Giving back to the country we love
At Rainbow-Scuba we belive that every company as well as every individual has a responsibility to their fellow citizens and it is the wonderful people that make living or visiting Thailand really special.
Through Plan-UK we have adopted one child and provide financial support to them and their family so they may at least complete secondary education.
Kaidtisak is 9 years old and lives in Nongbualampoo province in the north east of Thailand. The majority of villagers complete primary education but very few are able to continue beyond this. Kaidtisak's family derive their income from rice farming and cottage industry such as basket weaving.
Kaidtisak is now in the third grade of primary school. In this part of the world children grow up fast and and all must play a part in the family progress and survival. After school he helps with the family chores.
More news about Kaidtisak's progress will follow.
Through The SET Foundation we provide financial support for 3 years so that one young person may complete vocational college.
To find out more about the work of SET please visit their web site. To learn more about SET's founder and inspiration Peter Robinson (and for wonderful insight to Thailand, its people and customs), we recommend these two books by Peter Robinson :-
Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand. Phra Farang tells Peter's story. A successful businessman who at forty five, gave up his comfortable life in London to ordain as a Buddhist monk in Bangkok. Little Angels is the real-life stories of the novice monks and reflects the lives of many youths in Thailand who are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty, broken homes, illiteracy and drug abuse. When all else fails, Buddhism becomes their last resort: providing them with physical shelter and spiritual refuge. It heals their childhood traumas and gives them a moral framework for living and a better outlook on life.
The Rainbow-Scuba Scholarship
A committee of The Students Educational Trust have selected Songpon Boontar to receive the Rainbow-Scuba Scholarship for the next three years.
Songpon was born in Khaochongun village in the Mae Wong District of Nakhon Sawan Province. After finishing his primary school studies at 13, he ordained as a novice because that was the only way he could study at junior high school. His parents were too poor to send him to a state high school. Songpon was a novice at Wat Kirriwan in Nakhon Sawan City and lived there for three years whilst studying. He disrobed as a novice on 9 March 2006 after his final exams for M3 (grade 9).
Songpon’s parents are rice farmers with only a little land from which they get one crop per year. He has one older brother, 21, who didn’t even finish his primary studies. The brother is now a casual laborer in Bangkok.
With his Rainbow-Scuba Scholarship, Songpon will be able to study a three-year Ordinary Vocational Certificate course in Auto Mechanics at Nakhon Sawan Technical College, starting in May 2006.
Here is a recent picture of Songpon - new nickname Nick - during the first year of his course. His tutors report that he is making excellent progress.
We wish him well for the future and will report on his progress on these pages.
