Living Waters Phuket Foundation – Building Brighter Futures
Weekly Highlights:
Take a Moment – This week has been a time for reflection at Living Waters Phuket Foundation (LWPF). To take a breath, and a step back to start the task of identifying where needs are greatest and how our help can be most effective now.
Emergency Food Relief Naturally Ends – From 1st May 2022, after more than 2 years, our active distribution of emergency life bags has officially come to a close. Thailand is now open and although changed, life is slowly returning to a more normal pre-pandemic low season.
Enabling Self Sufficiency – ‘You give a poor man a fish and you feed him for a day. You teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime’ (origin unknown and interestingly quite contested!) This much-quoted adage uses fishing as an example of enabling self-sufficiency, emphasizing the vital role education plays.
Education is a key area our Foundation is now able to focus on. However, we have not abandoned those still in need of food; 550 cooked meals were distributed this week with the final 300 life bags. If a man is hungry, he cannot focus on learning to fish.
Teaching Others – In seeking sustainable solutions to issues of food security, education, and the environment, we need to be creative. To return to the fisherman; who will teach him to fish? Ultimately a more sustainable solution will be for the fisherman, once competent, to train others. As an example, with the two sewing machines LWPF donated to Seeds of Change, once proficient, current students will have the opportunity to teach other students valuable sewing skills.
Back to School – Children need to get back into education to achieve this. Help is needed with fees, uniforms, books, and ATK tests as a bare minimum. We provided a grant to the Phuket Red Cross which has made getting children back into school a priority. We have also assisted the reopening of the Ban Ya Literacy Centre. Furthermore, grants to Phuket Has Been Good To Us, and enabled the employment of key workers.
These are just some of the ways LWPF is finding creative solutions toward a brighter future through education.
You can donate to LWPF education and community projects here: Weeboon
Networking in the Community:
This week, LWPF met with the President of the Red Cross to discuss current and future needs.
Fundraising
Our LWPF Weeboon campaign has raised a grand total to date of 593,336 THB. In addition, donations made direct to LWPF now total 1,151,475 THB. Donations this week through Weeboon to Pay it Forward (Retired Working For You) remained the same; totalled 4,559 THB, with direct donations to date totalling 9,489 THB.
Approved Funded Projects:
- The Man That Rescues Dogs (TMTRD)
This grant is to help support this shelters feeding and care in addition to expanding the care facility. Essentially TMTRD helps sick, neglected, and abused dogs, all those rescued are medicated, vaccinated, and sterilized; as well as rehabilitated and socialized in an attempt to rehome the dogs.
- Baan Na Yai School
A grant has been approved and work is due to commence to see this project of converting existing structures into an IT lab and library.
- Liamsiri Mar Hill Association
Work has commenced on the new fence at this centre for people with Psychosocial disabilities. This organisation aims to work together to create a welcoming environment and treat everyone with respect.
- PHBGTU
The children returned to school on May 23rd, after a grant was awarded and this project is in process to help fund English teaching for around 220 students at the Phuket Has Been Good To Us Kamala School, for the school year 2022 to 2023.
- The Red Cross Phuket
This project saw funding to purchase 1,800 wheelchairs for use in hospitals, clinics and vaccination centres across Thailand to assist those with mobility issues. The first 200 are awaiting distribution.
- Life Home Project
Education assistance funding was provided, with this project helping with educational opportunities for HIV positive Thai Children at this charity. The 3rd progress report is expected imminently.
Completed Projects:
- Baan Lung Pitak Day Care Centre
Grant and works have been completed for a new school roof and kitchen upgrades to provide a safer environment for children aged 2-5 years to come every week day, as the start of their social and educational journey.
- Seeds of Change
Funded sewing machines were delivery to the Vocational Sewing Centre, located at Good Shepherd Migrant Work Centre Phuket (GMSW). This initiative provides employment alternatives and skills development for young Thai or migrant people.
- Koh Samui Life Bags
This project raised funds through donations in order to purchase food, pack Life Bags and distribute to communities in need on the island of Koh Samui. Over 1,800 ‘super’ life bags (supporting around 7,200 people) were packed and distributed across Koh Samui over a 3-day period in March 2022.
- The Good Shepherd BanYa Literacy and Learning Centre
This project saw record speed completion for the purchase of ATK test kits for over 400 children in order for testing to take place to allow the school to reopen. This completed project was achieved in under a week, making it a rapid and successful project for everyone involved.
- The Red Cross Back To School
This completed partnership between Living Waters Phuket and the Red Cross where LWP provided equipment necessary to allow for 390 students across 13 schools in Phuket, to get back to school. Prior to this funding project, these students were unable to attend school as they did not have uniforms, school supplies, funds for transportation and the minimal fee to go to school.
- Disadvantaged Students Project
The Foundation has provided funding for Phuket Has Been Good To Us to allow 500 disadvantaged students access to a new computer lab. This project is now completed.
- Under Privileged Children
The provision of portable water for 300 students at the Coconut Island School, as well as critical equipment for the school’s kitchen including a fridge, freezer and fans is completed. The acquittal report is currently being prepared.
- The Good Shepherd
The project for The Good Shepherd for Solar Panel Installation for the Good Shepherd Phuket Town (GSPT) Learning Centre is now completed.
- Sustainable Farming and Food Production – Phase 2
The Kathu Wittaya School’s phase 2 funded project is now complete. This was around sustainable education for farming and food production and the provision of buildings to help store and sell the food from the funded phase 1 project.
- Tambon Phunai Koh Yao Yai Orphan Education Funding
The Foundation funded school supplies for children from this Orphanage in January 2022. LWP donated funds for supplies and this directly allowed the children to return to school. Funding will cover 1 full year of schooling needs for around 35 children.
- Kathu Wittya School
The Sustainable Education on Farming and Food Production (phase 1) is complete. This long-term initiative was designed around teaching almost 1,000 children how to farm land using proven Thai techniques and processes in order to produce and harvest food.
- Phuket Has Been Good To Us
Living Waters Phuket Foundation completed this project to fund and provide brand new IT equipment for over 500 disadvantaged children for the school. This project helped teachers, volunteers and administrators to be able to deliver their English classes more effectively and efficiently.
- Super Life Bags
This completed project was the largest single order of life bag supplies in the last 22 months and saw over 8,700 large bags packed and delivered to Phuket and the surrounding areas in November 2021, helped by Government officials and 5 Star Marine.
LWP remains 100% devoted to helping the most vulnerable communities.
Please contact us for more information.
Living Waters Phuket
+66 99 341 6799 | [email protected]
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