Creating Learners Online and On the Ground

 Many thanks donors!

Now we work for after Covid-19, restarting local projects and inviting volunteers to local projects and  fundraising to restart our popular Learning Camps and a new training center.

We alsoprepare a special Code and English training program for disabled students. Ask our cofounder, Gaweechat Joompaula, for more information He and volunteers Stoyan and Dasha head that project!

So, we hope to welcome many volunteers back, but also plan for more online training programsand invite volunteers to help online and donors to help with fundraising, sharing this report, please! 

Cheers and thanks! Team OpenmindProjects

Read on

A ripple effect, a new hope, for young but poor. Once upon time OpenmindProjects had its first pioneer volunteers. Now it’s time for new, after Covid, pioneers!

It’s befitting. When OpenmindProjects, OMP, now restarts after Covid, we have new pioneer volunteers after three long Covid years.

Once upon a time OMP started as IT in Isan (the poor Northeast of Thailand) and we had some great first pioneers, volunteers. They came from Canada, the US, Italy, Colombia, energetic and friendly, joining two orphan homes and a village. and they inspired the  IT in Isan project to become OpenmindProjects, opening young minds to IT, internet and English, opening doors to the future.

They worked with Gaweechat, the OMP cofounder, mixing English with IT and creating some world awareness, opening kids’ eyes to a world outside. They made PowerPoints, in basic English and in Thai, showed them to astonished parents and staff, teachers. Who could use most PP features, best English, most exciting content, best pictures? They were proud. They showed their friends, creating ripple effects, more interested kids!

We called it ‘learning by doing’, the motto of OpenmindProjects!

Now, after three, too long Covid years, we restart, invite volunteers back to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal.
We worked with a small and poor school, Arunrangsse, during Covid, helped by local OMP alumni and their friends and this is where our first, after Covid, volunteers arrived!

Stoyan from Bulgaria/Canada, the clever IT man, was first to arrive, and he is not only helping TT with updating, improving our IT material, website etc. but also joining the school kids. He is big, so no kids want to mess with him
Then Sasha came from Israel, clever with many ideas how to engage with the kids. Not very big and some kids were naughty but she converted them and they became the best. She shared her ideas with young Paula and Luis from Spain who were happy to take over before leaving to go diving down South.

Our TT, Stoyan, Luis and Paula have visited the school for disabled where we are starting a pioneer Code training program for disabled students. ‘Learn about programming and improve your English.’ We hope some of them will one day go on to find jobs as programmers and also help and inspire their friends.

And we had a nice Stoyan, birthday, and bye bye Sasha dinner!

Sponsor John from Australia came to visit with his friend. He wants to help fundraise for a new a training center for OMP trainees, camps and campers and volunteers. Fundraising is a top priority to get going and restart more and more projects, so all help is welcome!

More Spanish volunteers, Gemma and her teenage daughters arrive this week. They will also go to help the students at the school for disabled! Veteran volunteer, longtime supporter, Shireen, is coming back, from the UK, to talk fundraising and go to the schools.
Another ripple effect, a new hope , for young but poor Thais!

And you help us help them!

To be cont’d.

Links:

• Openmind News July 2022