A Big Round of General Thanks...

On this somewhat momentus occasion of it being a Wednesday and all being well in the world, it's time to deliver some well-overdue thanks to those folk who have gone out of their way to help me on this grand adventure of volunteerism in Bhutan. It's amazing what a few emails and some generosity can make happen:

Bhutan Canada Foundation. They recently confirmed the success of a grant application for me to get a music department up and running. Soon we'll have guitars, drums, keyboards, and I'll have yet another responsibility and even more work to do. Nice one Dave.

Royal Society of Chemistry. Joanne put a parcel in the post but it hasn't yet found its way. It could be in Belgium. Or Frankfurt. Or Bangkok. Being put on a plane, taken off a plane, put on a plane, taken off a plane... happened 4 times to the first package my Mother sent. Keep your eyes peeled for blog entries from my humble self on the RSCs Elementary Articles blog: http://my.rsc.org/blogs/85).****

Institute of Physics. Dan sent me some amazing interactive posters that you can only see when you heat them up by rubbing, ones that glow in the dark, and ones that react to UV light. Kids loved them. He also sent me 10 packs of 20 cartoon cards showing experiments that can be done without much equipment. These gave much-needed momentum in the early stages of the Science Fair and gave the kids more independence. Brilliant.

STEM. Andrew and Leanne sent me a million posters and a resource pack on teaching climate change and global warming (haven't had a chance to dig into these yet), along with some physics magazines to contribute to the fledgeling library and some stickers that the kids are scrambling over each to get their hands on.

BetterEquipped Education Supplies Ltd. Jim threw in some extra freebies into a package of equipment I ordered from him. I got a class set of Vernier Calipers, a few Leslie Cubes (I had no idea what these were when I first heard of them), some extra lenses and some other assorted bits and bobs. Great stuff.

Nicola. Responded to my Call to Well-Levered Arms in the West by sending us all kinds of things: loads of pen-drives; stationary and even some sweets for the kids. The kids ate the sweets. They did. Not me. 

Marcella. For the most delicious soap. I was washing and eating at the same time until it ran out. Probably not the healthiest of pursuits but great fun. 

Deborah. For the most random collection of odd things like a tennis ball, a dog's backside to hang coats on (with nail in a subsequent parcel) and a precious supply of Green & Blacks drinking chocolate. And one of those little plastic boxes with all the little nails and rails for hanging stuff up with. Genius.

My Mother and Father. They had a hand in sorting most of the above (dog's backside excluded), emailing on my behalf, liaising with all the organisations, posting materials and generally doing far more than expected to support the work I'm doing out here.


So thanks, everyone, for being so helpful. And remember, it's these fellah down here that are benefiting from your kind generosity.


As you can see... they're quite happy (waiting to come into the science exhibition)