All children love to read or to be read to. With this in mind, Charlotte Pleunis, one of our recent volunteers generously donated a bookcase, books and cushions to the little girls living at Jan & Oscar House. The books had a range of difficulty, some were half in Thai, half in English, one was a book about nature, more were picture books and they were all very, very popular. The girls sat quietly, reading to themselves or in pairs and then swapping their finished book with a friend. One of the littler ones asked a bigger girl to help her with a hard word and then returned to her own story, mouthing the words to herself silently. It was lovely to see and even nicer to return a few days later to see some of the girls sitting in their new ‘reading corner’ with their heads in books. Some of the girls have difficulty reading so spent their time looking at the beautiful illustrations and using their imaginations to create their own stories.
Education is a pressing issue in Thailand in general and here at Sarnelli House in particular. Any opportunity the children have to improve their literacy is welcome. And a love for books is a great gift to give a child. So thank you Charlotte for your kindness.