Urban Neighbours of Hope and Grapongdeang School
Urban Neighbours of Hope are a small, responsive neighbourhood-based team who live and serve the community in Khlong Toey, one of the poorest areas of Bangkok. They partner with a local Montessori Preschool, Grapongdeang, at the Khlong Toey Community Centre.
Year 1 have supported Urban Neighbours of Hope and the students of Grapongdeang School for over 8 years through fundraising projects and giving books at Christmas.
Last Christmas, Year 1 parents helped to deliver new, Thai language books to the students of Grapongdeang School. In term 2, Year 1 students invited the students of Grapongdeang School for a play date at our school. The Year 1 students learned first hand that although we come from different school campuses, we are the same in so many ways.
Year 1 donated money from the annual Spellathon for soft play equipment and an aircon unit in the Physical Development room. This area is vital to children growing up in cramped conditions with little access to space to run and play.
In term 3, we donated the money from our tote bag sale to replace the windows and doors in the older rooms on their campus and buy a solar powered water filter drinking fountain.
This year, we are looking forward to another full schedule of support for Grapongdeang School. We plan to help them install solar panels on their roof to reduce running costs and we are looking forward to welcoming them to Year 1 again later in the academic year.
If you would like to support UNoH please contact Lish Faulkner at alisha@unoh.org.
Also run by Urban Neighbours of Hope, Roy Rak is a fair-trade initiative that helps local women make beautiful, ornate jewellery. Roy Rak offers workshops, tours and even birthday party activities. They will be selling their products at the Community Market on Friday November 1st.
Please also find them at www.royrak.org or on their Instagram page.