Stand Up for Maekok
Mae Kok Foundation – News Letter
November 14, 2021
How are you everyone?
The number of newly infected coronavirus in Tokyo was about 6,000 per day in August, but recently it has fallen below 30 per day. The vaccination rate has risen to about 73% of the total population. I hope the coronavirus pandemic will end soon and will be free to come and go between Thailand and Japan.
Now, OCA is supporting Mae Kok Foundation (MKF), an orphanage for mountain tribes in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. We have visited MKF many times and made friends with their children. However, the spread of the pandemic has serious implications for rural areas, and making it difficult to manage small hill tribe orphanages. Last year, we sent 700,000 yen from MRA Foundation and 560,000 yen from individual donations, for a total of 1.26 million yen to help MKF management.
Due to the influence of the pandemic, MKF management continues to be difficult this year. OCA is holding a MKF Charity Donation for two months from October 15th to December 15th, and holding various events and collecting donations to support MKF. Would you like to join the Thai side in a movement to support the small orphanages for the hill tribes of Chiang Rai with the Japanese side? Even a small donation is fine. With the warm support of many people who know about MKF, Japanese and Thai friends can work together to help the small orphanages. Let’s stand up for MKF together!
There are currently 24 children enrolled in MKF orphanage. It costs about 4 million yen a year to operate. MKF continue to manage the pandemic impact by lowering the salaries of their staff.
The situation is such that we can finally survive with the donations of Seigakuin Junior and Senior High School, Reitaku University officials, and MRA Foundation involved.
This year, we would like to provide the following support.
1) Donations that support the operation of MKF
We are considering the following donations to cover the lives and school fees of the 24 children.
- Remittance of 400,000 yen from MRA Foundation every year. (Donations for
agricultural projects to learn food education and self-sufficiency)
- As a matching donation to support the management difficulties of the pandemic,
MRA Foundation will send 300,000 yen + individual donations of 300,000 yen,
totaling 600,000 yen.
2) Donations to build a computer room for the children
Children are required to submit homework from school using computers, but MKF
does not have a computer. From time to time, they borrowed Anuluck’s computer to
complete their homework, but it’s already at its limit. We would like to create an
environment where the children can actively absorb knowledge by doing homework on
a computer that they can use freely, searching for news from around the world, and so
on.
The HIV-infected orphanage Ban Rom Sai in Chiang Mai, which we support, has a
computer corner in their library as shown in the attached photo. The children of the
orphanage and the children of the residents in the surrounding area also use it together.
We wanted to prepare such a place for MKF, and we thought about setting up a computer
room. We would like to create a computer room by dividing it into a space of 5mx5m in
the assembly building of MKF.
When we calculated the construction cost together with Anuluck, we found that it
would cost about 600,000 yen. Please see the attached table for the breakdown of the
budget.
This year, in addition to the total support of 700,000 yen from the MRA Foundation,
we would everyone to join the “MKF Support Association”. We would like to aim for
900,000 yen as an individual donation. The breakdown of the target of 900,000 yen is
300,000 yen as an operation support fund and 600,000 yen for computer room
construction costs, for a total of 900,000 yen. To be honest, the goal is quite high, but we
hope we could collect as much donation as we can.
Everyone involved is thinking about various plans as an event to collect donations. We
hope we could collect donations with fun together.
| Event holding date | Event content |
| Oct 10 | Anuluck’s cooking class |
| Dec 17 – 30 | Decluttering-tidy up unnecessary items and donate them in cash. |
| Dec 12 | Charity event sponsored by Nagoya “Make a difference” |
| Jan 29 – Feb 13 | Charity Run & Walk |
Event information will be emailed to you. We look forward to your participation.
We will continue to publish the MKF Newsletter on a regular basis to give you as much detail as possible about MKF children. We would like to share with you the information about the above charity events, how your donations last year helped, and the news that this year’s donations will lead to the completion of the computer room.
We have received video messages from Anuluck and the children this year again. You can see what MKF looks like by accessing it from the You tube site below.
Please send your worm donation to the following MKF account.
Siam Commercial Bank Chiangrai Branch
Account number 507-2-53304-7 Maekok Foundation
This request for support will begin on October 15, 2021 and end on December 15, and we will be sent it to MKF as a Christmas donation on December 20th. Thank you for your support.
Finally, Ms. Anuluck has sent you a letter, so please read the translation below.
To everyone who supports MKF:
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Chiang Rai is still increasing. Most of them are construction workers and agricultural workers, and the infection spread unknowingly among a large number of workers, and they went shopping in the market and spread from the town to the domestic infection. In September, many children and students were infected, schools were closed, children could not go to school, and they were not allowed to return to their home villages. Many villages prohibit outsiders from entering the village.
Under these circumstances, the children spend their time in MKF’s dormitory until the beginning of the new semester in November. The exam is still postponed. Events such as school and group work camps and seminars, which are the pillars of MKF’s income, cannot be held.
In Chiang Rai Province, children and students aged 12-18 will be vaccinated with Pfizer from October 3rd to 12th this year.
Meanwhile, I heard that the charity donation will start again this year. I am very reassured and grateful. Building a computer room has long been a dream. I would be very happy if you could create an environment where children can study with your cooperation. Thank you for your warm donation.
Mae Kok Foundation Representative Anuluck Chaislin
“Mae Kok Foundation Support Association”
Secretaries: Takizawa, Koinuma, Shimabayashi, Mori, Noda, Yamada, Nakabayashi, Kiriha, Okumura, Takahashi
Attachment
Computer room construction cost (Anuluck’s estimated amount)
| Equipment and construction costs | B=3.5Yen | ||
| １ | Room remodeling: sliding door, swing door, screen door, ceiling insulation | 65,000THB | 227,500Yen |
| ２ | Computer, printer, Wi-Fi | 62,990THB | 220,465Yen |
| ３ | Air conditioning equipment 12000BTU, 3.6Kw | 28,000THB | 98,000Yen |
| ４ | Installation work | 3500THB | 12,250Yen |
| Total | 558,215Yen |
Ban Rom Sai Computer Room
Planned site for MKF’s computer room
