Hope Through Education Program | TEFL International
Hope Through Education Program | TEFL International
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A Project Sponsored by TEFL International
by Bruce Veldhuisen The world, as we know, is not a perfect place. There are many problems that need fixing, and while we cannot deal with them all, we can choose a few and try to help. As individuals that's all we can do. We have seen a specific problem in Thailand that we have chosen to target for purely personal reasons that will be described later. This problem is a lack of educational opportunities for young, unwed mothers. Young people in Thailand are no different than young people in other parts of the world like in England and the UK. Sometimes girls end up pregnant. But there are some big differences between Thailand and most developing countries. For instance, whether you believe in it morally or not, abortion is illegal in Thailand. There are no enforced Child Support laws so young women are often left to their own devices. There is no government support. In fact, pregnant young women are not allowed to attend school. So they are left, undereducated, without financial support and very few options. The sad truth is many of these young women end up in the sex industry. Others find menial work that might barely cover the cost of their child care and basic survival. We here at TEFL International would like to offer a solution. We propose a school for unwed young mothers that would include the following:
Why do we care? I can tell you why I care. Thirty years ago a young woman became pregnant from her husband. The marriage did not even last as long as the pregnancy, as her philandering husband left five months before her son was born. So she left home and school and went to South Thailand. Soon after the birth of her son she began working as a hotel receptionist. Unfortunately her income was less than the cost of her housing and child care! So she began getting up at 3:30 am so she could make and sell Thai deserts at the market before work, making her workday about sixteen hours long. With this schedule she and her son were able to survive. Not well, but they had a place to stay and enough money for food.
After several years of this lifestyle—if you can call it a life—this young woman decided to take a chance at changing her life. She took a job as a maid/cook in Hong Kong and left her son with relatives in Thailand. Her life, while not easy, was certainly much better. She got to live in a new country, learn many new things, and while she worked hard she was paid very well by Thai standards and was therefore able to send home money to support her son. And three years after her arrival she met... me. Now this still (relatively) young lady is my wife, Siriluck Khayim Veldhuisen. But everyone calls her Lucky. We have been married for nearly 16 years and have three children of our own. Lucky was one of the lucky ones. But Thai land is full of young women on the edge, whose lives might not turn out to be like hers.  Meet Ning. She is 17. Her little girl is 2 years old. She works 14 hours a day in a milk packing plant for about $250 a month. She pays about $200 of that to an older woman to take care of her daughter. She doesn’t earn enough for her of her child to eat regularly. She can’t go back to school, and has little hope for the future. She is willing to work hard, and is a good mother, but she needs a chance, a chance to go back to school. Its very obvious how this young woman, desperate and helpless, could take a wrong turn and end up in a very bad situation. We are going to help. Can you? Will you? Every student that enrolls in our school in Ban Phe will be given a choice of three bonuses. We call it... Help Others, Help Yourself, or Just Have Fun
Anyone is welcome to contribute. As a 501 c 3 non profit, all contributions are fully tax deductable. For more information, Email me directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Here is an estimate of the costs associated with opening our special school.  It is our hope that we will staff the school with volunteers from our TESOL course. If you have made it this far, thank you for your time. I hope you can help us make this dream a reality. |