The Schoolbooks Project aims to send schoolbooks and reading materials to needy school children in the remote areas of Thailand.
WHO started it?
Panpim was compelled to start this project after the trip to Nonsamran Village, Mahasarakham, in December 2006.
I am grateful to Assoc. Prof. Sripen S., Ph.D., Director of the Office of General Education, Chulalongkorn University, for letting me tag along on this trip. She has unknowingly helped materialize one of my life's goals.
WHO are going to help?
Panpim's close friends and family will make monetary contributions.
Prospective donors are carefully chosen and personally approached.
I am very well aware of how people feel about being asked to donate. There is no minimum amount set for pledges. EVERY DONATION HELPS and will be respectfully and equally treated.
But money is not the only form you can give. We would gladly accept any used reading books, writing pads, writing utensils, or classroom accessories. **It is our intention that monetary donations will be exclusively spent on BOOKS.**
It would be even better if you happen to pick a few good books during your own visit to a bookstore. We can try to find a way for me to get them.
**All donations and contributions** will be accounted for and acknowledged; all expenses will be publicly listed on the Donations & Expenses Page.
See photos of the purchased books, or view account details.
WHO will benefit from this?
First of all, YOU the donors will feel SO GOOD having done the charitable deeds.
Secondly, the recipients of your gifts of knowledge--the children--will be thrilled to get a personal copy of schoolbooks, so they each can now study at home. They will also be grateful knowing that there is someone out there ("YOU") who cares...
The students will show you their gratitude through THANK-YOU LETTERS, which will be collected by the school director and sent to me. I will then forward them to you. The American donors will receive both the originals and my translations.
The very first shipment of books will be sent to Nonsamran School, Mahasarakham.
WHY should we contribute?
Because the right to basic education is what every child is entitled to. Besides righteous moral values, academic knowledge is the second most powerful tool to help people better themselves. Since Thailand's Department of Education has consistently and miserably failed to guarantee an equal access to learning opportunity and quality education, people who care and want to help should do what they can.
When the DoE is unreliable, I no longer have faith in them and set out on my own. After all, we the people have to help ourselves. Why wait for and waste our time and hope in politicians who lack genuine intention and ability to solve our problems?
And to see that these kids do not have even the basic and necessary schoolbooks??? It is unacceptable to let the lack of knowledge and opportunity keep children down in the world of ignorance and hopelessness.
WHY do I do this?
We all are blessed to have money to buy what we want. It is also a great blessing to have access to ANY books we want to read.
I am sure that many of us regularly buy some of the monthly expensive "fashion" magazines that are full of ads, bedroom tips, beauty secrets, and worldly things. When you finish with them, they will either be thrown out or given away. The things you read in those magazines certainly make you feel good--but only temporarily. And have you ever felt bad throwing "books" away?
Some children out there do not have even the basic REQUIRED books for school lessons and homework.
No, I am not asking you to give up those magazines. But have you ever considered spending that same amount of money on "educational" books that will be treasured by kids in need? Those schoolbooks will last a lot longer than your magazines and really teach the kids something extremely invaluable for their future.
How can you measure the power of knowledge? How can one ever put a price tag on it?
As an educator and a lifelong student, I have always wanted to buy books for needy children.
If I can't go out to help them personally, it is best to send the next best tools.
I can do this alone. But I don't want to. Besides, people in my circle are loving and have a giving heart. Why not invite them to do something worthwhile and honorable? The more the merrier.
Therefore, I am inviting you to join me in arming needy kids with knowledge and wisdom so that they can grow up to be needy no more...
HOW can you help?
I will collect contributions from the generous donors, buy necessary and appropriate select books, and ship them to the school(s).
How I go about managing the Project is given on the Schoolbooks Project's Charter page.
All donations are listed on the Donations and Expenses page.
HOW frequently will we do this?
ONCE A SEMESTER or TWICE A YEAR, activity books (workbooks and coloring books) that get WRITTEN IN will be purchased NEW.
Readers and reusable books will be passed down from previous years until they are all worn out or a revised edition is released.
Should your donations amount to a considerable size, I will try to find another school that may need a similar kind of help. The recipient school will be added one by one. BUT we will not hurry in expanding our work. We want QUALITY, not QUANTITY.
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT BOOK REQUESTS?
Please visit the Schoolbooks for Kids page.
For the books we sent them, please see Purchased Schoolbooks
WHAT schools are we helping?
Please visit Schools on Our Help List
"IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE."
To prospective contributors who have pledged to help the students of Nonsamran, please accept their heartfelt "THANK YOU" in advance.
