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‘Makeup’ Your Life Thailand
The Pratthanadee Foundation recently hosted makeup artist Ms Sasinipa Siripitukdet and her crew at our office. They held their "Makeup Your Life Thailand" workshop for our students from the ‘Better Me’ class. Everyone was provided with a full set of cosmetics and...
LIFE LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
I graduated in March 2020 and I was so looking forward to entering the workforce, like the rest of my university mates. Then life served up a giant curve ball and knocked me off my feet. The Covid-19 pandemic hit, a partial lockdown followed, making it difficult for...
Graduated Finally!
Last year, we kickstarted a project sponsored by the folks at JD Sports. They were drawn to our mission of empowering underprivileged girls and women as this dovetailed with the causes they were passionate about. The international sports fashion retailer, which opened...
FON AND JOY
Oranuch Wonggo or Fon is originally from Nakhon Pathom, a city some 60 kilometres from Bangkok. She became a caregiver at a young age, looking after her ailing father when she was just 16. Fon continued her studies while taking care of him and graduated with a...
Q&A with Watinee Khutrakul (Poom)
Q: How was your experience teaching during the lockdown? A: We had classes via video calls as classes were suspended. The students had a lot of free time in their rented rooms and so I thought this was a great opportunity to review what we had learnt. In addition, I...
Q&A with Suppapong Sooksangchaya (Lek)
Q: How does it feel to be back in class? A: It’s great! Being able to resume a face-to-face class with my students makes me feel much more in control. I feel that I can handle the class more effectively. I can move around the room, approach each student who may need...
Q&A with Ed Tauscher
Q: How does it feel to be back in class? A: It feels wonderful to back in class! In-person teaching benefits all students and teachers. Classroom participation helps students learn English and there is no substitute for it! Q: What are some of the challenges you face...
Q&A with Panida Ottesen
Q: How does it feel to be back in class? A: It is really wonderful to be back in class and see everyone at the foundation again, both the staff and the students. In class, we can see each other's faces and I can better assist the students when they start to show...
Q&A with Claudia Vratilova
Q: How does it feel to be back in class? A: Good! During the lockdown I taught via LINE – making teaching videos and having Q&A sessions with some of the students. This was a useful fill-in in the absence of classes but not as effective as face-to-face...
HOLDING ON AND LIVING WELL
Arun Naulnom, or just Arun to her classmates and teachers at Pratthanadee, is originally from Phetchabun, a province close to the north of Thailand. A single mother of two, she’s been cleaning homes for over 20 years. The freelance domestic helper earns about 35,000...
Q&A With Volunteer Teacher, Fiona Hamilton
How did you first find out about Pratthanadee and what attracted you to support them all these years? I’ve been volunteering since June 2017, so it’s been almost 2 1/2 years. I’ve been teaching some of the women the whole time so we know each other well by now! What...
Back At Work, Finally!
It was a difficult few months for Praew (Pongsa Phimmasone) when Bangkok was under partial lockdown. The 27-year old massage therapist, like several of her classmates at Pratthanadee, found herself temporarily out of work as her workplace had to close. Money was tight...
Q&A With Volunteer Teacher, Kate Usvathongkul
How long have you been volunteering at Pratthanadee Foundation? I've been with the foundation for almost two years. What is the best thing about it? The best thing about volunteering here is that I was able to use my skills to help others to improve themselves. As I...
Life, interrupted.
Nong first came to Bangkok in 2008. She tried her hand at many things until she landed a job as a massage therapist at a hotel in the tourist district of Sukhumvit. This was the best paying job she could secure to send money home as well as pay off a mountain of debt...
HelloBody, Danke Sehr!
We first heard from HelloBody early this year. Isabella, its project manager, wrote to us on the possibility of a partnership for International Women’s Day. We didn’t give much thought to it thereafter as it was just exploratory and besides, the cosmetic company was...
Life In The Pandemic
For two decades we have trained underprivileged girls and women in the kingdom almost uninterrupted through political upheavals, floods and the like. Never have we experienced anything close to this current pandemic and its accompanying lockdown measures. For many of...
It’s Not Ok To Be Locked Up!
We kicked off the new year with much love and support from the folks at Estēe Lauder Companies. Not only did they fund us to run two workshops in northeast Thailand, they hit the road with us to see for themselves how we reached out to underprivileged high school...
Meaw and her life under lockdown
Like most residents in Bangkok, Sopacha Ratanaanan (Meaw) has been homebound for several weeks now because of the government’s advisory for everyone to stay home to stem the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Reflecting on life under lockdown, she says the biggest wake-up...
Better Me for Girls: Raising and Realizing of Girls in Northeast Thailand
From 13th to 14th January 2020, with the financial support of Estēe Lauder Companies, we conducted the project ‘Better Me for Girls: Raising and realizing of Girls in Northeast Thailand’ through two key activities: Claim Your Rights Training – Teaches life-saving...
Happy Songkran!
สุขสันต์วันสงกรานต์ สวัสดีปีใหม่ไทย ขอส่งความปรารถนาดีและความห่วงใยที่แสนอบอุ่นไปถึงทุกคนนะคะ ขอให้สุขภาพกายใจสมบูรณ์ แข็งแรง ขอให้มีแต่ความสุขเนื่องในวันสงกรานต์นี้ไปจวบจนตลอดปี ตลอดไปค่ะ ✨♥️ Allow me to congratulate you on the arrival of the Traditional Thai New...
เทใจเพื่อชีวิตที่ดีของผู้หญิงที่ขาดโอกาสทางการศึกษา
Giving Underprivileged Women A Voice
Stand up to Violence!
From 1st July to 30th August 2019, with the financial support of the Irish Aid In-Country Micro-Project Scheme (ICMP), we carried out the project entitled “Empowering Girls in Rural Northeast Thailand to Protect Themselves Against Domestic & Sexual Violence”. This...
Kurt Heck: Reflections on Pratthanadee’s Training for Young Rural Women
I’ve been involved with Pratthanadee to varying degrees since I first came to Thailand nearly 20 years ago. Having moved to Phuket in recent years, I’ve been wanting to catch up on how the foundation’s work in the Issan region of Thailand has progressed. ...
My Internship Experience at Pratthanadee Foundation: Grace
"Hi everyone, My name is Grace. I am a 4th year student from Chiang Mai University. I started my internship at Pratthanadee Foundation on early May this year and today, 8th August, is my last day here. Since I have worked here for approximately 3 months, I want to...
The Better Me Project for Girls “Preparing for Success”
Executive Summary The ‘Preparing for Success’ training program, through the generous support of the Socialgiver organization, was able to reach more than 800 rural girls in Northeast Thailand. It covered key aspects from existing workshops on ‘Building a Positive...
Voices That Care
It has been an exciting and definitely entertaining summer for us. The highlight was undoubtedly our event in June at The Athenee Hotel in Bangkok. Together with ThaiBev, we held a sold-out fundraising gala dinner showcasing Vocal Point, Brigham Young University’s...
Giving Underprivileged Women A Voice
Recently, we received a visit from Jaclyn Tan, Head of Brand & Marketing (Southeast Asia) at JD Sports Fashion. The UK leading sports fashion retailer opened its flagship store at IconSiam plus an outlet at Mega Bangna less than a year ago. So it was flattering...
Better Me for Women Supported By Allen & Overy Thailand Co., Ltd.
Donation Amount: 200,000 baht Objective: To have 12 women go through the Better Me Program. This 9 monthtraining plan aims to raise and realize aspirations, empowering women to take positive steps towards becoming healthy, independent and ambitious individuals....
Interviews From Pratthanadee: Q&A With Volunteer Teacher Edward
The experience doesn’t just begin and end in the classroom... How long have you volunteering at Pratthanadee? Almost 2 years! What is the best thing about it? Please feel free to share your story! For me, the best thing about volunteering as an English...
