Update on Bee and Aoy
As many at the club are aware, we have been supporting the Asia Centre foundation in Thailand for over 10 years now.
This is a charity that supports poor families in and around the Phuket region, helping their children go to school to achieve an education, whilst also doing what they can to support the wider family.
As you can imagine the global pandemic has affected these poor regions hugely, with tourism gone, many families are totally out of work. So support such as the ACF provides has been more important than ever.
We have been sponsoring two ladies for the duration of that time, Bee and Aoy.
Bee has excelled at school, and in 2019 started attending university (which the ACF was very proud of). The club supports her fully in this, and we increased our sponsorship in 2019 to cover her fees, and also raised $2k to help purchase her a laptop and other equipment she might need for uni.
During the pandemic as well as her studies she has been helping to volunteer at the foundation, and they are very proud of the work she’s done over the last year. She is quite the star over there and the club are extremely proud of her. She is now entering her third year as an English university student and the foundation believes she can achieve her Bachelor’s degree.
She also was extremely grateful for the Christmas gift the club sent for her, and this helped both her and her family over that period.
Aoy came from a harder background, and her family struggled financially, this was partly due to a complex visa situation with one of her sisters which meant she couldn’t work as she wasn’t a Thai citizen. The ACF after 5 years of hard work managed to help fix this situation and in 2020 the sister gained citizenship. (the exec can explain more at the upcoming friendly Friday, as it’s an amazing story).
She is younger, and is currently 16.
Unfortunately we were informed by the ACF recently that Aoy and her family have decided not to continue with the program. They refused the Christmas gift we offered them, and Aoy has broken from her studies to start work. This is partly due to the family’s financial situation picking up, with them finding more regular work. This means that we will no longer be sponsoring her going forward.
Whilst it is disappointing that this has happened, overall the impact we as a club had on her and her family was still amazing. The foundation was able to help take a family in need and put them in a better position – which is its ultimate aim. So we and the foundation believe that although her family has broken away from the foundation, we are both proud that we’ve given them a chance to have a better life.
Being that we were down to only Bee with our sponsorship, the Exec discussed it and unanimously decided to ask the ACF to find us a 2nd child to sponsor.
We were recently notified that our new child to sponsor is called First (which is his nickname, we’re currently waiting on more details). He comes from a struggling background and he studies in high school (he’s 15), we were told that our scholarship would make a huge difference to him and his family.
We also asked the ACF to pass the Christmas gift (which we provided to Aoy, and was not taken up), to First and his family to help them out.
In the coming months we will be sending out a further update, as we have asked if either child requires any equipment for their schooling and its likely that Bee will need further support for her uni studies, so listen out for that charity drive.
We leave you with a quote from the ACF:
“Thank you again for all your love and generosity. You are giving children like Bee and First, a bright new life. The good impact will influence their lives and also their families. Thank you for being a part of the ACF’s family, we couldn’t do what we are doing without you.
Please stay safe and healthy. “
Regards,
The Exec
