Chiang Mai International Rotary Club (CMIRC)-Kru Payu Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program (CWSDPP)
Great news! We have already completed three of our CMIRC survival swim and water safety classes at our Bronco Kids Sport Club pools! Sixty 4th-graders from the Wat Sridonchai and the Wat Pa Phaeng Municipal Schools and another thirty-five 4th-graders from the Wat Suan Dok School have completed 10 swim and water safety lessons (90 minutes each). We are grateful to the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai-Wattana and the Safe Child Thailand Foundation for their help with our new program at the Wat Suan Dok School.
In addition to our programs in Chiang Mai, we are working with the Warm Heart Foundation to conduct programs in Phrao. Our partners there have identified seven schools with very poor students where we will conduct our CMIRC Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program this year. With the support of a grant from the British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy (BCTFN) and our great Phrao-based swim instructor team, we will train at least 170 4th-graders at seven schools in Phrao this year. The first two schools, Ban Khun Jae and Tha Magieng, are already in the water.
The news from our Banya Migrant Learning Centre program in Phuket is still uncertain. Thanks to a very generous donation by Rotarian Bob Ashley, and our partnership with the Rotary Club of Patong Beach and their swim instructor team led by Kru Gob, we are ready to train their 4th-graders. Unfortunately, the Thai authorities have not yet permitted the reopening of the migrant learning centres. We are hoping that we can start our program at the Banya MLC this month.
So, we have a busy year ahead with nine more schools in Chiang Mai, five more in Phrao, and our migrant learning centre in Phuket yet to teach!! This year, possibly as many as 700 children will benefit from our programs in Chiang Mai, Phrao, and Phuket!
We are also supported by the Thai Thaim Foundation of Park Rapids, Minnesota, USA and Rotarian Bob Ashley and of course all the generous donors to the Chiang Mai International Rotary Club.
We started this program in 2015 and we are still going strong and serving more children every year thanks to our wonderful sponsors and CMIRC volunteers!