Thailand – Angoon Garden, an initiative to assist and entertain the needy children

Location: Bangkok – Thailand

Language: Thai

Duration: 00:05:00

Source: A24

Restriction: A24 client

Dateline: 15-01-2022

Storyline

Thonglor is well-known for its highest cost of living and land pricing, where fewer people realize the existence of many slums, the communities of those who do the lowest work for the area, hidden behind those buildings. Following the outbreak of Covid in the past two years, people in these slums were completely abandoned and left without any income or support, their children had to stop studying because they could not afford to study online, and some became depressed from staying at home all day.

A small group of people in coordination with some foundations started a project to support the communities by offering the children a space where they can come and play every weekend and providing them with devices to be able to go back to study again, in addition to home-teacher staff to help the children with their homework or lesson, and some materials the family need to survive the hardship.

Angoon Garden was found by Angoon Malik, the original landowner who believes in equality of right to happiness. Before she passes away in 1990, she established Jayavana Foundation and donated the current land for the public interest.

Shot lists:

• (SOUNDBITE) Siriporn Sukshoosri – Head of Angoon Garden Project;

“If we look back to the beginning of Covid, Thonglor was one of the first clusters. So, the children were one of those who were affected by it right away. Thonglor used to be lively, so their families used to have stable incomes. But after the lockdown, Thonglor turned silent – not many people came, and their income disappeared. And when the measure became strict, it was as strict as people from these communities were limited to leave their houses. If you survey the communities once, you’ll know how narrow the spaces are. And the children must stay only inside their houses. What we found was some of them became depressed.

• (SOUNDBITE) Siriporn Sukshoosri – Head of Angoon Garden Project;

“It has been 5 years since Angoon Garden Project was started. We had the same thought which is to make this land a public space. Ms.Angoon originally ran some activities similar to ours when she’s still alive. Since we are located here, we questioned ourselves if there’re any slums around this area? And once we surveyed, we found the communities, children, people, and many other things. So, we brought the community relations activity in.

• (SOUNDBITE) Petchmaneejan Jantarat – A child from Jamjan Community:

“I came for the event. I like it here because it’s silvan and has space for us to play.

• (SOUNDBITE) Teshin Sakdiwong – A child from Jamjan Community;

“If I don’t come here, I’d play with my friends in our apartment. I’ve been here many times – 5-6 times. Sometimes we made sandwiches, we did activities, and we exercise. I love it here.

• (SOUNDBITE) Siriporn Sukshoosri – Head of Angoon Garden Project;

“As for the children in these communities, 99% of them had no devices to study online. So, they couldn’t attend online classes. They did their best by borrowing from their friends so they could do the homework. For the group we’re working with right now, most of them have already received the needed devices and got back to the study system. Some of them almost fell off the system because they didn’t check in (in online classes). Right, there’re 41 of them from 3 communities here today. All already received devices from us.

• (SOUNDBITE) Teshin Sakdiwong – A child from Jamjan Community:

“I got one. I use it to study and play games in my spare time. It’s an online class. I once studied with my mom’s phone. I studied when she came home.

• (SOUNDBITE) Petchmaneejan Jantarat – A child from Jamjan Community:

“I always rank 1, 2, 3, or 4 – around these”

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