THINSAN & FRIENDS FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION & PEACE (An unfinished mission)

THINSAN & FRIENDS FOUNDATION
FOR EDUCATION & PEACE

This foundation was conceptualized when I was a doctoral student at IU.  It remains to be carried out.  It's on my list, still. 

 What inspired the genesis of this foundation?

It started with Snea's realization that education is incredibly powerful in transforming a person's life and in helping the person become an agent of positive changes in the world around him or her. As the first son of a poor farming family with nine children, Snea was expected to help with the hard work in the rice fields and on the farm for family survival. Saved by his academic gift, he was awarded an unprecedented scholarship for the highest exit points after Grade 4, the end of free, compulsory education in Thailand then. Despite the disapproval of the grandparents who had raised the family from extreme poverty by working hard with their muscles and without any formal education, Snea went on to be educated in the school systems, receiving scholarships in virtually all years in almost three decades of his educational pursuit. However, the struggles Snea had to go through were at times harsh, and here are some of the events that Snea does not want to be experienced by any boy or girl from a similar background:

• Snea went to school without any lunch or lunch money, drinking tap water to survive the days during his teenage years.
• Snea wore donated uniforms that were either too small or too big and even with some holes.
• Snea felt embarrassed and lost self-confidence for not having the right gym gears.
• Snea couldn't join the regiment training because he couldn't afford the cost for training suits. (He could possibly have stopped the coups in Thailand if he had become one of the military generals!)
• Snea almost missed the chance to enter Chiang Mai University because he could not afford the registration fee for the university entrance examination. Thanks to his kind teachers at his high school, who gave him the chance to be the only one student in his class of almost 50 students to win the only seat at the Faculty of Education, Chiang Mai University in 1984, a path that has led Snea to study and/or work in Australia, England, the U.S. and Afghanistan.

Having become quite successful for a boy of his humbled origin, Snea has tried to give back as he himself still works hard to pursue his academic and professional dreams. 

Snea's father, Mr. Prasit Thinsan, who was always supportive of Snea's education, now wants Snea to have a son or a daughter, hoping that there would be another Snea to add to the world and that the "Thinsan" surname will not disappear any time in the future when there is no grandson to maintain it. Snea, however, sees that having another child is a huge burden and too selfish a deed for a man who has received so much from the society. He has thought a lot about how to keep his beloved father, who once took him on a bicycle back to the market to request a loan for a new school uniform despite the pressure from other family members not to allow Snea to study further, satisfied with his willingness to see the Thinsan surname last as long as possible.

Snea is always creative and progressive in dealing with any mission, and this foundation is as a result of his desire to give back to the world and to keep his father happy.

What are Snea's plans?

The following actions have been planned:

1. A foundation will be established with the following working bodies:

Coordinator: Snea Thinsan
Board of Directors:  Snea Thinsan and four others who are Snea's esteemed professors in the U.S., England and Australia, who have contributed to Snea's progress in his academic life.

Board of Advisors: This will include 5-10 respected people that Snea has been  lucky to know in his life.

Scouting committee: This comprises 5-10 representatives in Thailand who seek boys and girls who fit the desired qualifications. The kind of help and number of scholarships will be decided based on the availability of funds each year and the characters or backgrounds of the selected children. The target groups, criteria and so on will be approved by the Board of Directors.

Fundraising Team: All the Thinsan family members, relatives and friends are welcome to help.

Public Relations Team: Will update the website and communicate within the foundation and externally.

                   2. Once details about the foundation are put together, the foundation will be registered.
                   3. The Board of Directors will create guidelines and plans for 2009.
                   Scouting team starts working in Thailand. The fund raising team will also start eliciting donations.

          

  How does the foundation work?

                   - All donations will be deposited as endowment and will never be
                   withdrawn. Only the annual interests will be used for the next year's activities.
                   - All the names of donors will be added to the website and will remain there forever.
                   - The older the foundation gets, the bigger the endowment and the more this foundation can contribute.
                   - The foundation will have a website as its headquarters.

        

  How will the money be spent? What are the missions?

• Lunch money for poor students (to be paid to lunch provider; not directly to the students or their family to ensure that the recipients really get the lunches they need.
• Uniform purchases for needy students.
• Scholarships to students with desirable qualities: academic excellence, leadership records, poor family background, gratitude and service, peace lover, morally exemplary nature, etc. There may be one scholarship for each category, or more depending on the availability of the funds.
• Payment for entrance examination for students in need with potential

The scouting team will begin in the province where Snea was born and raised: Amphur Pong, Phayao Province, Thailand.  As the foundation grow, children from other parts of Thailand will be considered. It may start with students in schools where Snea attended.

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Note as of October 2024: 

         Questions or suggestions?

Please contact Snea Thinsan at director@ed4peace.org
or sthinsan@gmail.com.

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