Bamboo Rap

– Haiku by Robyn Stewart, English teacher, Chiang Mai University Language Institute Versatile, flexible, humble, strong yet gentle. These are the human qualities that are often used to describe the wonder grass, Bamboo or ‘Mai Pai’ (ไม้ไผ่) as the Thai call it. These impressive characteristics are skillfully put to good use in Panyaden School’s construction. [...]

Responsible Food Waste Management

Waste Not: From Food Scraps to Natural Cooking Gas Everyone, meet the Food Waste Digester. Installing this anaerobic digester is another initiative by the Founders of Panyaden School to recycle any food scraps and organic waste generated at the school. The environmental engineers at Utility Business Alliances (UBA) estimate that on average, 450 children and [...]

Responsible Wastewater Management

“Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Although Coleridge was writing about being surrounded by seawater that is unfit for consumption, we may face the same ‘undrinkable’ scenario if we do not save our water resources or protect them from contamination. We apparently [...]

Today’s Blessings

The fragrant aroma of burning joss sticks mixed with the light sweet scent of bamboo hovered gently in the air at Chiangmai Life Construction. This morning at 8.45am, one of the most important and ancient aspects of Thai life was honoured here at the construction company. A small ceremony was conducted to invite the Guardian [...]

Update

Markus Roselieb on Panyaden School’s Construction Progress “Right now, we will finish the the guard house, the Parents’ Sala, and the first layer of the bamboo roof of the big Assembly Hall. Next, we will prepare the floors of the 2 salas so that we can use these covered spaces for work. We are ready [...]

Panyaden School’s Official Launch

By K. Yodphet Sudsawad (Founder of Panyaden School) The official launch of Panyaden School took place at the Kid’s Learning Expo 2010 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok from 23 to 25 July 2010. The objective of the exhibition was to introduce our school to the Thai academic world and to spread the [...]

Check out the Panyaden School Promo Video on youtube!

“Rather than an education system which is geared to testing and to competition and to preparing people for a particular livelihood, the emphasis of Buddhist education is on teaching children how to learn, how to enjoy learning, to love wisdom for its own sake. It teaches them the emotional maturity enabling them to make use [...]

Panyaden Teachers’ Training

Panyaden Buddhist School started recruiting and training teachers at its Bangkok office in April 2010. Criteria for the selection of teachers: Their attitude towards teaching and towards their own goals They must love being a teacher and have their ideas how to be a good educator They need to know themselves and what they are [...]

Bamboo Chitchat with Ajahn Decha

Who’s Ajahn Decha Tiangkate? He is the man in the wide brimmed straw hat who is the Thai expert on bamboo. He works with Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) on the Panyaden School building project. Markus Roselieb (owner of CLC) and everyone else on the site call him the ‘Bamboo Boss’ since he is in charge [...]

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own experience and your own common sense.” – Buddha

This is the guiding principle of Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) and the adage that the owner, Dr Markus Roselieb, lives by. In trying to understand the man and the company, I wanted to put labels on them (‘doctor’, ‘green company’; ‘sustainable construction’ etc). I have since learned that labels are for cans (Anthony Rapp, actor) [...]

Kids’ Learning Expo 2010 in Bangkok

Looking for a good school for your child? Meet representatives from Panyaden School in Bangkok this weekend at the “Kids’ Learning Expo 2010″ (organized by Nanmee Books & Rak Look Magazine, Thailand’s leading motherhood magazine.) Here is a great opportunity for you and your family to meet with the Principal (Kru Maggie) and teaching staff [...]

Opening Up Minds and Imagination

Pilot School Program To breathe life into the holistic education approach, the Founders of Panyaden Buddhist School started Kid-dee House at Rattanakosin Road in Chiang Mai City. It is a pilot program to test the school curriculum that aims to teach children to think and care for themselves, to open up their minds and imagination [...]

Ajahn Jayasaro Visits

There is a quiet excitement in the air as we gathered at K. Tik’s house to meet the Venerable Ajahn Jayasaro, the Spiritual Advisor of Panyaden School. He had come to Chiang Mai to visit the school construction site and to give a dhamma talk to the trainee teachers and to the Panyaden School team [...]

The Bamboo Treatment Process

To enhance its durability and to protect it from insects and fungi, it is necessary to treat bamboo before use. Below is the treatment process carried out at Chiangmai Life Construction: For use in construction, mature bamboo between 3–5 years old is selected. It shrinks less when dry and its starch and sugar contents are [...]

Kindergarten School – Open House Day

7 July 2010 This billboard was erected today at the Huay Kaew-Rincome Junction. Check out our website (http://www.panyaden.org) for more information or call 080-078-5115 (when calling from Thailand; from elsewhere, please call +668-0078-5115). Come visit us on 28 November 2011 (Open House Day) between 10am to 3pm.

Trusses for Kindergarten Roof

6 July 2010 The bamboo trusses for the kindergarten roof are ready! While the load-bearing rammed earth walls are drying, the trusses are put together on the ground so that the team can prefabricate the roof beam. Markus Roselieb (Project Manager) and Olav Bruin (Architect) expect that the trusses will be fitted onto the walls [...]

The Architecture of Happiness

Watching the steady progress of the structures for Panyaden School is like observing artists and artisans sculpting works of art from bamboo and earth. Here, in a temporary bamboo sala (Thai style open pavilion), artists are joining large pieces of bamboo to form one of the four trusses for the kindergarten roof. Each of the [...]

Feel it, Smell it, Hear it, Eat it

This is the way Hanno Burtscher, dubbed “The Earthman”, finds the right earth to use to build a wall. He picks up a clump of soil and feels the grains with his hands, looks for clay content, mixes it with water and kneads it like dough. He smells it; then puts a small amount in [...]

The Road Ahead

It is a wet morning in Baan Sala. A small platoon of soldiers and a group of men and women from the village are gathering outside Por (Father) and Mae (Mother) Luang’s house. Today is the first ‘Clean Up The Road’ Day led by Khun Phanuphong Chaiwan (aka Ajarn Sorn), the local School Project Consultant. [...]

The Dream

“Curiosity. Innovation. Respect. Sustainability. Holistic Education. Creativity. Inner Peace. Balance. Living with Nature. Buddhist Approach. Environmentally Mindful. Learning Through Experience. Practicing what you have learnt.” I went away from meeting Khun Yodphet Sudsawad (aka Khun Tik) with these buzz words swimming furiously in my head. She is an inspiring woman who is building her dream [...]