Center For Girls (CFG) is doing some fundraising for 3 emergency cases, where 3 girls will be supported to go to school. Education is one of the most important ways of empowering girls. CFG focuses especially on girls’ education as they are the future generation. These 3 girls come from poor families and live in rural villages in the Chiang Khong area. Secondary school is free in Thailand so the girls do not have to pay for their education. However, the children living in the rural areas have a long way to school and therefore high transportation fees. It is hard for the families to cover these costs and in some cases even impossible. Farmers and people living in the rural areas of northern Thailand often have very low and irregular incomes. The parents of these girls need support paying transportation and food costs for school; otherwise, these girls cannot go to school.
*This photo is not related to the persons in the story.
The Stories of the 3 Girls
Mew, a 15-year-old girl from Chiang Khong, is a very good student and always gets good grades. She is in grade 9 now and her dream would be to go to university and become a teacher. Mew would like to return to her village and teach at the local primary school. It would mean a lot to her to be able to encourage the younger generation in her village to have higher ambitions and to have the courage to believe in their dreams just as she hopes to realize her dream and study at university to become a teacher would be living proof. She is determined to work as hard as possible to increase her chances of being a successful teacher. Since her parents are farmers, they don’t have a regular income and therefore, do not have the means to support her education.
Bee, a 14-year-old girl also from Chiang Khong, is in grade 9. She lives with her mother as her parents are divorced. Her father simply just left them, which leaves the mother all on her own to take care of Bee. The mother is a casual laborer which means she has a very irregular income. On the weekend’s Bee has to work and help her mother. They go into the forest to find some local edible plants like mushrooms. They also cut off the leaves of the banana trees for banana leaves are used very often to wrap up food to sell at the market. These goods they find in the forest they will later sell in the market. There is also not a lot of time left for Bee to visit with her friends because after school she needs to help her mother. However, she doesn’t really see this as a big burden because she wants to support her mother since her mother tries to support her as much as she can. Compared to other children Bee is very mature and a responsible young girl as she never spends the little money she gets from her mother for food on sweets and candy-like her friends. However, on some days her mother can’t give her money for food and Bee goes hungry to school. Bee’s dream is to graduate from high school, carry on to university to receive an education so that she can find a good and secure job. Most importantly it is for her to be able to support her mother as they have always stuck together and her mother is trying her very best to support her daughter.
Koi is a 15-year-old girl who lives with her parents in a mud house in a rural village near Chiang Khong. The family has a huge debt which creates a lot of tension. Koi’s father suffers from depression and abuses alcohol. He has also attempted suicide several times. Often Koi is left at home alone because her father is out drinking, and her mother is looking for some comfort at relatives’ houses. Koi is currently in 8th grade in secondary school. Next year she would like to graduate from 9th grade. Her dream is to go to college and become a nurse. Later she wants to work as a nurse in the local hospital. Many poor people in her village do not have access to free medical care; therefore, with the knowledge and resources she would gain from her nursing training, Koi would voluntarily help the people in need in the village. However, at the moment she does not see this as a possibility due to her family’s financial struggle. Her only hope is to find someone to support her so she can finish school and later attend university so she can lead an independent life afterward and give back to her community.
How You Can Help
As these girls come from very poor families, it is very ambitious of them to want to go to university. The irregular income of their parents makes their goals almost impossible to reach. However, the parents of these 3 girls see the importance of education and understand that their children must reach their full potential by attending university and thus leading a better life for themselves and for their community.
This education is the best and only chance for these girls to lead a better life where they can live independently and even offer a better future for their community. Right now the chances of them graduating from school due to their financial difficulties are still very uncertain which prevents the girls from following any future goals.
Your donation will have a great impact on the girls’ lives as they could focus on school and their future.
_________________________________________________________
‘Want to stay up-to-date? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
Interested in volunteering with CFG? Let us know
Not able to come to join us in Thailand yet? Consider donating
Not able to donate today? Look for opportunities in your community to work against gender-based violence and human trafficking, as these are universal issues.