Opportunity Village

For our new home we have been fortunate to find more than 70 rai (28 acres) in an area just east of Nang Rong Vocational College in the city of Nang Rong. Although it is in the city, the village is also set between two branches of the Nang Rong canal. It is accessed via a bridge across the main canal and is a secure and protected location. The canals also provide life for the many trees and plants that will make the village green and beautiful.

The heart of Opportunity village will be the many family homes, each with a mom and dad. The village has several exercise and play areas including a sports playfield and facilities. It will be a shady place in a beautiful setting.

Our large building will provide a temporary refuge for girls at risk or coming from dangerous situations as well as a home for some destitute elderly women who will join our community. It also has a learning center for both computer skills and foreign language. There will be areas for practicing career skills and sharing experience with volunteers and community members. A large auditorium will support the teaching and provide space for us to meet with people from the government, other NGO’s and the community. A small clinic will serve both our girls and our elderly residents. There will be office space for our psychologists, social workers and administration.

Apartment buildings near the main building will house volunteers coming to teach foreign languages and other skills. The ground floors will have several older ladies who come to retire, becoming part of the village’s extended family as grandmothers and mentors for our girls.

Our girls are part of the Nang Rong community. They go to public school. They can go to their friends’ houses outside the village and have their friends over to their house. Mixing with the community is encouraged by inviting a number of community children to participate in our supplemental schools. Having seen the detrimental affects of institutionalization of children, we go to considerable lengths to avoid it.