Disabled Students of Uthai Thani
A while ago we visited the Ruam'ai Kachad Foundation for Disabled Students of Uthai Thani. I still had some clothing for children Karin Van Nuffelen gave me and some money my cousin Tina Ermgodts and her family gave me to donate to a good cause.
My mother and I went over there to see what the organisation was doing. We didn’t tell them we wanted to donate something, we just said we wanted to know how the organisation works because we were interested in their cause. We were immediately welcomed at the director’s office and he gave us an explanation of what they were doing.
I can’t assure you that I understood everything 100%, but I’ll share what I made of it. This organization helps not only the children with a disability but also the parents, family and community around the disabled children. They learn the children everyday tasks to prepare them to go to normal or specialized schools, depending on what kind of disability they have. If they can go to a normal school they learn the teachers of that school how to adapt to the needs of the children. And they learn the parents how to live with this disability their children have and how to make the life of their children more comfortable.
As I was told there are many poor families bringing their children to this organisation and they are happy with anything somebody doesn’t use anymore for daily household I was sure this was a good place to donate some children’s clothing.
Thank you Karin Van Nuffelen!
I didn’t bring the money my cousin gave me so we made an appointment to come back the next day.
The next day, a mentor gladly showed us around. She showed us some of their equipment to help the people with a physical disability to improve their dexterity or strength.
In the computer room there were customized computer mouses. Many of the mentally disabled like to linger in the computer room.
When we were guided around we were told that the government gives 30 baht per child per day to the organisation to buy food, but as they have 80 volunteers working for them, that money is quickly spend. So they were really happy with the money my cousin and her family donated.
Thank you Tina Ermgodts & Erik, Annelien and Emelie Wilms for donating money!
As Thai people considered a disability as a sign of bad behavior in their previous life, you can imagine it is not easy to be accepted in their environment. Luckily there are people who don’t see it as a bad thing, but consider it as a chance to do something better to get merit for your next life. They also inform the people involved in the life of these children that this condition is not contagious. Which is hallucinating for our western environment to understand that people still think that this is something you can catch. If not for them, these children would not have a chance to function in this society.