About Safe Haven Orphanage

In 1987 Mrs. Tasanee Keereepraneed started to care for orphaned children in her village of Ban Tha Song Yang (also known as Mae Tawo), Thailand. Having lost her own father at a young age and her children also having lost their father, Tasanee decided that she would care for the orphaned children of Thailand and Burma.

Ban Tha Song Yang is about 2 hours north of Mae Sot on the Thai/Burma border. It is a picturesque Karen village in northern Thailand. It sits next to the Moei River, is surrounded by jungle and beautiful limestone mountains. It’s a small village where all the kids play together and all the parents know each other.

Tasanee and her brother converted their childhood home into an open space to accommodate the children. Starting with whatever funds were available, she built the foundation of what has become the first Safe Haven Orphanage. Relying on her personal funds and the donations of the people of Mae Sot, she was able to expand and take on more children. She now has over fifty children under her care.

Mission & Aims

Safe Haven Orphanage is a home that provides disadvantaged children with proper nurture, nutrition, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education. Safe Haven Orphanage is open to children from all communities, faiths, and cultures.

Who runs Safe Haven Orphanage?

Tasanee and a number of staff run Safe Haven Orphanage.

Supporters

Donations received from volunteers and visitors are used to cover the daily costs of running the orphanage. We also receive support from some Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) who assist with food supplies and health checks.

We would like to sincerely thank the following people/organisations for their valuable assistance:

• Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC)
• Monte Christen (USA)
• COLOR Aid
• Displaced Persons Response Network (DPRN)
• Aqua Solutions
• Gary in Thailand
• David Johnson

Future Plans

Five acres of land have been purchased thanks to a generous donation from Ireland. There are currently a number of building projects in progress on the new land. As funds become available, materials are sourced locally or from Mae Sot and labor is contracted locally. Projects we are looking to complete in the near future include a more sustainable water supply, dormitories for the children and an infirmary/clinic.

History of the orphanage

It all began about 25 years ago, when Mrs Tasanee Keereepraneed received a frantic message from a local villager in Tha Song Yang, Thailand that a little girl had lost her mother during birth. In Karen culture this is interpreted as a bad omen, and the child is often killed. Having lost her own father at a young age and her children also having lost their father when Tasanee’s husband was murdered, Tasanee decided that she, if anyone should be the person responsible for caring for the orphaned children of The Karen.

One by one they came, children with nowhere else to go were given to Tasanee to raise. She and her brother converted their childhood home into an open space able to accommodate up to twenty five children. Starting with whatever funds were available, she built the foundation of what has become the first Safe Haven Orphanage. Relying on her personal funds and the donations of the people of Mae Sot, Thailand, she was able to expand and take on yet more children. She now has over 60 children under her care. These days Safe Haven Orphanage is more like a large family whose members love and respect each other like brothers and sisters.

Location

Safe Haven Orphanage is located in Thailand, about 2 hours north of Mae Sot, in a small town called Ban Tha Song Yang (Mae Tawo) which sits on the Thai/Burma border. Mae Sot is about 6-8 hours north of Bangkok by bus, and about 5 hours South West of Chiang Mai – also by bus.

Ban Tha Song Yang is a picturesque Karen village in northern Thailand. It sits next to the Moei River which separates Thailand from Burma. It is surrounded by jungle and beautiful limestone mountains, which cut it off from the bustle of the outside world. Electricity was introduced only a year ago, and there is only one phone in the middle of the village. It’s what a small village should be; a small tight-knit community where all the kids play together and all the parents know each other.

Please click on the map to the right for a full-size version showing the location of the orphanage.

The Carers

The Children

The children range in age from as little as 1 month old, to over 20 years old. The majority of the children reside in Ban Tha Song Yang (Mae Tawo), where the local school is so overcrowded and under-funded that it finishes at grade nine. To finish high school and begin college, the children must come down to Mae Sot to finish their studies.

The children learn responsibility from a young age, they are expected to do homework and chores before being able to play with their brothers and sisters. They eat, work, study and play together, this infuses them with the sense of family that they desperately need. Most of our kids were orphaned by the Military government currently in power in Burma [see Background on Burma].

To steer the kids away from lives controlled by anger and revenge we rely on the kids to foster a sense of love and commitment within themselves. With anger in their hearts they would be doomed to the same fate as many of their brethren, hopelessly lost in a war they cannot win. Only through education and integration can we expect change for them and the Karen people as a whole.