National Children’s Day is a big thing in Thailand: Every year around the second Saturday of January schools and authorities celebrate the young across the whole country. We took this opportunity and asked: What do you kids dream of?
This year, National Children’s Day was on January 12th, and Center for Girls was happy to join a few festivities. Since schools in Thailand are closed on the weekends, teachers celebrate their students one day before – this is when we climbed up the hills of Chiang Khong to Songpinong, a village of the Lahu ethnic group. Music, young and older kids performing dances, balloons everywhere, teachers were giving toys and candies to every single child: The party had already started as we arrived.
Photo: Center For Girls Foundation
Primary Schools in Thailand include grades from one to six. What thoughts on their future have kids who are going to leave Songpinong’s school when the current school year ends in March? We asked a group of young ladies for interviews.
“I want to become a mechanic.”
Ado, a 13 years old girl, shared with us that she wants to become a mechanic, helping others by fixing motorbikes. Just as Ado, Mukda – another girl Center For Girls interviewed – wants adults to make education accessible for everyone. “Every child should get the chance to go to school, and to find a good job”, Mukda told us. Watch the whole interview in the video below.
Photo: Center For Girls Foundation
“Live a happy long life!”
For this year’s actual National Children’s Day, Center For Girls got invited again by the Local Municipality of Sathan, a sub-district of Chiang Khong, to be part of their festivities. Equipped with bags full of toys and sweets and several games, we were happy to welcome cheerful families by the dozen at our booth as well as younger and elder fans of Bingo.
We then turned the tables and pointed our microphone at the older generation: “I want every child to live a happy long life” is one of the things the elderly wish today’s children of Thailand. Let’s all together work on that!
Watch our video to get the whole picture (and feel free to share it):
_________________________________________________________
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