Posted by Karl Morsbach on 15th December 2009
Talents and Education
With the help and assessment of teachers, foster parents, Baan Gerda management and the children themselves, we are establishing profiles of our older children which will facilitate their choice of profession. We are especially interested in the assessment of the school teachers who know that we attach great importance to their judgement. We will have to live with the fact that some of the children have no ambition to finish school successfully.
Choice of Profession
The provincial capital Lopburi is 80 km from Baan Gerda and can be reached by bus. The more gifted children will be able to attend the university in that city whilst they continue to live in BG.
Other children need to receive a vocational training. There are suitable training centers run by the government. BMW have also offered us ten apprenticeship places in their assembling works.
We are in contact with an institution run by the University of Khon Kaen which is teaching organic farming. One branch of this institution is in the vicinity of Baan Gerda and accessible by bus connection. There is a vast educational program offered by this institution. We will come back to this issue in a separate letter.
We now have now a rough guideline how the professional future of our children might look.
Midnight Run
The annual Midnight Run, organized by the Amari Watergate Hotel, took place in the streets of Bangkok in October. The target was to run 6 or 12 km on the humid hot streets in the shortest possible time. 5000 runners from all over the country had registered for the run.
The kids of Baan Gerda were also courageous enough to participate. 30 of them not only started the race, but finished it in remarkably fast times. They were proud to be presented with medals for their achievement.
What growing children should know
Our oldest children are growing up and reaching a ‘critical age’. As a part of a sexual education program, there are teams of professional teachers consisting of psychologists and social workers to give the children guidelines in relevant matters. In this program, special importance is attached to the extra responsibility due to their HIV situation. One day they will be members of the society outside of Baan Gerda and they need to be prepared to follow special rules.
Our Vision
When the time is right we want our children to return their communities. It is the place where many years ago they were forced to leave, when HIV/AIDS was the source of horror At the time, villagers did not know anything about AIDS other than it was incurable and certainly fatal.
New medicine and educational campaigns turned the situation around. Still, we are afraid that there will be always be a stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. It is therefore important that the children receive an excellent education and are well prepared to become a valuable member of society.
Often we are asked at what age the children will leave the protection of Baan Gerda. Almost all of them do not know any other home than Baan Gerda so it will continue to be the place of retreat when there is the need for it. We will do everything in our power to ensure that they will be able to stand on their own two feet and brave the imponderables of future life.