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How is a donor team formed ? |
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A donor team is most often composed of four donors from different countries in the world. As our goal is to create friendship beyond frontiers through social contribution, there are no specific matching criteria. We believe that nationality, religion, and culture are not barriers to good will and generosity. Of course, special options are available upon request, such as one-donor/one-child, pre-fixed teams, or company team.
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What about the security for transferring donation money by a credit card ? |
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EDF take all possible measures to ensure that donated money transfers are safe. Donors should fill in a payment form directly linked to the bank system; thus, only the bank keeps the information, and EDF will receive a bank confirmation of donor payment. If you are not comfortable with filling in your credit card number on a website, you may send the information by fax or e-mail. A request for money transfer is also acceptable if the donor covers the transfer fee.
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Donor team members communicate and promote friendship by email. My English is not so good. How will I be able to participate ? |
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There are many donors whose native language is not English. Donors will are requested to use a level of English in email correspondence appropriate to the abilities of other team members. You can even think of this D-Pal Club experience as a good opportunity for English training.
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How is Darunee Scholarship thought of in the region ? |
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Started in Japan to serve needs in Thailand, the Darunee group is recognized for its solid commitment to poverty reduction and peace building through education. Our work has focused on providing opportunities for underprivileged children to be able to finish their compulsory education. Over 17 years in Thailand, the Darunee Fund has provided more than 311 Million Baht in direct scholarships to over 207,563 students and keeps growing by expanding our work to the Lao PDR in 1996.
We realize that not only Thais and Laos are in need -- there are many countries, which still suffer from poverty and war. Since 2003, we have extended our aid to Cambodia and Afghanistan, and we are expecting to add more countries in the future.
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Why does Darunee Fund provide scholarships to Thailand, which has experienced rapid economic growth? Why doesn’t it help other, poorer countries? |
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Economic development has certainly brought prosperity to the nation of Thailand. But at the same time, discrepancy in wealth between Bangkok and rural villages has been growing, which has caused many severe consequences. The market economy brought from the West has destroyed the traditional way of life in Thailand, which did not require cash. Now, cash is a necessity, and as a result, people are leaving the villages and living in slums in big cities like Bangkok. Some children are even sold for money. Unfortunately, the rapid economic development of some has often worsened the living conditions of people in rural areas.
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What are the urgent needs of schools in Thailand and Laos? |
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Many children cannot attend junior high school because families cannot afford the extra, required costs such as uniforms, books, school supplies, etc. Schools are doing their best to fight this problem, but they desperately need more scholarship money in order to sponsor students with financial difficulties. Thus, we plan to continue and strengthen the Darunee Scholarship Program.
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How do I know my sponsored scholar will definitely receive the money I donate? Will the money be used entirely for educational purpose? |
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The scholarship money will be deposited into a bank account set up in the individual student’s name. Withdrawals can only be made with cosignatory of the student and his/her teacher. Darunee Club regularly monitors accounts activity, which assures that the money is used only for educational purposes.
The following is a general example of how your scholarship money is used:
| 500 Baht |
for uniform |
| 550 Baht |
for textbooks and other class material |
| 200 Baht |
for exercise clothing |
| 200 Baht |
for shoes |
| 50 Baht |
for school activities |
In Lao, we provide scholarships to children in primary school. Since we consider these children, aged between 8-12 years old, too young to manage their scholarships in form of money, we provide scholarship in Laos in the form of study materials. (More details can be found on the “How the fund is used” page.)
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Can I find out what my student will do after graduation? (case by case in both TH and Laos) |
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The office does not currently conduct a formal follow-up of the students. Generally speaking, the opportunity for students to go to high school is very limited, and many must help their families or work away from home. All requests to contact scholars after graduation will be considered on a case-by-case basis if it is possible to reach them.
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Compulsory education is supported by government, so why is it still necessary to provide scholarships? |
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There are still many poor families who cannot send their children to school even though it is supported by the government because they cannot afford school uniforms and educational supplies for their children. (These items are not supplied by the government.) Since education is compulsory, families would normally be obliged to send their children to school whether they have enough money or not. But in fact, many children are not sent to school due to the lack of effective supervision of the education system. For those who are sent to school, the financial situation of poor families often becomes much worse. Thus, more scholarships are urgently needed to directly support individual students, and to indirectly aid their families, communities, and education systems.
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