A letter from Arlette Stuip of the American School of the Hague

For the past three years, the 10-11 year old 5th graders at the American School of the Hague (ASH) in the Netherlands have been enthusiastically participating with Soi Dog Foundation in their work helping to improve the lives of the abused and neglected animals of Phuket, Thailand. The children at our school come from over 50 countries.

My husband and I met John Dalley, Vice President of Soi Dog Foundation while in Phuket, when we returned one year after the Tsunami, with money raised at ASH. At the time, the Soi Dog shelter was a very small old two-room building. I came back to school and shared photos and information with the children. We’ve been supporting Soi Dog ever since.
Three years ago, the 5th graders raised funds to construct a new wing for the dogs. Last year, they raised €4,500 to construct two new wings: one for puppies and one for the old and timid dogs. This year, they are fund-raising for a cat shelter, as there is none right now.

Our projects are always a six-week plan which consists of meeting twice a week with the 95 students and 10 teachers.  At these meetings, the children get to see all the photos and letters which John and his wife Gill send them. The pictures are of the cats and dogs and of the construction going on with the funds they raised.  Anna also visits us, she is a Dutch vet who worked at Soi Dog for a while.  We talk about the importance of the sterilization program and the children always say, Ooh and Ahh, when they see the sad and happy Soi dog photos. The students also brainstorm fundraising ideas, ideas they will turn into realities at their daily cafeteria Soi Dog booth (which the children painted.) These include bake sales, cake raffles, silent auctions for painting the children painted, flea markets, hand-made jewelry and crafts, popcorn sales, pie throwing, guessing how many M&Ms or other candies are in a jar, and much more. The children also spend several weeks finding sponsors for their sponsored Soi Dog run. It’s amazing how many laps these children can run when they are really motivated. They also watched the program “Asian of the Year”, an amazing documentary made about Gill Dalley, and how hard she works seven days a week, helping animals, even after loosing both her legs, after an accident which occurred while saving a dog.

Ilse, a young woman from Rotterdam, recently visited the 5th graders with her young dog Som whom she adopted from Soi Dog. Som was living in a temple with his four little brothers. One day, Som (which means “orange” in Thai) got hit by a motorcycle. Ilse heard him crying and took him to a vet who fixed his leg. She fell in love with Som and wanted to bring him back home to Holland. She contacted John at Soi Dog, and then took a 3-hour taxi ride to Phuket. John and Gill helped them with the flight, vaccinations, passport and much more. Ilse and Som stayed together in Phuket for two weeks, then Ilse flew back to Holland and Som stayed with another woman, due to the quarantine laws. After two months, on March 1, 2008, Som traveled 27 hours to Schiphol airport where vets checked him out and Ilse greeted him. That was when Som’s life in Holland started. Now, two years later, he is a happy and healthy little dog, full of joy.  On Monday January 17, 2010, Som and Ilse came to visit all the 5th graders. The children were overjoyed. They listened to Ilse’s detailed stories and watched her presentation of all the photos she had taken of Som, when he was a puppy, in Phuket. They asked her lots of questions. Time flew by.

This year, once again, the students have been operating a bright yellow Soi Dog fund-raising booth every day, in the cafeteria. They’ve auctioned paintings, held a bake-sale, sold popcorn and hand-made arts and crafts. They are very motivated to help these needy animals. Soon they will design a sign for the new shelter, as they do every year. That is always the finishing touch to their yearly project to help the animals!

The 2009 Fund Raising Fun Run Scheduled again For 2010

We know that when we send money to Soi Dog, every penny will be used to help the animals. Although they receive over 100 e-mails a day, they still find time to write to the children a few times a week.  It is wonderful knowing that we can choose the projects and help design them. The children loved making plans for the wooden dog houses last year, and sure enough, John and Gill sent us photos of dozens of these dog houses, they had constructed.  We only wish there were more organizations which operated like this, run by such dedicated energetic and loving caring volunteers such as the people at Soi Dog.