At our farm Joy and Ulrike
succeeded in creating a new caring home for underprivileged
and disabled children, some of them with physical or mental
handicaps, some of them with an illness. 35 children and
7 teachers share their daily life with 3 farmer families.
Most of the children experience love, care, warmth and
security for the first time in their lives. Especially
the deaf children are surprised and very proud of all the
things they are able to do and learn.
We do not intend to care for more than 50 children. Since
we have a high teacher/child pro rata, every child can
be cared for and helped individually if needed.
Many of
our projects are planned in cooperation with other schools,
we call it integration work along to the motto "be
simple, be nature". The children
simply love to learn with and from each other!
School
Our deaf and mute children are taught in all important
subjects by our Teacher Num who himself is deaf and mute.
Num graduated at University in Chiang Mai where he obtained
a Bachelor in Sign Language. 2010 he won the election becoming the president of the deaf association North
Thailand.
Sign Language is the most important subject for our
deaf and mute children. Until they joined our project
they were unable to express themselves, other than to
communicate their basic needs. Now they love to "talk
to each other and to "tell" people what is
really going on inside themselves. They are always delighted
when they can teach our visitors the basics of Sign Language
and so establish a means of communication.
Mathematics, Thai and English writing are the other
compulsory subjects and IT classes are currently been
planned since the computer will be one of the main means
of communication for our deaf and mute students.
Our other children grades 1-9 are integrated in the
local school system which is in the nearby village of
Pong Khum.
Others which cannot be integrated because of their age
or a difficult background learn with us in our own Learning
and Training Center. Also all students grade 10 – 12
are educated in our approved Learning Center.
Our best therapy: Nature and Life
Our aim is to teach our children about themselves, to
experience their own soul and understand their own capabilities
and limitations. As one big family we want them to learn
how to interact with other members of the family and
respect each other. The main therapy or philosophy is
the way of life we live with them. We give them love,
trust and hope in a simple but successful way. Learning
from the spirit of nature teaches them respect for life
but also shows them that there are shortcomings with
which one has to deal.
The largest part of our farm is reserved for biological
farming, we grow vegetables, herbs and fruit trees. The
wife of our major, who is a modern farmer with local
knowledge shows our children how to become a farmer of
the new generation; preparing good soil, the order in
which planting has to be done and how to produce and
use natural fertilizers, all these factors are of paramount
importance for the successful harvest of a sound and
healthy crop. Through our principle “Learning by
Doing”, mathematics and the theoretical selling
and buying become suddenly very practical when it comes
to deciding what to do with our biological produce.
Meditation Dance is an activity through which our children
learn how to breathe deeply and consciously, feel the
connection with nature and people around them, and experience
their world with all their senses. During most of the
weekends, we have the honor and pleasure to have a professor
from the Art Academy of Chiang Mai amongst us as a volunteer.
He enables the children to understand that nature and
art are connected and employs this holistic concept as
therapy at the Children’s Shelter successfully.
We
believe however, that the most important experience and
also the most efficient therapy for everyone is the day-today-life
we live with our children in the middle of nature, a
meaningful, simple family life.
“I am here for you:
When you are happy, I recognize your happiness and I'm there for you with
all my heart.
When you are sad, I recognize your sadness and I'm there for you with all
my heart.
When you angry, I recognize your anger and I'm there for you with all my
heart”
In this true spirit, love, trust and hope exist and continue to grow. We,
human beings, all need these basic securities to feel safe and sound in this
world.
Our biologic farm
The farm at Children’s Shelter Lakeland grows
and prospers. We already harvest vegetables, herbs and
fruits from our own biological cultivation. Thanks to
the knowledge of the wife of our major, our devoted teachers
and Volonteers, the children have become little experts
in the areas biological farming, recycling, compost and
know all about protecting nature.
Because our medium-term goal is to become self-sufficient, we are working hard
at finding our own market for our biological products to partly self finance
the Foundation.
Our Guesthouse
Our visitors have the possibility to spend their vacation
with our children on the farm. We offer a varied program,
from a jungle trip with our children, Hill Tribe Trekking,
Thai cooking or a massage course. These activities bring
both our guests and the children a lot of fun and new
experiences. An overnight stay costs 1500 baht/room and
the proceeds exclusively go into Children's Shelter Foundation.
Medium-term objective:
- Admission up to 50 children
- Biological farming leading to self-sufficiency
- On-going: creative development of our living
space in and with nature
- On-going: Educational workshops and holidays for
International schools
- Environmental development
- To develop more individual education for deaf children
- Development
of activities for our guests
Long-term objective:
- Enlargement of the farm area
- Reaching sales markets for organic vegetables
and fruit
- Creation of workplaces for handicapped youth
- Creation
of small enterprices in the villages of our children
Self-financing by:
- Selling fruit and vegetable, producing
healing herbals and oils
- Tourism
- Education Workshops and holidays for
international schools
- Interest out of funds from our sponsors' "special
donations"
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