Bike Tour Asia has teamed up with Ms. Angkana Pun-Ong (Na) to identify worthwhile charities for BTA to create support projects and partnering.

*Ms. Pun-Ong is the CEO and founder of the "Opportunity of Giving” foundation where their main focus is on providing pathways for local Thai village youths to enter and maintain formal education.  ( http://opportunityofgiving.org/ )

*She has close personal ties to the needs of Thai local villages and as an enthusiastic motorcycle rider makes a perfect partner to Bike Tour Asia’s charity projects. 

During March this year staff from BTA joined Na on a motorcycle ride to visit a Children’s Refugee Camp located in the Phop Pra district, just south of Mae Sot, Thailand.

Currently this camp has 40 children aged from 5 ~ 21 years of age.

They came across the border from the Myanmar Karen state, looking for support due to families being deceased, disabled or simply not able to care for them properly due to the political turmoil that has led to poverty and unsafe conditions in their home villages. 

It was a humbling experience to meet these kids as they welcomed us, showed us around their camp and living quarters, sang for us and (very shyly) talked a little about their dreams to get a better education and lead a more meaningful life.

From this initial visit we are tabling a few possible projects to assist their paths and to become regularly involved in improving their situation. The first need identified is the clean drinking water cost and availability. Currently all is purchased and stored in plastic bottles. Our project is to source and install a water purifying filter system at the main house to provide clean water for drinking and cooking directly from their tap !

Further ahead we are hosting a Charity Ride in March 2024 to take some motorcycling guests to visit the camp and create more awareness of these needy children and encourage some direct support for the future.

Each entry for the ride will include a direct donation of THB2,500 towards delivering some food and supplies when we visit, plus the costs to treat the kids to a day out from the camp with us to enjoy visiting Mae Sot and a special meal (let them be ‘normal’ kids for the day).

Click here to find out more about the March 2024 Charity Ride Event