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5.2 Million baht in Proceeds from Wave Aid Concert Donated to
Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation 
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Download the 5 minute video (8.5MB) broadcast on Phuket Capital TV. The Phuket Has Been Good to Us Foundation received a check for approximately 5.2 million baht at a special ceremony on Monday 13 November, 2006 at Baan Rim Pa restaurant Kalim Beach, Phuket Island, Thailand. The donation was presented by Australian Michael Chugg of Chugg Entertainment, who organized the January, 2005 Wave Aid concert in Sydney, Australia. Wave Aid, with performers such as Powderfinger and Midnight Oil, raised millions for victims of the December, 2004 tsunami. A portion of the proceeds was set aside for the Phuket Has Been Good to Us Foundation. In attendance were national and local media, government officials, business leaders, as well as the Foundation’s board of directors, staff and volunteers. There were smiles abound as guests enjoyed cocktails and live jazz courtesy of Baan Rim Pa. 
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The Foundation’s Director of Education, Kate Cope, handed out bookmarks with photos of the children of Baan Kalim School, a local primary school where the Foundation is engaged in a three-year pilot program to provide free, high quality, and practical English language education. On the back of each unique bookmark were original paintings drawn by the children.
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Receiving the cheque on behalf of the Phuket Has Been Good to Us were Ms. Cope, Foundation Board member and President Dr. Sriyada, and local restaurateur Tom McNamara, who is the brainchild of the organization.
The Kalim School was completely destroyed during the tsunami and has been rebuilt to far more modern standard thanks to donations from many people and business locally and throughout the world.
Although the Foundation is starting small, Mr. McNamara imagines this mechanism for private sector investment in public education expanding to provide for all the children of Phuket, and even eventually to the rest of Thailand. He states, “we always overestimate what we can do in five years and underestimate what we can achieve in twenty.” The Foundation’s strategy is to put together a well organized and sustainable program with demonstrable success, only then advancing beyond the pilot school. At the beginning of the program, all students at the Kalim school were tested on their level of English proficiency. Subsequent testing at the end of the first semester demonstrated at 17% improvement in English language skills following Ms. Cope’s inventive and interactive pedagogical approach. This trend is expected to continue as the program develops. Expansion will follow as the Foundation raises the approximately 4.5 million baht that is necessary to find each new school for three years.
Follow these links for media coverage about the event. Max website- 8 December, 2006 Sydney Morning Herald— 19 November, 2006. Phuket Post— 19 November, 2006. |