 Hello everybody,
A first school year at Somwang has come to an end and we couldn't be more proud of our students and our teachers. In the picture you can see the school kids showing respect to the teachers before Somwang closed for the summer holidays. We hope that they all enjoy some well-deserved free time with tons of fun and laughter (and some rest), before they are all back again on April 1st for another year of learning, friendships and adventures. It has been an amazing year for us at MPG and we thoroughly enjoyed to see the children learn and grow. Thus we would like to take a moment to celebrate them, but to also thank you for your generous help and support. Know that without you we wouldn't be able to do what we are doing and we would not be where we are today; and neither would the children. So please join us in congratulating the kids for their tremendous work and the joy they give us. "To educate a child is to turn walls into doors." - unknown So let's keep up opening doors!! Metta, a proud Team.
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Hi everybody,
This was another eventful day at the Somwang School as it was time for the children to get their first Polio vaccines. Even though the last documented case of Polio in Europe occurred in 2002, Polio still continues to pose a threat in some Asian and African countries. Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death. Wanting to make sure that none of our kids would ever run the risk of getting infected with this horrendous virus we made sure they all got their vaccines. Despite supporting our kids' educational development, making sure that they are healthy and receive the needed medical care is a further thing that we are concerned about and invested in. Why? Because we care. And if children aren't healthy and don't feel well they won't be able to learn and thrive and reach their fullest potential. It's as simple as that. Metta, the Team  It has been a long time since you all heard from us and we thought it was more than due time to give you an update of what has been going on at MPG Responsibility Now! lately.
First of all we have the fantastic news of announcing that we have a new member on our team: Julie Schadeck. Julie has been closely following the organization’s development ever since it was founded and has always been an avid supporter of our cause. After having had the chance to visit the Somwang school herself this past summer, she was so deeply moved after seeing the changes that our school was making in the lives of the Shan children that she decided to become more actively involved and offered to give us a hand. We gladly accepted, and thus want you to please join us in welcoming a new member who shares our passion, motivation and determination, and is ready to join us in our joint endeavor to give Shan people access to a fundamental education. Second, you will be witnessing some more changes at MPG Responsibility Now! in the coming weeks. Most notably we are planning on giving our website a little makeover and generally turning up the volume. This means that you can expect more posts on our blog about anything and everything from exciting news, over past and future events, and up to behind the scenes looks. Further, we are working on installing a periodical newsletter system that you can sign up for and will bring our most recent happenings straight to your inbox. Also, you should be on the lookout for new pictures, articles, and even an incredible video made by our founder and president, Felix. Lastly, we are also happy to announce that we have been working on a new project and will let you know as soon as we know more. We hope that you are as excited about these changes as we are and we hope that we can continue to count on your valued support. So let’s all take a deep breath, and get ready people, cause there will be more of us!  This past weekend (January 16-18) surely has been a big stepping-stone for our humble, yet boldly strong-willed organization as we got to indirectly take part in one of Luxembourg’s biggest fairs, the Luxexpo Vakanzefoire. Dedicated to traveling and tourism, this fair is all about vacations and every year any visitors can participate in reverse auctions of products, services, local and international wellness and vacation trips offered by the exposing businesses , with an objective to raise money for a selected philanthropic organization.
And as we are happy to announce, this year, “MPG Responsibility Now!” had the extraordinary privilege of being that organization and thus the recipient of these incredible, most generous proceeds that had been collected. During 3 days, an unbelievable number of 25 companies had agreed to the fun adventure of auctioning a variety of vacations, trips, packages and excursions among the visitors of the fair. The thing that made these reverse auctions even more fun than regular auctions was that instead of selling their product to the highest bidder, they sold it to the lowest. Yes, you read that right. They started with the actual price for the package and lowered the price until the first bidder would raise their hands. Honestly, how fun is that! We here at MPG Responsibility Now! could not be more pleased about this event and were truly delighted when Luxexpo’s very own director, Mr. Jean-Michel Collignon himself handed us the final check at the end of the fair on January 18th. We thus wanted to express our deepest thankfulness to Luxexpo for having chosen us for this great event, as well as all the 25 companies who so benevolently agreed to participate: We feel truly valued, are incredibly honored and deeply touched by your efforts and support, and we couldn’t thank you enough. But here’s a start: THANK YOU ! 
At the beginning of the summer I met these two beautiful Shan kids who both live in "the blocks" on the farms that their parents work on. Their living conditions are terrible and there is no one to help these kids get their beautiful smiles back. They were both born with cleft palate and need to be taken to the hospital in Chiang Mai where they can get treatment. The little one has begun treatment this weekend and the older one is to follow soon.
There will likely be multiple interventions involved until their treatment is completed. However, such interventions are complicated and costly and therefore MPG Responsibility NOW would like to ask all of you to help us support these costs. If you are willing to help out, you may make a donation to either one of our MPG bank accounts: BGL BNP Paribas IBAN LU24 0030 8753 3743 0000 BIC Code: BGLLLULL POST CCP IBAN LU90 1111 7023 6989 0000 The kids would be eternally grateful! Thank you very much! Felix  After having been a part of MPG for 3 years now, I finally arrived in Fang and met Fred, who has been paramountly helpful since the start of our endeavour.
He showed me the area around Fang and we decided that the following day, we would visit Somwang School, which MPG supports. On the ride to the school, I was really excited to meet everyone and finally set foot on the school grounds. While meeting Lan Mao, the teachers and the driver, they all expressed their happiness of working with the children. Of course, we care a lot about their spirit, because along with Fred, they are the backbone of this school and without their dedication, none of this would be possible. Then, there are great news to tell because the school is growing and growing. Due to its good reputation in the area, more and more Shan people are willing to send their kids to Somwang School, instead of seeing no alternative to make them help working at the orange plantations for $1 a day. Thus, our school is now educating 39 kids! Moreover, locals from the plantation helped build benches in the schoolyard. This ensures that buddhist monks of the nearby temple can have a seat whenever they visit the school. Finally, we are working on getting vaccines for the kids. A hospital not far away is willing to deliver free vaccine shots for all the kids, which is fantastic ! After my visit, I was profoundly impressed by how happy the kids are and their eagerness to learn. They are always smiling and grateful for the opportunity they have been given. This is why we and they depend on your financial support to keep this feat going. Help us keeping the children's hope and dreams alive! Metta from Fang, Nicolas  After 2 days of traveling, I have finally arrived in good old Fang again. Some things have changed, some remained the same. It feels great to be back.
Over dinner with Fred (our local coordinator) we discussed our plans for the next few days. Tomorrow we will be visiting the Somwang School, which recently opened for its second school year after the summer. Given the school's great success and popularity, Lan Mao (the head teacher) decided to open up a third classroom where the smallest children will be having class from now on. It looks like a third teacher will be needed, which is great news. It means that our school and the student body continue to grow and that our project continues to change the lives of more and more young and eager children. Given the success of the first school year, Fred and I thought it would be appropriate to have a celebration (read party) for the kids. We will discuss the details with the teachers and students tomorrow as we want it to be a memorable day for the kids and their families. The celebrations will take place on Sunday, June 8th. We want the parents to attend too and Sunday is the only day that they don't have to work on the orange plantations. They take a lot of pride in sending their kids to school so we want them to see and experience the beautiful environment that their kids have been studying and playing in for the last year. In the next few days, we will visit many other interesting people, many of which need help. I will keep you updated here on our News blog. Please don't hesitate to send us questions, comments (and donations) :) Metta from Thailand, Felix 
With only €27, you can support the education, transport, food and health of one student for an entire month!
 She's ready for the new semester! Wow! After spending the afternoon today at Somwang School, I could not be more excited about all our projects and plans going forward! Our number of students has increased from 30 all throughout last year to 35 coming in for the new school year. As a result, the two teachers have decided together to open up a new classroom. However this means that they have been shuttling back and forth between the 3 rooms for the last few weeks. Naturally a third teacher will be needed. So we will meet some potential candidates for that over the next few days Additionally we will compensate the 2 current teachers for all their work throughout the last year and make sure they will stay with us on our amazing journey to educate more and more Burmese refugees and change the lives of many! I also took wonderful shots of each of your 35 students, all of whom we will be introducing individually over the next 5-6 weeks! Given the enormous progress of Somwang School over the last 12 months, we will celebrate this success accordingly this coming Sunday, June 8th. I will put together a video with all of the impressions I will collect this week. Please keep an eye open for our posts as there are many exciting news, pictures and videos coming up! With much love from Thailand, Felix P.S.: As always, feel free to visit our donation page for support. And don't hesitate to reach out with questions and comments. 
The girls are putting on their Thinking Caps
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