News from Chiang Rai Village Project
We are excited to announce that the Pistorio Foundation as of December 2014 is officially registered in Thailand with our own team and offices in Chiang Rai. Previously the Foundation was implementing projects in collaboration with a local partner and with staff members working at local partner's premises. The year gone by has been a year of successful transitioning to set up our own offices in Chiang Rai that will place us in a better position to replicate and scale up our projects in Thailand to reach our future goals and propel us through the next decade in the region.
Our Country Manager, Giovanni Santavicca, has been at the heart of this transition, building capacity to create a new team and broadening our network of collaborators amongst the non profit sector and with local authorities, universities, and institutions.
We would like to bid farewell to Somboon Kittisirimongcon , Ann Kittisirimongcon, and ThawatBekaku, thanking them for their dedicated work in their past years with the Foundation, and wishing them well in their new endeavors.
We warmly welcome Nalinthiya Navathitikul, Program Manager, who joins us with over 10 years of experience in social service and the non profit sector in the field of education and health care as project manager. "I am deeply motivated to work with children, especially working for the cause of improving the lives of underprivileged and marginalized children.
I believe that education is the first step towards breaking the cycle of poverty and has multiple benefits for individual children, their families,and society as a whole. I look forward to contributing my capabilities and be a part of the work in offering children with in poverty to have an opportunity to build a brighter future through education."
Welcome also to Sawaeng Kaola who has recently joined the Pistorio Foundation team in Chiang Rai after many years of experience as Program Coordinator working in the field of education in refugee camps of the hill-tribe communities. "I am happy to work with the Pistorio Foundation because my experience is very much linked to the activities promoted by the Foundation. At the same time I am committed to give maximum support to facilitate activities. I take this opportunity to greet the members, friends and sponsors of Pistorio Foundation."
Our new offices are located in the periphery of Chiang Rai city.
We would like to thank also volunteer photographer and project auditor Francesca Ferrari and volunteer doctor Paolo Bertolani for having spent one week in February in Chiang Rai with our local team to document and audit on a pro-bono basis the progress of a number of our Programs.
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Country Manager Giovanni Santavicca with Paolo Bertolani and Francesca Ferrari
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Francesca Ferrari has produced also several very short documentary films on a few of our beneficiary students which will are available on our website.
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News From the Singapore Chapter
Pistorio Foundation 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner
On the 26thof February, The Alkaff Mansion Risorante provided a glorious setting for the Pistorio Foundation to host 100 distinguished guests and celebrate its 10th Anniversary. The 10thAnniversary Gala dinner masterfully hosted by fashion journalist Rana Wehbe was a perfect occasion for foundation's founder Pasquale Pistorio and director Elena Pistorio to showcase many of its accomplishments and ambitious plans for the future.
Guests enjoyed a gourmet tantalizing dinner prepared by Chef Simone Depalmas, topped with homemade ice cream sponsored by Alfero Gelato. In addition to a culinary success, the evening was a magical musical event.
We were very fortunate to have a world-class mezzo-soprano Angela Hodgins and an internationally renowned pianist Kseniia Vohkmianina to perform that evening. Guests generously bid on the items during silent and live auction conducted by vivacious Gianluca Lionetto, which helped bring the total amount of funds raised to over 45,000 SGD.
Thank you to our Volunteer Singapore Chapter President Marzena Hugues for coordinating the event and to all the wonderful volunteers who helped make the evening an unforgettable event.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our Main Sponsors Lombard Odier, Virtus Capital, and XID Technologies, and to all our Sponsors and Auction Item Donors: MasterCard, STMicroelectronics, Alfero Gelato, Alkaff Mansion, Autium, Autoctonous Wines, Duepunti, FBI Wines, Missoni, Peachy Pixx, Rosso Prezioso, SLH, Singapore Tatler, System Sovereign and Queenmark.
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From our Beneficiaries
With over 150 million children still out of school today, not only are these children deprived of their inalienable right to education, and therefore to reach their full potential and express their talents, but likewise the world will be deprived of their potential contributions to the world. Many of these children could be a future Picasso, Mozart, or Einstein, but we will not know unless they are given back their right to education and protection. Two of our beneficiaries in Chiang Rai have excelled in 2014, in Art and in their Professional School studies, and we'd like to mention them here and celebrate their achievements.
 Nary is ten years old and lives in an Akha Village in Chiang Rai with his parents and sister. Both Nary and his sister Rosy are enrolled in the Pistorio Foundation scholarship program. Last year, Nary came in First in an International Drawing Competition and was given the award by the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorm of Thailand. |
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Nary, his mother, and his elder sister Rosy
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Nary and his sister have been beneficiaries of our Scholarhsip Program since the beginning of elementary school, as their parents were unable to sustain the daily transport costs to their school which is over 10 km from their home. On the following link is a video created by volunteer Francesca Ferrari that tells Rosy and Nary's story, Click here!
Arisa has been a Foundation beneficiary since secondary school. She comes from Burma and lives in an Akha village in Chiang Rai with her brother and his family. In 2013 she came in First place in regional competition in Accounting Studies and last year she won First prize in a National Competition in the same field, which is her area of study at the Professional School in Chiang Rai. We are very proud of our beneficiaries' achievements as we are constantly reminded that only through education can children's true potential flourish and thanks to education they are able to express their talents and capabilities that are gifts to the rest of the world. |
