Mother's Day

singing in the meeting hall

 Mother's Day in Thailand is celebrated each year on the queen's birthday (August 12th) as she is seen as the mother of the country.
The school has their ceremony the day before as we have Mother's Day off as a national holiday. All mother's are invited, and sign in when they arrive. Things are started off with singing, a message, special music, candles lit by everyone and the singing of the queen's song, awards are given to one mother in each class, as well as students who won the writing and drawing competitions. Finally, the mothers are invited to sit on the stage and their children can come up and give them jasmine(the flower for mothers) and hug them, etc...

mothers signing in

In the afternoon we were given the task of planting trees in the community. The Church of Christ in Thailand has asked that all of the schools together plant 1 million trees before Father's Day  in December. So, our school promised to plant 1,000 to help them reach that goal. Each student was supposed to bring in their own seedling from home, and we set out with the director to plant the trees. The fruit trees were planted on the school grounds so that we can enjoy the fruit in the future. The ones that were left after that were taken and we planted some along the road, and the rest were planted at one of the Children's homes that sends their children to the school. We posed in front of the home before heading back to the school to be dismissed.

lighting candles for the queen

the choir singing for the mothers

kindergarten girls performing a dance

a  mother receives her certificate

a student receives her prize

meeting their mother's up on the stage

preparing to head out on the planting mission

planting trees along the road

and at the children's home

one last group photo of the 6/1 planting team

with the director and a papaya tree

passing the rice fields on the way back

with an interesting plant