Samsara has been awarding financial aid scholarships to the children of Hill Tribe families who live in the mountains around Mae Sariang, since 2003. We focus on the upper grades (high school and vocational school, 10th, 11th & 12th grades). Children are not required to attend these grades in Thailand, so the students who do attend clearly seek a better life.
There are currently 8 regular schools and 1 vocational school offering high school classes in the 3 Mae Sariang school districts. Most students who need financial assistance submit an application to The Mae Sariang Board of Education. A committee of school directors, teachers and members of the communities where applicants families live, make the selections on the basis of GPA and financial need. Samsara awards as many scholarships from these selections as we can fund.
For the 2009/10 school year, 135 Children are enrolled in a high school, vocational school through a Samsara Financial Aid Scholarship. Students receiving these scholarships are selected from the poorest of the poor, and most would not be able to remain in school without financial aid.
In addition to our regular high school and vocational school scholarships; as of June 2009, Samsara Donors sponsor 8 college and university students. All of these students are in their first year and it is the first year we have students from Hill Tribe families studying at the university level.
95% of the money for students receiving scholarships comes from private Donors. An individual Donor in America is currently supporting 32 students. A woman in Australia, who spent 3 months introducing an English language course at 3 pilot schools in Mae Sariang valley, raised enough money from friends to fund 26 scholarships.
In 2008 Samsara introduced the Tomorrows Leaders program. Because almost all of the important jobs and businesses in Mae Sariang are held by people who come from other parts of Thailand, Samsara created a program to identify high potential students when they enter high school, and for those with the ability and ambition to provide financial, counseling and tutoring assistance, through university.
Donors who wish to support Tomorrows Leaders make a commitment to a minimum of ten students. The initial Tomorrows Leaders group started high school in June 2008. They are currently continuing their High School education for a second year, thanks to the generosity of the Lloyd George Asia Foundation, Hong Kong. A second group of ten Tomorrows Leaders students entered Vocational school in June 2009, thanks to the generosity of a private donor from the Netherlands.
Many Hill Tribe children need financial aid to have the basic educational opportunity the Government of Thailand offers them, as many hill tribe families cannot afford to send their children to school. These children need financial aid to have the opportunity just to attend school.
During the years we've offered financial aid scholarships, we've learned a number of lessons; and from our experience we've determined an effective scholarship program must include the following elements:
1. The involvement of the board of education, the schools and the community, especially in the selection of the students who receive scholarships.
2. A teacher at each school where scholarships are awarded must take responsibility for managing the program which includes: a special bank account; the application process; the students receiving aid; and the distribution of funds.
3. A management information system capable of: entering and accessing each students basic information; linking each student to their sponsoring donor; entering the students grades at the end of each semester; sending their grade reports to their donors; and notifying donors when annual donations need to be sent to Samsara.
4. Giving donors the opportunity to have a sense of personal involvement with each child they sponsor by: requiring donor's to make a 3 year commitment to each student they sponsor; sending them a bio and photo at the time their students scholarship is awarded; and keeping them informed for their students progress by sending them grades at the end of each semester.
5. Focusing on the schools in and around Mae Sariang, helps develop their future community leaders. When Samsara started our work in this region, all of the teachers and important positions in the community, as well as most of the business owners, came from outside the region. We are already beginning to see a gradual but measurable change.
6. Focusing our financial aid almost exclusively on regular and vocational high school levels, increases the rate of change and socio-economic level in the community.
7. Providing financial aid for students who are accepted at colleges and universities accelerates the change, and these children become role models for children who follow them.
Samsara Donor's can meet the children they sponsor, and we invite you to visit. Samsara must make arrangements for these visits. Here is one couples experience.
In November of 2009, Jim & Jan Toohey, a couple from the US visited a number of schools with our Scholarship team, in and around Mae Sariang. It happened that 2 girls with unusual hardship situations came to our attention during one of these visits. The Toohey's were touched and offered to pay for the education of both girls for as long as they wish to attend school. Both girls are exceptional students, one has a 4.0 GPA and the other a 3.38 GPA. The girls hand wrote in Thai the following thank you letters the next day. These are the English translations.
My name is Ratana Prasongnamjai, I was born on 30 December 1995. Currently I am an M1 student. My father’s name is Mr. Tasa Prasongnamjai and my mother’s name is Mrs. Amporn Prasongnamjai. Both of them already passed away. I have 1 brother (not from the same parent), his name is Suriyan Pamornpai.
As I grew up, I remembered that there were always losses in my life. Some may think that I was discouraged but I have turned all the losses into my inspiration. Since childhood, I had only my mother and my grandmother, I did not have a chance to stay with my father as he died from the accident. He was hired to lift heavy woods and unluckily he fainted and caused the wood to fall onto his head. After that I stayed with my mother and my grandmother, not long after that my mother became insane. I took her to hospital and after receiving some medication she was recovered. At that time, I took care of her everyway I could. However, when we had no money to purchase the medicine, my mother became insane again and escaped from the house in the middle of the night. She drank pesticide and was found dead. I was very sad but I wanted to turn my life crisis into a strong will to make my dreams come true. Now I am staying with my grandmother, on Saturdays and Sundays I work to earn 100 baht, (planting garlic, soy beans, harvest rice etc). We have pigs at home so I feed them every morning and evening. Every baht I earn was enough for me and grand mother but with much difficulty. My grandmother’s name is Jasor Faikrajaipana, she is 74 years old, sometimes she is hired so could earn some money. She saves the money for sending me to school. My school gives me scholarship and fortunately the government has a policy for 15-year free education and provides 500 baht monthly for the elderly so this helps us to some extent.
If I have a chance to study further, so that I can have a good career and secured income, I can take care of my grandmother. Thank you for the scholarship and the opportunity. I promise that I will spend it to make the most of my education and I will be a good role model for the younger generation.
My name is Kantamanee Unmuang, I was born on 17 July 1996, I am an M1 student at Ban Phae Pittaya School. My father’s name is Porn Unmuang and my mother’s name is Mrs. Orasa Unmuang.
In my early childhood, I had never seen my parents, they had already separated because my father had many women. When I was in Kindergarten, my mother came back and I was very happy. My mother married another man who loved me like his real daughter. It was Friday when he drank a poison to commit suicide. On that day, he wrote me a letter telling me to be a good person and that I should study hard. I was surprised about this but when I came back from school and found that he was dead, I felt very sad, broken-hearted, but I had to live and study for my mother and grandmother. I want to keep the promise I made to my step father that I will become a policewoman. After that my mother always had to move to work at construction sites in other provinces, since then I have been living with my grandmother. On the weekends, I work in the field, plant onion, etc. I gave the money I earn to my grandmother, part of it I use at the school, and keep some part in my savings account. When my grandmother is sick, I have to walk about 7 km. to the district clinic to get the medicine and cook for her.
On 13 November, at 6.00 pm, my house burnt down. Luckily my grandmother and I were not at home. At night I saw my house and my grandmother cried and fainted. I want to study as much as possible and I want to be a policewoman. Thank you for giving me the scholarship, I promise that I will be a good person.
You have to come to Northern Thailand and visit the schools, to have the Toohey's first hand experience, which we encourage. But you can make a difference in lives like these from where ever you are. For as little as $555 USD, you can fund a 3 year scholarship and change not only one child's life, you will also help to lift an entire family out of poverty.
WHAT IT COST TO PROVIDE A 3 YEAR SCHOLARSHIP FOR A HILL TRIBE STUDENT IN MAE SARIANG.
|
3 years High School
|
555 dollar
|
420 euro
|
570 $ aus
|
|
3 years Vocational School
|
1000 dollar
|
750 euro
|
1020 $ aus
|
|
4 years University
|
1330 dollar
|
1000 euro
|
1360 $ aus
|
Samsara’s Scholarship Program is managed by Carl Samuels with assistance of Tony Kidd and Oraboon Imchai. All three are volunteers living in Chiang Mai.
You could contribute your donation to the Scholarship Program by transferring your donation to the bank account of the Samsara Foundation, Thailand. Bank details you will find under “ What are the costs” in the left column at the home page of this website.