🎥 || “You know that feeling when you’ve been from Vancouver to Thailand to Melbourne to France to Scotland to Ireland to LA and you’re like who am I?” (via shesouthere on IG)
As you have probably noticed from my Instagram, I have two beautiful god children living on the Island of Koh Tao, Thailand - Kasper and Pepper. Their parents, two of my best friends, moved there from Australia seeking inner and outer peace, stronger community and stronger values for their children to grow up with.
Kasper’s lovely Thai and Myanmar immigrant friends were slowly leaving the island, many without their parents, to go to school far away where they could get a better education at an affordable price. Much of the Thai community couldn’t afford the cost of the private school on the island, run as a small business venture with no proper curriculum or accreditation. In fact, most children would never be able to access anything above a basic Thai education, something that Myanmar immigrant children would never benefit from when they return home, where Thai is not spoken.
To cut a long story short, Claire and I decided we would attempt a Not for Profit School, that was run only to cover its own costs to keep the fees as low as possible. As we did the numbers, we realized the more children that went to the school the lower the school fees would go and more children would have access to it. Most importantly families could stay together.
2 years later the school has become a reality and the children are thriving, however- the space they rent together with a private kindergarten is being sold. The school can’t afford to move. When I came to visit I could see the education standard was fantastic, but if we could achieve rent free land then resources like playground equipment, proper sized classrooms and flushing toilets would be attainable.
So this is where you step in. My hope is that you and I together can save Koh Tao International Primary and help to further develop the Not for Profit structure so that it can be replicated in other parts of the World like Thailand and Myanmar.
Any donation, no matter how big or small, will make a huge difference. We have a list of Thai and Burmese children waiting for the fees to lower so they can attend the school.
These kids really need us. Your contribution will mean the world to them and me.
Thank You,
Love EJ
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