| Charity the art of giving: | | | | and school holidays are just breaks from the |
| If you are like me, you grew up in a relatively nice | | | | curriculum but not from school. |
| neighborhood and played on the street without having | | | | Now I guess by now, if you have taken the time to |
| to worry about being abducted, being stabbed or shot | | | | read this far, then you will be asking me why I am |
| at. | | | | telling you all about this. |
| For me the most I ever had to worry about when | | | | Well there is a good reason why. |
| playing was scrapping my knee on the ground while | | | | Now the school that I work at is based in Bangkok and |
| running or playing football. | | | | is well thought of by Thai people. |
| I went to a good school and we had all the normal | | | | But move out of Bangkok to the rural areas and you |
| equipment that was available back then in the late 50's | | | | will find something completely different. |
| early 60's. | | | | Schools in the country with wooden walls with holes in, |
| Now, I live in Thailand and work as a Kindergarten | | | | floors in disrepair, no books or computers, no desks or |
| English language teacher. | | | | canteens and nowhere to play. Children don't generally |
| My school is considered up market, most of the | | | | go out and have playtime's like in the UK where I grew |
| families that bring their children here have money and | | | | up. |
| status in Thai society. | | | | Having seen how bad the situation is in some of these |
| Nearly all drive expensive cars and have their own | | | | schools I have decided to try and make a difference, |
| businesses and excellent incomes as well as nice | | | | so I starting a charity called hits4charity. |
| houses. | | | | The idea is to get this charity into the mainstream of |
| But the school doesn't even have the basics I | | | | society in Thailand and worldwide and get funds to |
| remember from my infant's school and I call it a | | | | rebuild school in need and to supply books and |
| factory, not a school because of the way they force | | | | computers. |
| feed the children to learn. | | | | I an now announcing this to the world and hope to gain |
| Can you imagine your 4 year old being given an | | | | help and support for citizens of the world. |
| exams, and not only 1 exam, but exams to make sure | | | | Now I am not talking about a lot of money here and |
| they can pass their exams? | | | | most people will spend more money on junk food, |
| Tested for how they walk up the stairs, walk a straight | | | | coffee or chocolate in a month than the cost of being |
| line and practice for hours on end, to present there | | | | a member of the site. |
| hand in the correct way for the master to give them | | | | I have a dream, Martin Luther King said. Well so do I. |
| there certificate or prize. | | | | That all children in the world should have books, |
| Now this is in no way what I would call an ideal learning | | | | computers and school to use and study in. |
| environment and by the time most kids have gone to | | | | Now is your chance to step forward and help me to |
| high school they are completely burnt out. | | | | achieve this. |
| Many study after school finishes and most weekends | | | | |