This year, 167 children, many from ethnic minority tribes in the hills of northern Thailand, will get help with their education costs from the Seven Fountains Scholarship Programme.
The Jesuits in Seven Fountains, the Jesuit retreat centre in ChiangMai, have been working among the hill tribes for more than 20 years. The scholarship programme was set up in 2008 to help children from very poor families in the hill tribes get an education.
“For decades, the people in the hill tribes in the north of Thailand have been marginalized and treated as the non-citizens. Education can make a difference, and our scholarship programme is meant to help them see the value of education, and achieve a better quality of life,” said Fr Vinai Boonlue SJ, Superior of the Seven Fountains community and the current Jesuit coordinator for the programme. Fr Vinai is also a Karen, which is one of the largest hill tribes in the area.
There are about 1 million indigenous people in northern Thailand, who are classified as “hill tribe” and minority people.
Although education is free in Thailand, families have to pay for uniforms, textbooks and school supplies such as pencils and notebooks. In addition, if they live far from the school, there is transport cost or the cost of living in a boarding house.
“Each child we support has been screened by our community, and the real needs have been established. In almost all cases, without our help these children would not receive an education,” said Fr Vinai.
The support for each student ranges from 2,500 to 7,500 Baht (USD 60 to 200) for one school year. Most of the scholarship recipients are in primary school.
The scholarship money is distributed through volunteers – two priests, two sisters, two teachers, one social worker and village volunteers – who know the students well. They understand what is needed and personally pay the bills to ensure that the money is used as intended towards the children’s education. There are no administration costs and all donations received for the programme go to the recipients.
To date, the Seven Fountains Scholarship Programme has supported 638 children.
Seven Fountains also runs a small boarding house for high school students, who have to leave their villages to study in the city. The house is named “Moo ke paw” or “House of light” because of the ray of hope that comes from these students from the mountains being able to go beyond basic education level.
Most of the 40 students who live in this boarding house are girls and animist (traditional religion). This is because there is no safe place for them to live while they go to school, unlike Christian boys and girls who can live in boarding houses run by religious sisters or brothers, and Buddhist and animist boys who can live in the monasteries. The House of light is a place they can learn and live together. Every year, about 70 percent of the boarders continue to the university level.
“It is our hope that through this social outreach apostolate, these young people from ethnic minorities will learn and build capacity, and return to transform their own societies,” said Fr Vinai.
For more information on Seven Fountains and the Scholarship Programme, watch the video below and go to www.thesevenfountains.org.