OUR HISTORY
The Inspiration
More than 20 years ago when Ms. Natasha Stewart, the current President of Peace And Happiness Foundation, was studying at Assumption University for her master’s degree, she saw a news program showing how hard His Majesty the King of Thailand was working although he was almost 70 years old. Being so sad that His Majesty, though being King, had to endure such hardship physically and mentally for his people, she felt compelled to do something to lessen the King’s burdens. Ever since, she has always had this dream of utilizing her talents and abilities to make a difference for her country. Her intention was to help the poor children of Thailand access a better education of the international standard because our children are the developing force to determine the future of the country.
Why is the education provided by Peace And Happiness Foundation Bi-Lingual?
Natasha’s son (whose both parents are Thai and did not speak with him in English) entered year one at an international school after a few years at a Thai kindergarten upcountry. After only one week, he was able to communicate in English at an impressive level. When he was studying American History in high school, the teacher assigned a novel as an outside reading and the students had to discuss analytically in class which characters represent which group of the society during that era in the American history when the novel was written. Even though it was history subject, the teacher did not read the textbook and have the students underline what she read so as to memorize it for the exam like what we see a lot in Thailand. We have many international schools that can teach their students to speak English and to develop thinking skill, not memorizing, which are very important basic skills that will help Thailand become one of the highly developed countries in the world. However, the students must be from well-to-do families to have a chance to attend an international school.
Finally, Natasha has found the answer to help the poor and underprivileged children in Thailand develop their analytical skill and English ability by bringing the teaching method of international schools into the Thai schools for the poor. Most of the subjects are taught in English by highly experienced native English speaking teachers via online learning platform and VDO, and the subjects that are mandatory to be in Thai are taught by the school’s Thai teachers.
Why do the students in the project of the Foundation practice mind-monitoring method of meditation?
To instill ethical and moral values in children so that they grow up to be good population of the world and have inner peace and happiness is of utmost importance. Many of the co-founders of the Foundation practice meditation using mind-monitoring method and have experience with little children practicing meditation. We have realized that the people who practice meditation from a very young age grow up with high emotional quality and live their lives morally in peace and happiness. To practice meditation for 3 minutes before beginning each subject at school will help the children get into the habit and do it naturally throughout the day.
This project will change Thailand for the better in a huge way, but it is too big for Natasha alone. Lots of times she felt discouraged, but finally she managed to gather the people of the same intention from all walks of life and here we are “Peace And Happiness Foundation”. We believe that many of you have a strong desire to join us on this journey to push forward for the success of this project for our beloved Thailand.