Buengkan, Thailand

Relief Care Packages

These packages are very similar to our Covid Emergency Care Packages but with a few key differences. By now there is no shortage of masks; masks and sanitizing gels have become readily available and at a reduced price than at the height of the pandemic in Thailand. At the moment rates of local transmission within Thailand are higher than normal, and many villages in Buengkan Province have been and are in lockdown.

We are shifting our focus to making sure families who have been suffering from loss of income and stability due to covid are able to meet the basic needs for survival and mental health. When we personally are unable to deliver packages due to covid restrictions, we pass the care packages to trusted local village leaders and clinics to give to the families.

Each package will include:
– clean water
– cooking oil
– nonperishable food
Not many of the families we assist have refrigerators, but most of them can (and often do) make a cooking fire. Many villagers have personal or community gardens for fresh vegetables, but they are lacking the carbs and proteins to make a complete and healthy meal. We want to provide enough non-perishable staples such as noodles, canned goods, and dried goods to last at least a month.

Each package may also include personal hygeine items as needed such as:
– soap
– landry detergent
– shampoo
– toothbrush and toothpaste
– dish soap
– antiseptic multi-surface cleaner

**WE HAVE COMPLETED OUR SCHOOL PACKAGES**

Along with assisting families, we also assist the small temple schools that the children of these families attend. The preschool children that attend these small, rural schools come from families who are too poor to afford even the small inscription fees for public schools.

The teachers work for a very low salary, and their passion for the kids in their communities show through their dedication, care, and knowledge of each student and their families. As these schools run on a minimal budget, we at Mundo Exchange want to provide covid care packages for the teachers and their students. Class sizes are typically about 15-16 students, but due to various reasons only about half of them show up on a daily basis.

Each school care package includes:

– education play materials such as alphabet blocks
– bulk supply of pencils, crayons, colored pencils, and drawing books
– bulk supply of noteobooks for both teachers and students
– whiteboard eraser and markets
– seed packets

Children of all backgrounds deserve to have the eduational tools available to them to explore, discover, and learn as fully as possible.

Our goal is to provide the teachers with the materials to not only teach effectively but also allow for creative exploration, growth, and learning for the kids. The seed packets are our contribution to their school garden where they grow fresh fruit and vegetables which are added to the children’s lunches, a meal that is sometimes the only full meal these kids will get to eat that day.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US REACH OUR GOAL OF HELPING RURAL SCHOOLS IN POVERTY STRICKEN AREAS!

We firmly believe in helping the most vulnerable in our communities at all times. We want to continue providing care through this time of crisis beyond the onset and peak of the pandemic within Thailand. As proven with the continuous spikes and variants this health crisis is by no means over. At the moment the people of Issan are not only facing a health crisis, they are facing a deepening economic and personal financial crisis.

For most living in poverty they live in uncertainty during the best of days, and now due to covid many families are unable to meet their basic survival needs. Our goal is to meet the basic needs of children and families to stay fed, clothed, sheltered, and alive.

A majority of the individuals and families we have been supporting throughout the years live in poverty and generally need to depend on others for survival, whether it be government or family members. It is typical of many parents to migrate south where there are more jobs with better salaries and send money home while the kids stay with grandparents or other family members. While locking down the country was a fantastic way to curb the spread of the virus, the impact of closed businesses is causing life threatening implications for many Thais who rely on the tourism sector for their livelihood. Our goal is to help families in Issan area that are most heavily impacted by the loss of the job market and economic downfall due to the ongoing covid situation.

Life in poverty means waking up each day with the worry of finding food to eat for you and your children. For the thousands of parents who have lost their jobs from this covid crisis, they are now faced with the inability to provide for their families. While there is no easy solution to poverty, we want to help as many as we can be as safe as possible during this time of crisis.

We hope that by also providing hygeine products we provide ways to stay as clean and confident as possible while they navigate the job market in search of new jobs.

Poverty makes complete cleanliness impossible for many of the elders, families, and individuals. Cleanliness in both home and body is critical to maininging good health and minimising the risk of transmitting germs and pathogens. Our hope in providing the basic hygeine supplies and products is not only to stay clean but also to boost self-esteem. Mundo Exchange wants to give everyone the means to appear clean and presentable so they can go out in search of employment and carry themselves with confidence.

We care deeply about the vulnerable people we have been working with for many years, and we will do everything we can to help see them through this dangerous time. Your donations are critical in our fight to keep them safe.

Thank you donors!

Every dollar helped bring critical aid and relief to vulnerable people struggling most from the financial fallout of the Covid pandemic. You were a part of making life saving care packages for families and children facing starvation.