Welcome to Baan San Fan Orphanage
Baan San Fan is a family orphanage a few hours north of Phuket on the beautiful Andaman Coast of Thailand. To support the orphanage we have an organic farm, take in volunteers from all over the world and sell our handmade products.
On December 26th 2004 an earthquake off the west-coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra created a massive tsunami wave which caused huge devastation in several countries, including Thailand. The Phang Nga province was worst hit and many thousands of people were killed, leaving behind several hundred orphans. The owners of the orphanage (Sam and Gai) came to the area to help and ended up running a tent, looking after a group of children. A Swiss gentleman by the name of Dr Donat Schibler was inspired by the couple and offered to buy them land in the local village of Bang Wan. In October 2005 Baan San Fan opened its doors to 8 children.
Now Baan San Fan has a capacity of 40 but a lack of financial support means that they are only able to care for 14 children at the present time. The tsunami has long since passed but Thailand is very poor and hundreds of children in Phang Nga still desperately need care and protection from the drug and prostitution trades that blight the poverty-stricken people of the region.
We are working hard to become self-sustainable and we are running a number of programmes to create revenue, including;
- Organic farming
- Volunteering
- Handicrafts and local products
We cannot do this on our own and we need help from the outside. We are looking for partner organisations to buy or sell our products, volunteers to help with the day-to-day running of the orphanage/farm, and, of course, donations. If you feel that you can help, in any way, we’d love to hear from you.
What people say about us
I've just spent two superb weeks here at Baan San Fan. Gai, Sam and all the children have been so warm and welcoming, coming here really is like having an instant family! I’m really happy to have been included in so much around the home: going to the markets with Gai, helping to dig the new pond with Sam & the children, playing games, doing homework, helping (I hope!) with coconut oil. There were special occasions too: I was here for Christmas which was a lot of fun, food and giggles, we also had an awesome trip to beautiful Bangsak beach one morning, again a lot of giggles. One of the highlights for me was being able to teach at the local school and my enormous thanks to Gai & Sam for helping to arrange that, it was more than I'd hoped for. Gai’s cooking deserves a very special mention. If nothing else, come for the peanut curry, mushroom salad and plentiful papaya. I hope to be back to visit again soon.
Read more from Lucy at www.lucyjames.com