Combine Hydroponics (cultivation

of vegetables without chemicals or soil) +

Aquaculture (controlled fish farming),

and what do you get? Aquaponics! A

totally natural, simple and inexpensive

way to grow vegetables and breed fish at

the same time! The closed-loop system is

based on the fact that fish produce am-

monia in their waste, which is then,

thanks to bacteria in this water, con-

verted to nitrites, and then nitrates

which contains the nitrogen which the

plants need. The nitrogen-free water is

returned clean to the fish.

Self-sustaining!

Volume 10 Issue 1

April—Aug. 2012

CENTRAL THAILAND MISSION

Aquaponics — Natural n’ Easy Farming

We were first introduced to aquaponics when we vis-ited the Philippines in May and saw how this could be used to help poor communities, with little resources and no proper soil. So in collaboration with Emmanuel Gamonez of Worldwide Familia Mission who has spent many months working on this with villages there, we have succeeded in setting up our first Aquaponics pro-totype in Thailand! With a brief one week to work with Mr Gamonez, we spent five days sourcing, running around Bangkok to get wood, tanks, grow beds, pvc pipes, fish, vege seeds, pumps, stones..etc. In just two afternoons, our aquaponics expert Emmanuel from the Philippines, measured, sawed, screwed & put every-thing together!! We then went to get the fish before heading off to the Emergency Home in Don Muang, a shelter for abused women and children. After the floods last year, much of their property and belongings were destroyed. We hope that when the aquaponics farm is up & running, it will well provide vegetables & fish for their needs plus extra for fund-raising to help their budget. Steven from CTM & Emman joined hands to set up the grow beds for the vegetables and the large 700 litre tank for the fish. This is just the BEGIN-NING! We do hope this will kickstart similar projects for disadvantaged communities in the future. One commu-nity, one farm at a time.

.

Gamonez (left in blue shirt) and Ste-venpreparing the four grow-beds for the vegetable seedlings; Below is the large 700 litre tank for the pla tab tim (Tilapia) .

Children and staff happy to see the finished project!

To commemorate Mother’s Day In Thai-

land, CTM hosted a major event on August

12 called ‘Love — The Beauty from Within. ‘

This event brought together so many people

from all walks

of life, who

came together

& joined up for

the common

goal of bring-

ing joy, love &

encouragement to the

women, mothers and chil-

dren at the Emergency

Home (a protective shelter

for women who are vic-

tims of abuse, domestic

violence, rape or Aids) in

Don Muang.

“Beauty, “ we told the au-

dience, “ will radiate

through your face, and your being, from a

heart full of love”. To enhance this beauty,

we had the externals taken care of by hair-

dressers from Glammer Education (LadPrao

Soi 101) under Khun Weerasak, , nail techni-

cians from the very professional team of Dasy

Design International under David Rijke & the

skillful team of makeup artists under Khun

Pongdej Khawinpat . Together these special-

ists transformed the teens & women — some

dejected, lonely from abuse or abandoned,

ostracized because of Aids — into the lovely

princesses and beauties that they are!

After each one had their hair cut, styled, faces

enhanced and nails designed/colored, they had their portrait pic-

ture taken by a professional photographer . Students from the

King Mongkut Univer-

sity of Technology

(KMUT) then printed

and pasted the photos

onto the special booklet

that we made for them.

This booklet consisted

inspirational pages on

the subject of love,

motherhood, positive

attitudes and relation-

ships. Thank you, Mrs

Eleanor Chaturachinda

& Mr JJ Largent for

your support with this.

Enjoying cupcakes made by Mrs Nicola Kent and Cremo ice-

cream from Chomthana! Thank you for the yummies!

V O L 1 0 I S S U E 1

Besides the amazing makeover, we also had a lot of

help from students & staff of King Mongkut Univer-

sity of Technology who organized fun games,

along with boxes of prizes to give away, for the rest of

those waiting their turn for the make-over.

THANKS for the FOOD & snacks!!

Ajaan Kannika & Golden Foods Siam for the traditional kai yang, sticky rice and somtam!

Bangkok International Cuisine for delicious chicken curry!

Kerry Flour Mills Co. for bags of yummy cookies!

Tong Garden for great variety of nuts!

OISHI Group for Japanese lunch boxes & green tea drinks!

Bozo our Italian clown thrilled the kids & mommies

with sculpted balloons. Thanks for the laughs! THANK

YOU

students

& staff of

KMUT for

your help

and sup-

port!

THANK YOU

SSUP Group for the dona-

tion of Cute Press cosmetic

gift sets to all the girls &

women at the Shelter; In-

ternational Beauty Prod-

ucts for gifts & products for

the makeover!

Joel, 17, from Philippines Volunteer May hosts the magic show One really happy resident who

with tap guitar skills! with Bozo. Thanks May! enjoyed the hugs!

Central Thailand Mission is a

non-profit volunteer

organization. ALL projects &

activities are possible

through contributions from

corporate partners as well as

caring individuals. Please

contact us if you want to

participate or sponsor the

work we do.

Central Thailand Mission is one of the selected humanitarian aid projects working in partner-ship with the American human service agency – Family Care Foundation – which is an Ameri-can , tax-exempt, non-profit, IRS-approved 501 (c )(3) public char-

ity.

Based in Bangkok for the last 20 years, CTM works to help the dis-

advantaged in many ways.

Being the bridge between peo-ple with the needs & those with

the resources

Supply of basic essentials of food, water, clothes as well for

destitute communities

Initiating the sponsorship of major needs & projects eg. Build-ing a water supply for a school, education seminars & AV materi-

als for schools

Counseling & Encouragement for the handicapped, AIDs pa-

tients, abused women & children

Services include: preparing or-phans for adoption, laughing yoga at hospitals, therapy for

abused women & teens

Providing assistance to interna-tional volunteers who want to give of their time, talents or re-

sources to help others.

Giving God’s love, spiritual strength & comfort to those who need & seek a purpose & direction

for a meaningful life.

Log in to:

www.centralthailandmission.com FACEBOOK :

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Thailand-Mission/192445120795905

CTM Email: centhai@gmail.com Box 77, Sai Mai P.O, Bangkok 10224 Cell:66 816971409 Thailand Skype: centhaibkk

Besides the events featured here,, we are also engaged in other regular programs. These efforts are only possible because of the ongoing regular support of many individual and corporate partners who help with our operating expenses. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who help make that difference !

Angie Watt FIDA international

Bouygues-Thai Golden Foods Siam

D. Morales Toshiba Singapore

Hester Chew Thai Air Asia

Rodney Kim Tong Garden

Kamthorn, Surachet, & Somsak

Aquaponics Project — Our appreciation to —-

1. Khun Tossapol of Thanaphan Timber in

Minburi -- provided wood for the project

2. Khun Ake and LION SEEDS Co. -- one of

the best known seed producers in SE Asia --

for the variety of seeds they provided for

this & many more projects to come in Thai-

land & for WWF's projects in the Philippines.

3. Additional sponsorship for all the rest of the materials & expenses from:

i)The mission team of Hills Community Church in Mapua, New Zealand.

ii) Eleanor Chaturachinda (iii)Khun Mehta Chareonsub

iv) Mons. D. Morales

For many years, CTM has worked with

the Rangsit Babies’ Home, to prepare

the children who are to be adopted by foreign

families. This included teaching the English lan-

guage, providing social skills and manners as well

as preparing them for the changes they will face .

After some evaluation & discussion with the su-

pervisor and staff, we agreed that the children

will make much more progress if the staff, their

teachers and nannies were also given some basic

language skills and thus reinforce the learning.

So while we do have a weekend English interactive program with the kids, we

have also undertaken to teach the staff once a week . We deal with the challenges

they face in talking with the adoptive parents as well as foreign interns and volun-

teers who come to the institution. We hope this dual-approach will make the

adoptive transition smoother for everyone!

Recently, we met Maurice & Joanne Dowling at the Babies Home when they came

to pick up Phon — a sweet two-year-old boy who is the happy new addition to

their family. It was heart-warming to see how quickly Phon took to them, not

wanting to leave their side. We’d also like to thank the Dowlings & their friends for

their support & kind contribution to the Babies’ Home & to CTM for our projects.

Maurice with others waiting their Joanne helping out with Phon, at

turn to be adopted lunchtime

Classtime for the staff

Seeds for projects in Thailand & Philip-

pines generously provided by Lion Seeds