Daddy daughter dance at NIST

On Saturday, May 13th, the American Women’s Club of Thailand Scholarship Program and eneration.Education.Period. (G.E.P.), a program supported by the Lotus Educational Fund, held the first annual Father-Daughter Dance in partnership with NIST International School to great success. The event raised 216,000B to support health and education for girls in Thailand.

The AWC Scholarship Program was founded in 1995 and has helped over 7,000 underprivileged girls in rural Thailand complete their high school education. For the 2017-2018 Thai school year, 474 students are sponsored across Central, North and Northeast Thailand. The AWC Scholarship Committee also participates in quarterly school visits, and holds an annual art competition and annual English camps for the students.

The Lotus Educational Fund was founded in 2008 to support girls’ education in Southern Laos, and provides employment for its students by making reusable sanitary kits. Through surveys and discussions, it was revealed that both women and girls in Laos urgently needed education and access to practical hygiene solutions. The lack of these were impacting their school attendance and livelihood. Hence, in collaboration with Sengsavang, a local rehabilitation shelter for girls, Lotus launched G.E.P.

A natural partnership formed between AWC Scholarship co-chair and NIST mother Michelle Hartel and Lotus Educational Fund founder and NIST teacher Dianne Gamage, as Ms Gamage wanted to introduce the kits to girls in Thailand via the AWC’s Scholarship students. Wanting to share their passion and support for girls’ health and education, Michelle and Dianne choose an event that they felt would bring attention to the issue and would allow the primary age female students at NIST an opportunity to support the cause here in Thailand. “Girls supporting girls” quickly became the tagline for the dance. The event also provided a special opportunity to spend an evening with their fathers, many of whom have extensive travel obligations for work. Though a father-daughter dance is an American tradition, it was exciting to introduce the idea to the diverse NIST community, where it was warmly embraced.

NIST generously donated the dance space, which was decorated in gold, white and silver décor made by students, highlighting the evening theme “Ties and Tiaras”. NIST Catering provided a delicious dinner buffet, and S&P donated cupcakes for dessert.

The fathers and daughters danced the night away to music DJ’ed by student volunteers Taku Toyama and Joshua Maza, who were assisted by the Year 6 Girls Education Service Group. The service group opened the night with a choreographed dance and emceed the evening sharing facts on girls’ education and ways to support the initiative in Thailand and beyond. A true highlight of the evening was a father-daughter dance off, during which many fathers showed of moves the daughters had never seen before. A photo booth was set up by student volunteers Tarini Budhraja, Vin Stratton, Ishaani Budhraja and Katie Soltis, who also captured many candid photos of the event which were made available to the participants. When the girls needed a break from dancing, a fun craft was provided. The girls were able to hand decorate neckties for their fathers to take away from the dance as a keepsake. Many fathers quickly changed into their ties for the remainder of the evening.

The evenings success is largely due in part to Mr Brett Penny and Michelle Marquez with NIST International School; the volunteer teachers Gretchen Boisseau, Bhavna Budhraja, Amber Emmons, Lauren Hateley-Crowe, Heida Porrata-Doria and Joy Khosinglang; and parent volunteer Carmel Norton. The fundraising goal was exceeded by the generous support of local businesses that donated items and vouchers for the silent auction and raffle.

The funds raised will be used to support the AWC Scholarship Program, including individual scholarships and sanitary kits to be handed out at the annual English camp being held in Sakhon Nakron this April. Lotus Educational Fund will use its fund to launch a subsidiary in Thailand to provide sanitary kits to women in rural regions.

For more information or volunteer opportunities with the AWC Scholarship Program, please visit www.awcthaild.org/scholarship or email [email protected]. For more information on the Lotus Educational Fund, please visit lotuseducationalfund.com or email [email protected].