Alan and Sherri Thorne...they belong to a group who attends meditation sessions. The entire group were on this trip but the Thornes didn't tell anyone that the real purpose of the trip was to celebrate the opening of this school. Most of the group found out about this project while there... I cannot imagine how they, the Thornes could keep it to themselves that long.
Front view of Bellerose School in Thailand which is about a three hour drive from Bankok... the side view kind of gives an idea of the depth of this school. The school is built in the shape of an 'E' with no interior walls.
The school is built beside a school that hosts grades one through twelve. It is built for the poorest students and it should house about 30 to 50 students.
The picture at the top is Alan with the Governor of the region.
The school is built by the donations from Bellerose in St. Albert for about $10,000CDN. The government in Thailand will pay for the teacher...sounds a bit like Alberta's government. The monies were raised primarily through recycling pop cans and juice boxes. Other fundraising events were: yard sale at school, pi day (Math club), sale of cotton candy and ice cream sundaes by a special ed group.
The children in the pictures were actually on their summer vacation and were brought in specifically for the opening of the school. The gals in yellow are volunteers and many people were wearing yellow.
Yellow is the colour that shows respect for the king, who has been on the throne for over 60 years.
Alan and Sherri brought bags of treats for the children...Canada flags and pins, pencils, erasers, staplers...
