Three Years and Three Schools

By Adam Swartzbaugh, Founder and Executive Director of The GENESIS Network

As you may have heard, I am in Thailand this month visiting our newest schoolhouse construction project. Three years ago I was sitting on a mountainside in Chiang Mai, Thailand looking down from where we would later build our first school.  Seeing the children impoverished, without education, and at extremely high risk of human trafficking, prostitution and slave labor, I found myself asking the question: “Can we do anything about it?  Can we really change anything?”

Today, three years and three schools later, standing on the same hilltop, the answers are clear.  Yes, we can do something about it; Yes, what we do will change things – we can change everything.  Inside the school that now rests on this hilltop, the village’s youth have become students.  They are studying Burmese, Thai and English, reading and writing, science and mathematics. They are learning the basic vocational skills that will earn them jobs in the local economy.  They are gaining the knowledge that will allow them to pursue higher education in other parts of the country.

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Volunteers from Beijing lay bricks for the newest schoolhouse

For these children, education is not just a means to an end, but a means to any end they can imagine.  It is opportunity and it is hope.  It is creating freedom and building the capacity to escape any condition.

The GENESIS Network that built this first school encompassed only a handful of people.  Now, the Network is made up of volunteers from America, Singapore, England, Brazil and several other countries.  It encompasses students in schools from Brown to Shanghai University.  It is supported by organizations like Amnesty International and the Australian Embassy Direct Aid Program.  It is made possible by companies like Menotomy of Boston, Massachusetts and Sumitomo of Tokyo, Japan.

Today, more than anything, the GENESIS Network is you.  You, who believed that we could make a difference.  You, who helped pour foundations and lay bricks.  You, who volunteered as an English teacher.  You, who threw a wild college party to raise money for books.  You, who contributed a portion of your sales to buy desks.  You, who offered your experience and advice which in turn made our projects more efficient and sustainable.

Today, I see it.  I know it.  In these places, everything has been changed…by you.

Adam’s development career ranges from disability rights policy development with USAID and the UNDP in Vietnam to tsunami disaster relief and reconstruction in Thailand. He also is an active duty officer in the United States Army and received both his BA in International Relations and MA in Social and Economic Development from Brown University.

GENESIS Network (Kid) Launches New School

The Australian Embassy in Bangkok donated $15,000 for the new Kid Launch school.

Buoyed by a recent donation of $15,000 by the Direct Aid Program of the Australian Embassy in Bangkok as well as other funding, the GENESIS Network’s Kid Launch program has begun construction of its second school in Baan Phai Du, Chiang Mai province, Thailand.

Construction officially broke ground on January 31 for the facility, which will provide education to an additional 100 children alongside the about 200 already covered in Baan Phai Du. The total number covered by Kid Launch in its entirety will be nearly 400.

Along with the Australian Embassy’s donation, funding of $4,200 from last May’s Menot-Ö-Fest event with Menotomy Beer and Wine in Arlington, MA as well as contributions from individuals made the construction of the new building possible.

Construction of the new facility broke ground on January 31.

The Kid Launch project was started in 2008 with the goal of bringing educational facilities and support to the Baan Phai Du village, which did not have a school prior to GENESIS intervention. Because of widespread poverty in the area, children are at special risk for falling into human trafficking including sexual slavery and other forms of forced labor.

According to the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, the number of forced labor victims in the Thai sex industry is estimated to be 200,000 to 300,000, with many being children. The Institute also noted the largest internal trafficking route within the country is also from the country’s northern region, where Baan Phai Du is located.

International volunteers are assisting with the construction of the building, including a student-organized group from Beijing, China. Support for the ongoing effort, including donations, is still needed and appreciated, and information on how you can give is located here.

Also, please email contact@gnetwork.org for more information about volunteering as well as general inquiries about the GENESIS Network.

As always, GENESIS thanks its donors and supporters, without whom success would not be possible.