COMMUNITY

sasala

15 December 2018

with privilege comes obligation…

The sala – open on all four sides, a place to pause, reflect and gather unhampered by the elements, listen to illuminating sermons or receive compassionate guidance. Everyone leaves the sala a better person than they were when they entered, that much closer to realising their boundless potential.

In the sala, children make connections – with one another, with their teachers, and with the world – and the transformation from ‘ me’ to ‘we’ is inspiring to watch. Soon they want to contribute to the ‘we’ because they have become aware that ‘with privilege comes obligation’, and by applying international social and environmental values, they have been able to make a difference right here at home as well as halfway round the world.

Through art auctions, charity concerts, book and bake sales as well as other fund-raising initiatives our children are connecting and truly becoming global citizens – and in the process, they are making a positive impact on some of the less fortunate people with whom we share the planet.

On the home front, the children raise money throughout the year to support the following initiatives.

room to grow foundation

This year, ELC international schools continued to support the vitamin and anti-parasite treatment programme for over 125 children in Mae Sot, Tak. Most of the children are either orphaned or abandoned and they live in two boarding houses. It’s very hard for them to get good food, so the vitamins are essential in helping them grow up healthy and strong.

Room to Grow supports a monthly supply of rice to the children, but a regular medication for parasites helps make sure this rice contributes to the children’s normal growth. The children in these photos are all from Burma but they belong to a scholarship program partially sponsored by Room to Grow which provides for their school fees in a local Thai school. The vitamin program and the food program help give these children the energy they need to learn to speak and read Thai and do the best they can in school.

Operation Smile Thailand
Mowakhi Hilltribe School
Always Reading Caravan

And, farther afield, they earned, and donated money for the children of Haiti and Nepal, through the SOS Children’s Villages, following the devastating earthquakes in their countries.

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