July 10
Children Art Foundation Forges a Collaborative Agreement with the Bangkok School for the Blind in Thailand
By Tanapol Pachoei – Executive Director
Bangkok, Thailand (June, 2010) - We are pleased to announce that CAF will begin to provide educational support to the Bangkok School for the Blind, located in the business district of Bangkok, Thailand. The school provides services for children who are blind or visually impaired,who travel from all over Thailand, many of whom live on campus. The school's mission is to help provide intensive educational training to blind and low vision students so that they could continue on and integrate into regular vocational schools, high schools, or universities.
As a precursor to learning Braille, which is exceedingly difficult for Asian children because of the penta-tonal nature of their languages and use of many more consonants and complex phonemes, arts education and arts and crafts are important features to help develop the manual dexterity and tactile stimulation that is required to enhance Braille learning. The school has art and arts and crafts studios, and welcomes volunteers to assist their teachers on staff to be able to provide individualized attention to children.
In 2009 - 2010, CAF sent a volunteer from the Us to Thailand, Meredythe Goethe, who assisted in these tasks and helped establish our connection with the school staff. Our Advisory Board members in Bangkok, Teerasan Charoenrung and Hussapong Chaipanithhiphan, continued visiting the school after Meredythe's departure and organized a fundraising event and special luncheon for students and teachers.
The Board of Directors of CAF voted in 2010 to pledge annual financial support to the Bangkok School for the Blind. Funds donated will be earmarked for arts education..