Interview with a Thai person
Asa and I interviewed out supervisor at Wat Don Chan about the school and students. We wanted to learn more about where they students come from and what bring with to Wat Don Chan. We found out some interesting stuff:
Wat Don Chan was started about 70 years ago by the monks at the temple. The school originally was a community school with about 100 students. When the government threatened to stop funding to the school the abbot which started it went up into the villages and got more students. Over the years the school has grown to about 600 students and within the past 5 years has even included girls.
The students of Wat Don Chan are from Northern Thailand in the provinces of Tak, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Phayao, etc. All of them were born in Thailand are come from several different minority groups including Burmese and Chinese as well as all of the hill tribe minorities.
Wat Don Chan does accept non-Thai citizens but all of the students currently there do have Thai citizenship.
Most of the students come to Wat Don Chan because they are orphans or their parents are either in jail or have passed away and there is no one in their family that can take care of them. Another incentive to go to Wat Don Chan School is that everything is free. The education, clothes, food, housing is all free. The government funds the school some but a lot of the supplies and money comes from outside donors. Most of these donors are from Singapore and Japan.
After graduation from the 9th grade a lot of students stay at Wat Don Chan and go to the vocational school. They teach basic skills there so the students will be able to go into the city and get jobs at restaurants or gas stations. Some of the students decided to go back to their villages and help their families there, however, there is very little money to be made. There are 4 students from Wat Don Chan currently enrolled in universities in Chiang Mai.
The school still needs a lot. Currently a health clinic and new library are being donated. However, the kids still need a lot of basic need items, such as, toothbrushes, tampons/pads, underwear, soap, clothing, blankets, etc.
