School costs for the children here at TOLO have continued to rise drastically and with fuel prices now costing us 10,000 baht per month A few years ago it cost less than half of what it does today for tuition, books, uniforms, required fees for programs, after school mandated programs per child and we have added considerably more kids here at TOLO. The uniforms now cost an average of 1,200 baht per child and books are hovering at 1,000 baht per child per year. Tuition costs have risen sharply as well. The cost of transporting the children to and from school has become an enormous financial burden. University tuition and fees at Buriram Rajabhat University have doubled, from 5,000 baht per term to 10,000 baht per term per child. We currently have 2 of the older children at Rajabhat, one is third year and one is currently in the first year program. (We need potential donors to specify assistance for schools. Thus a need for sponsorships. Last year, Thienchai received 13,000 baht per term from his sponsor in France. We could use a bit of help for the other children here at the Center either in offsetting tuition, fees, uniforms, books and mandatory excursions required per term by the school. High school tuition and fees are likewise up. For Narumol, grade 11 she has a sponsor (Danny Clearman and family from Arkansas) who covers 100 percent of her needs. Eileen now in grade 1 at Anubol Elementary School is fully sponsored by the Burns family living and working in Kosovo. For Tawnee and Nam we currently have no sponsors at all and could sure use some help here. (They are in grades 11, 8). Nor do we receive any help for Fon and Fa (grades 10, and 7) Fern (age 11, grade 5) has been requested to be sponsored by Sally Turnbull (for educational costs) and by the Debuyst family of Belgium for the remaining costs, but Fil her twin brother (grade 5) , Sam (grade 3), Somsak (1st year computer science major at BRU) and Taan (KG and grade 1) have no sponsors at this point. We suggest full academic sponsorship of 300 dollars per year (25 dollars per month), or partial sponsorships if the donors cannot afford the full amount needed. We also support one child who does not reside with us but for whom we cover school costs--Sa (who is 12 years old and requires special schooling as she is a special education child with indigent parents ). Any amount will help as school costs are currently standing at approximately 200,000, baht per year ($6,000 USD per year at 32 baht per dollar current rates). Gary V. from Minneapolis sent some additional funds to be used for the children during the upcoming term but more help is definitely needed.

Buriram has over 1,100 schools in the region. TOLO has personally visited and worked with over 500 of them. One wonderful way you or your group can help is to send English childrens books to TOLO and we will distribute them among all the schools. Our goal is to give at least 50 children's books to the 1,100 schools in the province. Please go to the FAQ page to find out the best way to send these gifts and where to send them. Mbail bag rate surface rate has been discontinued by the post office. They now offer only air mail rate which is 3 times more expensive. 20 pounds weight for 70 dollars!

As part of our on-gong support of Ban Yoei Sakae School which we are sponsoring the school currently has 121 students ranging from early childhood through grade 6. Approval has been sought to add grade 7 this year and for grades 8 and 9 for the following two years. There at Ban Yoei Sakae additional needed projects are far from completed at this time. On February 11 and 12, 2008 along with several foreign volunteers plus 15 members of Cobra Gold 2008 (US Army and Marines), 15 Thai soldiers, local school staff and villagers and students to help, we added a patio to the front of the school (comprising an area of 96 square meters-- 24 meters by 4 meters) at a cost of 22,000 baht for paving blocks plus 3,600 baht for the building sand, a tent (4 meters by 8 meters so the kids can have a covered area to eat their lunches), 8,500 Baht, 28 rotating ceiling fans, and wall fans 24,000 baht so the classrooms can have circulated air, a stove (3,000 baht), and 2 water coolers so the children can have fresh, cool water to drink 6,000 baht and three additional pieces of playground equipment 20,000 baht for a total of 90,000 baht (current rate of exchange is 32 baht per US dollar= 3,000 US dollars/1,500 Pound Sterling). One hundred percent of the donations were used, nothing taken for administrative costs. We still have a lot more to be done here: 121 kids need uniforms yearly, 2 each, plus shoes and socks (about 32 dollars per child). In July and August 2009 the Bouworde Organization of Brussels Belgium sent four teams to help in renovating the old kindergarten building and providing for teaching teams for the classes. Bouworde volunteers raised and expended 255,000 Thai baht on the project (whose total cost was nearly 400,000 Thai baht) which completely rebuilt the KG building from scratch, provided chairs, bookcases, toys and supplies, fans, doors, windows, awnings, covered the cost of tiling all the floors in the school, provided 8 tables and 24 chairs for the grade 7 project and constructed a proper feeding kitchen. All the classrooms in the school were freshly painted and the classroom cement floors were all ceramic tiled, KG building windows and library and computer room windows were covered by awnings, and the kitchen expanded to 6 meters by 3 meters. Additional donors from Australia provided brand new tennis shoes for all the children (750 USD) and another donor from America covered the cost of brand new sports uniforms for each child plus another water cooler for the KG building (620 USD).For Christmas 2009 I dressed up as Santa Claus at Big C and around the city of Buriram allowing parents and kids alike to have their pictures taken with the jolly old elf from 28 November to 21 December . This massive effort of 150 hours in the funny red suit and boots, plus growing a beard and having my hair dyed a funny color allowed me the opportunity to raise an additional 50,000 baht (during a total of 24 days) which was used to purchase 12 sets of cement tables and benches so the children could have a real dining area. We also purchased 3 sets of counter top cabinets were built by Ice Furniture for the kitchen and plenty of toys were purchased and provided during the Christmas day party for the children at the school. At this point we still need to purchase 15 outside wooden doors, window awnings for all the classrooms grades 1-7, and to fund and construct an overhanging steel cover on poles for the patio to provide covering for the dining area to keep out the rain. New bathrooms also need to be reconstructed. Total estimated costs for these remaining projects---bathrooms, awnings, new doors needed is in excess of 250,000 Thai Baht.