On this page we will keep you informed of ongoing projects. These are special goals that are necessary to run Baan Phak Phing as a whole, in addition to the basic necessities of life for the girls. This concerns things such as; material items for maintenance work or means of transport, safety, trips, special activities, technical items such as computers, printers, network, internet, staff costs, a little extra for the girls, etc.
Scroll further down to can see which project you would like to contribute to.
How can we survive without the ‘mothers’?
The girls in Baan Phak Phing would not be able to live with us if we did not employ ‘mothers’ who take care of them. The mothers offer the girls kindness, love and security. They teach the girls how to cook, wash, clean and take care of themselves. In order to make the family houses function well and provide the best care there are four mothers in every house. They work in shifts as the girls need 24-hour care. Additionally, we employ a psychologist and an office worker and so the entire staff consists of 14 women. These women are not volunteers, they are permanent staff with a salary and a family and relatives of their own to take care of. The average pay of the women employed by us is around $ 450 per person per month. This means that we spend $ 450 x 14 mothers = $ 6.300 on salaries for the mothers each month.
Would you like to help us with these costs by a monthly contribution? That way you help guarantee proper and loving care for the girls.
Read here about a few mothers who work at Baan Phak Phing.
New curtains in the bedrooms
It is nice to sleep with the curtains closed, it gives the girls and staff a feeling of privacy and security. However, these curtains are old, faded and torn and so we would like to buy new ones for the bedrooms. Then the girls and staff can have a good night’s sleep with the curtains closed.
It’s a big project, as we have three family houses with many windows in the bedrooms. The estimate is $ 270 per house, and 3 x € $ 270 = $ 810 in total.
Will you help us?
Chairs for the homework rooms
Being able to sit well while doing your homework is important. Many broken down chairs from the homework rooms have been fixed over and over, but unfortunately we cannot keep doing that and we will have to buy new ones. The chairs are very often used because the girls do homework every day.
We need 10 chairs in every family house, times three houses which makes a total of 30 chairs at $ 19 per chair. We are looking at a total price of $ 570.
Will you support us?
Stage curtains
In our multipurpose room we have a stage on which the girls perform, where we watch a movie all together, and which is used during training sessions or creative activities for the girls or staff. Weekly we also use the facility for a meeting with the girls who are in the independent living program.
In order to protect the wall, which is our movie screen, and the overall stage we would like to place stage curtains. Furthermore the acoustics of the room will be greatly improved and the area will look more professional.
The curtains cost approximately $ 220
Modern technology
We live in the digital age which has a great affect on our lives. We use the technologies at work, at home, at school and also for social contacts, otherwise we will miss much. These technologies demand financial investments for all of us, including Baan Phak Phing.
Our present computers have become slower and need an upgrade. With a few simple steps they can be made to function better and faster. Unfortunately, computers haven’t been given eternal life therefore from time to time they need to be replaced. Besides that, we also want to use the various software legally so need to pay regular fees. Printers are also necessary to print the girls’ homework and important documents for the office. All in all, it is essential that we continue to find the finances to keep this equipment working well.
We need approximately $ 1300 each year to keep these technologies up to date. Will you help us?
Musical instruments
We like to stimulate the girls’ musical skills. In each house there is one guitar and in two of the three houses there is an old keyboard, which is a hand-me-down several times over. Due to their condition, both are ready to be replaced; unfortunately they are no longer repairable.
We would like to purchase an extra guitar per house so that the girls can play together and not have to take turns. The staff members giving lessons can also play the guitar as the student does as well.
We would like to purchase three guitars and 3 keyboards.
Guitars cost approximately $ 110 a piece = $ 330 total
Keyboards cost approximately $ 300 a piece = $ 900 total
We hope to raise in total $ 1.230
Will you help us?
Glazing and window frames
The multi-purpose room now has wooden window frames. The warm and moist weather in Thailand causes early decay to these wooden structures, despite regular maintenance. Some of the windows don’t even close completely anymore. We have plans to replace the wooden frames with maintenance friendly material and energy efficient glazing so that we need not worry about them for quite some time. We have already replaced the doors, but now the five windows are next on the list.
Can you help us?
The cost for all 5 window units is $ 595
Baan Phak Phing T-shirts
Baan Phak Phing has been collaborating with the University of Applied Sciences Stenden in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands for several years now. The students studying at the campus in Bangkok are involved in real life projects with organizations in various regions of Thailand. That is how the collaboration started. Unfortunately Covid forced the students to work online but hopefully in the future the students will visit the home in Chiang Rai.
The last group of students set up a T-shirt fundraising project, designing, printing and selling some of the t shirts. Yet, T-shirts in both colors and sizes are still available.
You can order one or more by sending an email to [email protected]. Clearly state whether you want white or black and which size(s) you would like: S, M, L, XL. Enclose the correct street address so that we can send them by post.
The price per t-shirt is only €15,00, which can be transferred to Stichting Baan Phak Phing, NL47 ABNA 0514499257. Please mention that the amount is for the t-shirt fundraising project.
Thank you for your support in this collaborative project between HBO Stenden and Baan Phak Phing.
Treating yourself
Wouldn’t it be fun for every girl to have the chance to buy a new set of clothes and shoes? Most girls get their clothes from an older/bigger ‘sister’ in the house, but being able to really choose something yourself, to your own taste and wear it with pride, don’t we all love doing just that?
A new set of clothes (skirt/trousers/t-shirt or a dress and a pair of shoes) costs about $ 55 for each girl. With a total of 30 girls, it will be 30 x $ 55 = $ 1,650.
Will you help us make this possible?
New Desks
We have several desks that need to be replaced because some of them are almost literally falling apart. We need new desks for 3 staff offices as well as desks for the girls on which to put the computers they use for homework.
We need a total of 10 new desks. Each desk costs 170 USD for a total of 1700 USD.
Will you help us purchase new desks?
A new car
Baan Phak Phing is located quite a distance out of town and public transport here is not as good as it is in The Netherlands. Therefore, we drive the girls to school every day ourselves. Each of the family homes has its own car, in which up to 12-14 persons can be transported. Besides driving the girls to school with the car, we also need the cars to do groceries, to do family visits (and the families usually live far away or in the mountains), and for outings. So, the cars need to be safe, strong, and in good condition. One of our three cars is 18 years old now and is past its due date. It doesn’t have enough power to go up a mountain anymore, and we need to take it to the garage regularly to be repaired. It also no longer meets the government requirements. If possible, we would like to replace this car by a new 16 seater van, which is the option to abide to the rules.
A new van would cost USD 39,000. Do you want to help transport the girls safely?
Ice cream for the girls
Here in Thailand, the temperature often rises above 30 degrees and sometimes even above 40 degrees centigrade. Everybody takes it as easy as possible then; people stay inside and drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and cool down. Wouldn’t it be great for the girls to eat an ice cream every once and a while with these temperatures? Luckily, this is possible; every day an ice cream vendor passes by with his motorbike and sidecar. He plays a tune when he is close to our houses to let us know he is coming. Thinking of the ice creams made the girls’ mouths water. Who wouldn’t like a refreshing ice cream when it’s so hot outside? Nobody, right?
Do you want to buy an ice cream for the girls? We could give them one starting 1.20 US Dollar. In each of the three family houses we can have up to 10 girls.
New Closets
Each of the girls has their own closet where they keep their clothes and personal items. Right now quite a few of them are getting old to the point of falling apart. Repairing or restoring won’t work anymore because we’ve had to do that too many times already. Will you help us replace them?
1 closet costs 160 USD and we need a total of 30 new closets so we need a total of 4800 USD.
