This is our second aid and show giving project of 2016 and it's our annual visit to Ban Kru Noi Orphanage, located just over the Chao Phraya River in down-town Bangkok. There are around 100 orphans and street kids being cared for by an amazing lady, Khun Noi and just a hand full of dedicated staff who all live in what's not much more than a regular town house in a fairly run-down urban suburb of the City.
​Gift of Happiness Foundation has been serving these children and Khun Noi since around 2005 and we try to give much needed fun and essential goodies to the poor children here at least once every year.

This time we are giving brand new underwear for all the children and they will also receive lots more goodies that have been donated to Gift of Happiness Foundation by the Bangkok British Women's Group.
The children and staff will also see two professionally arranged Clown shows given by our special visiting entertainer, Gingernutt the Clown who's come all the way from London to inject the children with a fantastic dose of laughter and joy that he normally shares with worldwide audiences who've seen his work on the Muppet Show, Labyrinth the movie and many more places. The second show is given by the old professor of buffoonery and mayhem, our own Clown Eckie (Eddie Haworth).

Be sure to see the last project we produced for around 2,000 very poor children!
HERE

   "THANK YOU TO ALL SPONSORS!"

First Gift of Happiness Foundation Aid & Show Giving Project of 2016
​Supporting Hundreds of Children in Need 

Gift of Happiness - Or - Our lives put into perspective.

Project report by volunteer, Mrs. Ailsa Kneath. 

Day 1 - Monday 11/01/16.
At 08-30am with our Satnav (otherwise known as Doris)  turned on, we arrived at the Gift of Happiness Foundation warehouse in Bangkok to be greeted by GoHF Founder/Director Eddie Haworth and his old friend Ian Thom who came out from London to give freely of his time to make the children happy in his professional role as Gingernutt the Clown. We were also greeted by our friend, International Schoolteacher Laura from Scotland who happily offered to become our fellow volunteer during this very special week of Happiness giving. 

Driving in convoy (tiring) stopping at a number of pee/coffee pull-ins (interesting) and capped by the visit en-route to an amazing remote mountain pass roadside Market where the views were breath-taking. We arrived at our haven, Poonagunn Hotel in Mae Sot, a small but immaculate hotel offering wonderful accommodation with dedicated staff. Quick shower and off for a quiet meal before a good night’s sleep ready for action the following day.
Day 2 - Tuesday 12/01/16.
09am. The first show was at Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee (BMWEC). Here we discovered a place of excellence. Although struggling against the odds, a student greeted us with impeccable English, who had her life mapped out, graduation then a scholarship to Yangon University.  To see such confidence in a young lady can only have come from the way this community had instilled in her the self-worth and self-belief that yes she can do it. What a credit to them. The school was also efficiently worked with genuine excellent standards worthy of any educational establishment, achieved with very little, but dedicated and forward thinking staff.

Slide show of day 2...

Whilst Eddie, Ian and Amarin set up, Laura went on the ‘ice-cream run’, the ‘après’ show treat, Martin the dedicated photographer captured the professional set up and contained excitement and anticipation from the children. The two shows were quite different in their delivery. Ian is a methodical calm clown, who does most of his show through mime, a great medium for all languages and an excellent way to warm up the reticent children who are not sure about showing their emotions or if joining in is acceptable.  Eddie (AKA Clown Eckie) comes on with a more noisy show, which they respond to immediately without reserve. It's a wonder to see the way they can confidently show their excitement and sheer fun loving side once confronted by the clowns. They quickly learn to anticipate and predict joining in with innocence and laughter. After the show the great ice-cream treat was served, organised by the older children in a calm and unhurried way; however, it was fantastic to see that they still had the ability to work out that if they joined the back of the line they would get ice-cream too, which child would not?

Whilst the show was being set up in a much smaller venue. Laura and myself entertained the children with the simple fun of bubbles; however, even bubbles can burst or run out of puff!  So we then invented an entertainment to occupy them before the real show - singing songs with plenty of action. This began to evaporate their inhibitions and taught them some English as an added bonus.  Eddie liked this so much, he asked us to do this before every show from then on - 'X-Factor’ eat your heart out!
We were also able to donate many bags of clothes, toiletries, educational supplies and much needed toys here.  To see the gentle joy upon their faces when looking at these things was very humbling. There was no grabbing or pushing, but sheer pleasure at being able to assess and pick out what they would like to have.
​At the end of a hot and exhausting day, we all came away with a feeling of contentment and happiness at having achieved a great deal and having brought light into a day, which could have been dark. As we ate our dinner and chewed over the events of the day, I think I can safely say, that we all enjoyed one of the most enriching days of our lives.

Slide show one of day 3...

Day 3 - Wednesday 13/01/16.
The third show was to be given at Naung Boe Deng Migrant Learning Centre, located right out in the outback..."the best way to describe the journey to find it". The dirt tracks cut across hills and fields of sugar cane. We felt like intrepid explorers of foreign correspondents. After wrong turns and clouds and clouds of red dust, we arrived at our destination, bamboo huts and classrooms, no power and no indoor room to erect the show, so the roadshow was put up instead. Having observed and quickly learned, we all sprang into action and everything was soon erected behind the truck. Actually, when finished it looked fabulous. (Less is more and KISS come to mind!). Although it had to be performed whilst the children sat in the dust and in direct sunlight, the performance was received with great enthusiasm and excitement. The children joined in and had the greatest of times. Shining faces of pure innocence and joy wiped away the guarded look that many of them had, even if it was for only an hour or two. No ice creams here as it was so far from civilisation, but we were able to treat them to drinks and snacks as well as the many bags of clothes, educational books/supplies, toiletries, toys and sweets, once again accepted with humble gratitude.  Another well run school with a teacher for every grade and they were taught in English and Thai. We can all learn from these situations about how much can be done with so little.

Slide show two of day 3...

The school we visited in the afternoon called Nya Li Ah Hta Migrant Learning Centre was even less well equipped if that is at all possible, just one large bamboo hall construction in the middle of nowhere, which was sectioned into class space – no equipment. The floor was bamboo poles laid with largish gaps between them, which Laura and I felt sure would give way as we sang and danced (large foreign dancing ladies, it was not built for). Roadshow 2 was set up, as close to tree shade as possible. It did not deter the joy, fun and laughter of the children and adults alike. Workers on their way home from a long day in the fields stopped and joined in. So the whole community was galvanised by the professional show put on by Eddie and Ian. The amazing show is so far removed from their everyday drudgery, that it was able to transport all ages to a land of laughter and fun and give themselves something to talk about other than daily struggles, bringing a smile to their faces and sparkle to their eyes.  Again we were able to donate sweets, many clothes, educational supplies and toys for them to share. The overriding emotions shown when these donations are given is amazement and gratitude, never is there a sign of greed or avarice but always signs of great respect.
​Each evening as we convened for food and chat, we agreed both the children and we had had a full day of fun. We were able to reflect upon our thoughts and each other’s.  We all know where we were when the death of David Bowie was announced and had the honour of being in the presence of someone, namely Ian, who had worked with him.

Slide show one of day 4...

Day 4 - Thursday 14/01/16.
Last Day dawned another cool breakfast – outside. ​This time we are off to Mae Tao Clinic to donate bedding and clothes etc. Whilst Eddie sorted that out, we were given a grand tour of the clinic. To say they are doing an amazing job in a dire situation is an understatement. A 5-star Hospital in Bangkok it is not, but they still have as many departments, covering every medical department even offering acupuncture! They deal with 104703 case-loads a year, 2681 live births, 241 malarial cases and 1900 eye surgery patients, not to mention their education, training and community projects, especially the Child Protection Policy. They now have the great reward of having a brand new clinic to be opened in 2017 which means they will move from their muddy site and collection of ‘needs must’ buildings to a site their own and will have autonomy over for the 526 volunteer staff. 
Following that visit we went straight to the bustling Mae Sot fresh food market to buy high protein foods and rice to add to the bags of clothes, bedding and medical supplies to be delivered to the Safe Home for women and children with HIV/AIDS run by Dr. Htu Zaw. This was Eddie’s second visit in as many weeks and followed his big Christmas Day of cooking for the 120 abandoned or orphaned children who live just up the road in their own safe house also run by the good Doctor Zaw. 

Slide show two of day 4...

The last show was at the AGAPE Orphanage and Learning Centre. Here we actually saw a little boy jump for joy when he arrived home from school and saw the Roadshow set up.  A huge treat for us here, as they were going to give us a show! The confidence and happiness of the children just oozed out of them. After a wonderful singing show presented by all the orphans who were proudly wearing their orange coloured Gift of Happiness uniforms (Given here); the final clown shows were performed.
Packed full of fantastic fun, a little fear of giant balloons, raw enjoyment and huge applause as one of their own joined in the final trick.  There was also a huge donation of bedding, towels, many brand new and used clothes, sportswear, toys, musical instruments, educational equipment and more sweeties which were all most gratefully received.

This is thanks to the passion and non-stop vitality of Eddie. Without him the children in the Mae Sot area would not have much fun brought into their lives. It is important that we keep supporting him with our donations, money and time because, believe me, he is making a difference and we all need to be a part of that...

Thank you Eddie for giving us all the chance to help you and for giving us an awesome experience...
"It is true, we all laugh in the same language".

Sunday 10/01/16 to Saturday 16/01/16
Sunday, we start packing three more truckloads of goodies for 100's of poor kids who will also be receiving some fantastic fun packed shows by two world class entertainers!

Following our very successful Christmas Special aid and show giving project just a couple of weeks ago, we are off again to the border city of Mae Sot in north Thailand. This time we have much more essential supplies to give-out to 6 schools and the medical center that we visit almost every month, Mae Tao Clinic.

Just take a look at some of the places this world class entertainer has performed;

Of course we will also have Bangkok's 'Clown Eckie' along as well to make doubly sure the kids get the biggest belly full of laughs to help their ice-creams go down well. The ice-creams and much more will be provided by three great volunteers from the St. Davids Society in Bangkok, all of whom will be traveling and staying with us for the week-long aid and show giving project aimed at helping some of the poorest children in Thailand.
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This project is kindly supported by Monroe Consulting Group, Bangkok and the Geoffroy Van Innis Memorial Fund, Horton International Thailand. Donated goods come from many schools, families and groups in Bangkok and beyond . Special thanks to Len Penn Music Academy who provided warm clothing, candies and muuch more!  THANK YOU ALL!