WWW Klong Toey

For almost a decade, during Week Without Walls, students from The International School Bangkok (ISB) have been going to a Klong Toey kindergarten founded and sponsored by The Human Development Foundation-Mercy School. ISB students teach children in Klong Toey for five days. The Klong Toey children are between the ages of three and six. This year, 2009, ISB will be working with two kindergartens.

The following is an excerpt from The Human Development Foundation (http://www.themercycentre.org/)

Origins/History
In 1973, the HDF opened its first one-baht-a-day school in the slaughterhouse district of Klong Toey, and continued building new schools as other slum communities requested them and funds allowed. Within ten years, we were operating twelve schools. Today, with 30 schools, the Mercy School system is the largest of its kind in Thailand. Over 35,000 children have graduated from our schools. For generations of poor children in Bangkok, the Mercy Schools have become a major rite of passage in their young lives as they begin many of life’s bigger lessons.

This year’s sponsors for ISB’s Klong Toey Kindergarten Week Without Walls activity are Mrs. Kalis, Mr. Sakanaka, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Serrano and Mr. Fitzgerald.