Children learn to be creative with waste materials

Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec) has been working with the children of Baantawanmai Children’s Home for the past 10 years, placing importance on providing educational opportunities for the children.
On June 25, the executive committee of Bitec along with staff and volunteers organised a series of activities with the children and donated Bt100,000 to the foundation. Under the theme “Creativity with Waste Materials and Saving Money”, the activities encouraged the children to find value in the world around them and also shared ideas about how to reuse waste materials in new and interesting ways.
The children enjoyed a useful workshop on how to create small, personalised multipurpose boxes from used toilet-paper rolls and cardboard. This activity taught the children that old items can be redeveloped for new and useful purposes.
After the creative activity, the children and volunteers planted trees together using chemical-free products. The coconut and banana trees will provide a very practical and valuable source of food for the Baantawanmai children over the coming years.
Alongside these activities, some children living at the home also gained a day of valuable work experience to help prepare for their future careers. One group had an opportunity to observe Bitec’s team of engineers perform maintenance work on the electrical systems around the Baantawanmai property, while another group of children had a chance to work with Bitec’s highly qualified chef, who taught them how to cook international dishes in a large-scale kitchen environment.
 Panittha Buri, managing director of Bitec, said she was proud to be part of the event again this year.
“The environment is important to all of us and it is important to promote recycling, not just as a trend but as a lifestyle,” she said. “Bitec takes environmental welfare seriously, and we have worked hard to ensure that we meet the standards for environmental management systems, being the first venue in Thailand to achieve ISO 14001:2015 accreditation.
“In addition to sharing our love for the environment, we also give opportunities to the children to discover their inner potential and help them to become the future leaders of this world. We are extremely proud to be a part of that and to bring some warmth and happiness into their lives.”
Yanika Saehoe, one of the children at Baantawanmai, expressed her gratitude for the event.
“I really liked the activity of making multipurpose boxes from old toilet-paper rolls because I could use my imagination and be creative. It was interesting to see how something that seems worthless can be turned into something useful like a box for saving money. I would like to say thank you to the Bitec staff and I hope they will come back to Baantawanmai every year.”
Saknarin Sapraksa, another child living at Baantawanmai, said: “Today we planted coconut trees and banana trees, which are good for our health. I learned about the process of planting a tree, such as how to prepare and loosen the soil, and how to use fertiliser and water to feed the plants. I’m looking forward to eating the bananas and coconuts when they grow.”