stylists worked so hard and worked without breaks! We did an interview with Thai ASTV, made lots of new friends and everyone looked great with their new cuts. Thanks everyone!

the Paul Mitchell team

Constance and Lek

Tommy doing a cut demonstration

Phillip and Nong working hard

Stylists
The stylists worked so hard!

THANK YOU Paul Mitchell!

Interview about ELF

Donations matter

ELF team

Thanks iHealti

Thai TV actor getting his hair cut by Pivot Point stylist, Tommy

This Saturday!!!

2009-07-21T00:46:00.000+07:00

The ELF Cut-A-Thon is THIS Saturday, July 25 at Central Bangna in Bangkok. Please come see us on the sixth floor for games, prizes, music and, of course, great haircuts for a donation of only 100 baht. A special thank you to the Paul Mitchell team for sponsoring this event.

To purchase tickets (even if you can't make it and would like to donate) please email elfthai @ gmail. com.

Thanks and see you there!

I want to be ______________

2009-07-14T11:23:00.000+07:00

This week in ELF Club we encourged the girls to think about their futures and what it would take to get there. We had them draw a picture in response to "I want to be_____." It's exciting to think about what these girls can become and how much potential they have. The most popular answer was scientist, which was kind of surprising. There were also creative jobs like chef and photographer. Here are some of the drawings from the girls:

chef.

scientist

teacher

baker

High School Interviews

2009-07-11T10:52:00.000+07:00

Today we had over 30 high schoolers come to our offices to fill out applications and interview for scholarships. We're getting excited about making our selection and having our scholarship ceremony in August. Here are some pictures of the day:

Past Cut-A-Thon Event

2009-07-02T13:06:00.001+07:00

Here are some pictures of past ELF Cut-A-Thons. See how much fun they are? Come see us at the next one in Bangkok on July 25 at Central Bangna 6th floor.

Cut-A-Thon

2009-06-29T09:28:00.000+07:00

ELF will hold a Cut-A-Thon charity event to support our programs on Saturday, July 25 on the 6th floor of Central Bangna Plaza in Bangkok from 12:00-20:00. There will be music, prizes, celebrities and professional Paul Mitchell stylists available to cut your hair in exchange for a donation. Come by and get your hair cut (or your kid's hair cut or your husband's hair cut) for a great cause. Hope to see you there!

Click below for a more detailed map and directions.
Please email elfthai@gmail. com for more information or with questions.

View Larger Map

Eyeglasses Ceremony

2009-06-23T14:00:00.000+07:00

ELF and the Thai Rotarians with Air Vice Marshal Kamthon Sindhvananda -- Privy Councillor to the King

ELF is pleased to announce a new project - Eyeglasses for Phayao. The Thai Rotary presented the donated eyeglasses on behalf of the Japanese Rotary Club to our organization in a ceremony last week.

The ceremony took place on June 16 at the Privy Council 's Office in Bangkok at 2 pm. The Princess' Sai Jai Tai Foundation, EGAT (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) and Wan Kaew were also present to help act as distributors and medical professionals for the project. We are so excited to be a part of this partnership to bring eyeglasses and treatment to people in Phayao.

Ton, Constance, Linda, Kai for ELF

Baan Tom ELF Club

2009-06-12T17:03:00.001+07:00

Teaching English

2009-06-09T12:33:00.000+07:00

Linda and Constance have started teaching English classes at Baan Ka school. The students loved playing the game hangman, but the losers they had to perform a dance for the rest of the class! Check out the video:

call and response

2009-06-04T15:03:00.000+07:00

check out the trailer here for a movie about artists coming together to fight the problem of human slavery.

ELF Club

2009-06-03T17:01:00.000+07:00

girls from Baan Ka's ELF Club

Hi Everybody! I'm Linda, the manager of ELF. Today we had an activity for ELF students at Baan Ka school called "ELF Club". We began the activity by introducing ourselves and our foundation. It's was so sad to know that some of our scholarship students don't even know their donors. ELF club came into being for this reason. And also to teach the girls English and other life skills. After introduction, we let them play a game and sing Fa-Rang (foreigner) songs but nobody knows any Fa-Rang songs. They can sing only ABC song and they are really interested in learning English with us. Next time we are planning to have them learn more about English songs and kinda fa-rang.

After spending 1 hour with the kids, they seem to be more familiar and have fun with ELF and our team. This is such a great start !!

the ELF team- Linda, Constance, Nong and Kim

Back to school

2009-05-25T14:37:00.001+07:00

School has started once again in Phayao; the stores are full of uniforms and children can be seen once again riding to school on bikes and buses. At ELF we have begun our scholarship process for the year and are reviewing applications and beginning interviews. Also, we will be starting our after school program, ELF Club, soon so stay tuned for pictures and more!

School is out!

2009-04-07T15:51:00.000+07:00

Here in Thailand we are on school break for the next month! Next week is the Thai New Year known as Songkran. Both the girls and the staff are enjoying a well-deserved holiday for time with family and friends. To celebrate, Thais pour water on one another as a sign of respect, but in today's time it has turned into a national water fight! Happy Songkran!

photo from here.

2009-03-30T16:46:00.000+07:00

Here's a cute video of some students practicing saying "konichiwa" before the Japanese Rotarians arrived.

Practicing Konichiwa from constance dykhuizen on Vimeo.

Graduation Party Workshops

2009-03-22T19:06:00.001+07:00

Workshops were a large part of our graduation party focused on different careers. The girls got to try hair styling, jewelry making and acted as nurses taking temperatures and listening to heartbeats.

Jewelry Making.

Nursing.

Hair Stylist.

Graduation Party 2009

2009-03-22T18:13:00.000+07:00

ELF hosted its first ever graduation party today for girls in our program graduating grade 9. We had workshops, speakers and games all focusing on careers. Thanks to all our speakers and girls for participating!

Good news

2009-03-17T21:10:00.000+07:00

UNIAP granted 130,000 Euros to tackle human trafficking in Thailand and Cambodia.

Book Club

2009-03-14T20:47:00.000+07:00

If you are interested in learning more about the problems we at ELF face, there are many heartwrenching but inspiring books that illuminate the problem of the sex trade and sex trafficking. I recommend Somaly Mam's autobiographical tale of being sold into prostitution at the age of 16 in Cambodia. Cambodia is a neighbor to Thailand and there are many cultural similarities. Mam's tale is a story of redemption and hope. We at ELF hope that you will join us in the fight and commit to learning more about this horrible, wordwide industry of sex trafficking.