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Voices Foundation

Our story

Started by teenagers who refused to look away.

In 2010, two high-school freshmen and best friends started Voices to stand with children in Bangkok’s shelters. Sixteen years on, that same friendship is opening classrooms on the Thai–Myanmar border.

Volunteers and children together at Baan Nana

Mission

To uplift the lives of vulnerable children and women — especially those who are stateless — by giving them the tools and opportunities to build self-sustaining lives they can be proud of.

Timeline

Sixteen years, one thread.

Each chapter taught us something that shaped the next — from Sunday visits, to the world stage, to the border, to the classroom.

  1. Chapter 1 · 2010–2014

    Showing up

    1. 2010

      Two best friends, one idea

      High-school freshmen Kamolnan Chearavanont and Sawarin Phummarin co-found Voices, joined by founding members Gunpod Lertkomolsuk and Kharit Arunvongse Na Ayuthaya. Annual fundraising for stateless families begins with the Volunteers for Children Development Foundation.

    2. 2011

      Sundays at Don Mueang

      Weekly Sunday volunteering begins at the Don Mueang Emergency Home for Women and Children, and runs until the founders graduate in 2014.

    What we learned →

    Week after week with children in shelters, the team kept meeting the same root cause: no papers. Stateless children were the ones most exposed to abuse, rape and trafficking.

  2. Chapter 2 · 2014–2018

    Speaking up

    1. 2014

      A voice in Dublin

      Kamolnan represents Thailand as a delegate at One Young World in Dublin, putting statelessness on a global stage. The founders graduate and leave for universities abroad.

    2. 2015

      Human Rights plenary, Bangkok

      One Young World comes to Bangkok. Kamolnan speaks on the rights of stateless people: “not only about showing them justice, but showing our generation what justice really looks like.”

    3. 2018

      Young Leaders Against Sexual Violence

      At One Young World in The Hague, Kamolnan joins the Young Leaders Against Sexual Violence initiative.

    What we learned →

    Advocacy opened doors, but children needed more than a voice on a stage. Voices regrouped to fund what keeps a stateless child safe for good: school, a livelihood, and a legal identity.

  3. Chapter 3 · 2016–2020

    Going to the border

    1. 2016

      Partnering with Baan Nana

      From August, Voices funds Child Life Mae Sai’s Baan Nana shelter for stateless children: tuition, a residential paralegal working toward citizenship, rice marketing, livestock and solar power.

    2. 2020

      Knit-Noi

      With Umphang Hospital — which delivers 900+ babies a year — Voices launches Knit-Noi: ฿399 newborn kits for mothers in poverty, packed at volunteer workshops in Bangkok.

    What we learned →

    Working in Mae Sai and Umphang showed where the gap was widest: thousands of children along the Thai–Myanmar border growing up outside the school system altogether.

  4. Chapter 4 · 2023–today

    Opening classrooms

    1. 2023

      Heavenly Home, Mae Sot

      With True Plookpanya, Voices equips its first Migrant Learning Centre — 85+ children, 7 teachers, new bathrooms, floors and digital learning — and supports six centres that year.

    2. 2024

      Phase two, with UNESCO

      A public campaign with True Plookpanya, UNESCO and Tak Primary Educational Service Area 2 brings renovations, internet, smart TVs and the LearnBig online library to more centres.

    3. 2025

      Sixteen centres

      With 11 centres reached, Voices asks for help to equip five more — and by December all 16 centres, teaching more than 3,600 children in Mae Sot, Phop Phra and Mae Ramat, have their equipment.

    4. 2026

      Still raising

      Fundraising continues for non-formal learning centres housing and educating displaced and underserved youth in northern Thailand.

    Where we are now →

    Every chapter leads here: a child with an education has a way out of the cycle — and, one day, a path to formal schooling and citizenship.

The people

Founders and core members

A volunteer team spread across continents for university and work — who come home to Thailand to keep showing up.

Lend your voice.

Give, volunteer, or bring your organisation alongside ours. Every kit, every term of school, every citizenship case starts with someone saying yes.

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