A Gala Event

December 9th, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments

Girls from Nang Rong High School perform traditional Thai dance.

Any event in Thailand where I have to wear a dress coat is by definition a gala event. Our foundation was invited to the farewell dinner for the Nai Amphoe, the departing head for Nang Rong district, which contains Nang Rong city. The district head is somewhat like a county commissioner in the U.S. except that in Thailand there is only one, and his function and visibility within the district is quite a lot more than it would be in the U.S.

Amanda
Volunteer Amanda presents roses to the wife
of the Nai Amphoe

It was a large dinner, outdoors as nearly all eating is in Nang Rong, served Chinese style. There were well over a hundred tables and we were originally at table 97. When we got there we discovered that someone had us moved up to table 11 near the front. Good thing we dressed up.

The guest of honor even remembered our names and greeted us at our table.

The whole thing was a bit long with a number of speeches . Fortunately none by any of us. There was also presentation of small gifts and entertainment. At our table were our volunteer Amanda, managing director Walai, director Tassani, our accountant Pissamai, Sue and myself.

So, is our foundation becoming political? As a foundation in Thailand we can’t, and don’t, take any position on political issues. We do, however, work closely with the government on many issues. The police bring abused women and girls of all ages to us for temporary and long term protection. We work with the government hospital, having some of our current residents referred to us from there. We remain on good terms with the head of social services of Buriram province who is also our former board member. The government shelters in Buriram, Surin and other provinces refer cases and people to us as well as ask our professional staff to investigate some of the cases coming to them for which we might be better suited. Our board member Tassani is well known in educational circles in our province and the Thai nation. There’s more, but that’s what comes to mind right now.

Tassani and myself presenting flowers to the Nai Amphoe.

So while not political we are on a “first name basis” with many government officials and offices, and will do our part to keep it that way.

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