Please find attached a photo of Nakom and his Housemates before they went on their three-day tramp. They went on the three-day house tramp and learnt how to pitch a tent, cook and other camping skills. Nakom has done some kayaking.
I went to a morning tea today which showed photos of the students at Tihoi. I saw Nakom cooking some dinner on a stove in the outdoors. I thought you might like to know the day structure when the boys are at the Tihoi campus:
6.15 – they get up and one of them cooks breakfast for the others
6.30 – Exercise and it could be a game of rugby
7.00 – Breakfast. There is plenty of bread and cereals for them to have then and during the day if they were hungry.
8.45 – Go to class for English, Maths, Science and Social Studies.
12.10 – Main Meal of the day which is served with dessert – this is cooked by the Camp’s chef.
1.30 – Reading, team building, outdoor education
3.30 – Fitness
4.30 – Dinner duties for the cook in the hut. Others have free time. The cook changes each day.
6.00 – Dinner
7.00 – Prep time for homework
8.15 – Jobs like tidying up
9.00 – Bedtime.
At present they are learning formal writing in English. Maths – measurement; Science – Volcano’s. Social Studies – History of Tihoi. They are also doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award which involves community service and outdoor education.
I also talked to his Housemaster, Cyn Smith and Chris Wyn (the directors of Tihoi). Cyn has been running with Nakom and talking to him about enjoying his time at Tihoi. Part of him feeling unhappy is that he is cold and that is because he is not moving around enough. When you write a letter/email to him, would you please ask him to make sure he runs/moves around to keep warm. I will also ask him, but he will probably understand this better if it is in Thai. He has a lot of clothes and he is wearing plenty. I will send him a letter and tell him to make sure he has his thermal gear on underneath. I have sent him a blanket that he can put around his shoulders today, so he can wear that in the hut to keep himself warm. I have also sent him a note of encouragement. I will continue to send weekly letters to him. We will get the translator on his phone down to him so hopefully this will help. Before he left, we had a discussion about the translator and he thought he could manage without it – I am sure that when he is feeling happier, he will not need it. I am sure he will be fine – it is very different from home and will just take a little bit of adjusting to.
Please feel free to email me any letters for him, if you would like them posted down. Any little notes are fine – you could maybe send him an email and send me a smaller one to post to him and that way he will be getting mail like the other boys. Also – letters from any other family members would be great as well.
Nakom is a lovely boy and I am sure he will adjust to Tihoi.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.