SWEA Bangkok’s Annual Meeting 2020 at the Oriental Residence

Wednesday February the 12th, SWEA Bangkok had its Annual Meeting at, for us SWEOR, a new location, Oriental Residence. This beautiful building is located on Wireless Road, very close to the embassy of the Netherlands. In a modern, light room, a long table for the board and 3 round tables for the members were prepared.

We were around 25 Sweor who attended the meeting. SWEA usually hands out a kind of donation and so was the case also this time. Responsible person for “donations” Martina Gehrman, introduced khun Suthee Chivaphongse, managing director of Kids Ark, who told us about this foundation, its work and goals.

This is, like SWEA, a non-profit organization, founded to help disadvantaged children affected by poverty. The organization is carried out in northwest Thailand and is now serving over 500 children.

“All children should have the opportunity to grow up in a safe and nurturing surroundings. Our goal is to optimize their health, increase their educational options and empower them with knowledge for the future.” Words by Rita Holm Gustavsson, Co-founder of Kids Ark Foundation.

The foundation in particular works to break the cycle of poverty for marginalized and at risk Thai and ethnic minority children and their families in northwest Thailand. The second focus is empowering vulnerable village women, some HIV positive, by:

  • Supporting them in safe means of making a living.Through the House of Hope programs, child sponsorship, and livelihoods for women they support children and young people with education and professional training and help them integrate into mainstream Thai society.,
  • Providing safe spaces where they can optimize their physical, psychological and social development,
  • Provide sustainable income-generation for groups of village women.If you want to find out more about Kids Ark Foundation, please visit Facebook Kids Ark.

As SWEA is not allowed to do charity, we have to find a connection to Sweden when we do sponsoring/donations. This time we donated books written by Swedish authors Carl-Johan Fossen “The little elephant who wants to fall asleep” and about the “beaver Castor” by Lars Klinting, “Fun with math games”  by Kristin Dahl and last, but not least, “Så blev jag till” by Katarina Janouch. We also added 50 blankets and towels from IKEA with our SWEA logo as it can be quite cool up in the north.

The gifts were very welcomed and much appreciated.

After the introduction of Kids Ark, SWEA’s president Anna Frummerin opened the Annual Meeting. The meeting went smooth and no members had anything to add or complain about. The board was given  discharged and a big applause.

As Anna Frummerin has done her 2 possible periods she will now replace the current president for region Asia Anna Centerman, Eva Steinbach was elected new president for SWEA Bangkok. Susie Ogeborg stays as vice president. A few board members were thanked for their contributions and will take on new posts and face new challenges.

SWEA Bangkok will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year with another party evening in association with The Swedish/Thai Chamber of Commerce. The date is still not fixed as we have to wait and see what’s going to happen now with the awful Corona virus around, but stay tuned.

During the evening, we also had the pleasure to welcome some new members. If you are Swedish or speak Swedish and new in town and not yet a member of SWEA Bangkok, do join us. SWEA is here to reach out a hand whenever needed and we have lots of fun.

 

 

About Agneta de Bekassy

Author at ScandAsia and blogger on other websites as well. Swedish influencer in Bangkok

View all posts by Agneta de Bekassy

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *