Education	Special Friends	Christmas Homecoming
The daycare has between 35-40 students daily, with a total of 60 different children attending in 2007. 6 students graduated, and all of those children are now in Thai school continuing their education.		The special relationship with Christian international school students continued this year with parties at Easter and Christmas. Games, crafts, songs and sharing about Jesus made the times memorable.	To celebrate 5 years of educating tribal children, a homecoming was held, with 39 graduates joining the current students for a Christmas party. Donors provided support for a gift for all the children.

While the Health Project primarily did teaching in the rural villages in the early 1990's, staff began seeing more migration to Chiang Mai as ethnic minorities sought out jobs. The number of urban communities was expanding rapidly, but had few resources to assist the families making the adjustment to city living. Survey work in urban slums had revealed that ethnic minority families living and working in Chiang Mai felt the need for a safe, consistent place for their children to be while the parents worked.

In July 2001, the HPTP opened a daycare center for ethnic minority children. The ethnic minority staff has developed a program that addresses all the needs of the children in their care - educational skills, psychological, spiritual and emotional growth, and physical needs such as good nutrition and hygiene. Issues such as citizenship and parental care are also addressed. One exciting outcome of the program is that in the past 5 years, many of the graduates of the program are capable of taking an exam and entering Thai public schools. Currently, the Day Care Center staff is following 42 children who have graduated from the center. The staff visits these children in their homes and their schools on a regular basis. They talk to the teachers and help to facilitate communication between teacher and parents. The center also provides partial scholarship assistance for these children to attend Thai public school.

The Daycare Center provides:

• A nutritious lunch and snack
• Education, including listening to, speaking and writing Thai and learning to recognize letters and numbers
• Activities using Bible stories and songs
• Medical care as required
• Basic hygiene needs
• Special activities such as Christmas celebrations, trips to the zoo, and worship services
• Scholarships for children entering Thai schools

The daycare staff also meet with the parents regularly to make sure the physical and developmental needs of the children are being met. One result of this has been that very few of the children attending the daycare center now work at night selling flowers or begging on the streets, despite the financial strain this puts on the family. The hygiene and health of the children are also improving.