Assemblies, AIDS Education, and a Mudhouse

It has been fun to get back to work after a few days in Krabi. 

Education Assemblies

One of the week's highlights was an assembly that we put on for six tribal elementary schools on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Along with a partnering NGO and several other volunteers, Lizzy and I taught about child rights and the importance of staying in school. Because we can't speak Thai, we acted out a skit that followed the lives of two friends who took two different paths; one staying in the school and the other dropping out to work. It was a HUGE success. 

Some of the schools had nearly four hundred children in attendance, while others had just a handful. Some schools seemed to be functioning well while others seemed to be just scraping by. But the common thread between all six schools is that the majority of students are tribal. This generally means that they don't speak Thai as their first language, aren't documented citizens, and have a higher rate of dropping out of school.

It was difficult to see the children lacking so many of the simple educational tools that I took for granted. But they were all adorable and were so happy to see ferangs (foreigner in Thai) come and help at their schools. One of my favorite parts of the assembly was a period after the skit when the leader from the partnering NGO would ask the children questions regarding what they had learned. The incentives for the children to answer questions were a treat, a notebook, and a chance to hug a ferang! The kids LOVED hugging us. Since it is not really common in Thai culture, they audience of kids would scream and squeal and giggle when we would give hugs. It was hilarious, and I basically felt like Justin Bieber for a couple days.

Teaching the kids "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"

Acting out the skit. 

Lizzy and some of the other volunteers teaching the kids the Hula. 

 AIDS Education


One of my favorite partners that we have worked is an AIDS awareness organization called Fortune. We have been working with them to make a movie that can be given to Shan villages to watch through out the year. Some of the volunteers assisted in starting the filming process this last Saturday, filming Shan actors who talked about the affects and ways to prevent HIV.

In addition to the movie, I have been working on an AIDS flip book for the organization to use while teaching. They gave me very specific directions about the page numbers and content of the flip book. Because the pictures they wanted would be too graphic to google and print out, I sketched the pictures over the weekend. Tomorrow, we will give them to the organization who will color in the pictures, and then we will laminate the pages and bind it into a nice little book.

Mud House

We generally have at least one construction type project going on at all times. This week, we assisted a school in building a mud house. It is a school that focuses on teaching the students sustainable techniques to get by with out a lot of money. We hope to take the skills we learn and teach them to other villages.


 We built the bricks last week by mixing mud and rice debris and let them dry in the sun for over a week. This week, we built up the walls using--yup, you guessed it--more mud, as concrete. It was surprisingly easy to do. In the coming weeks, we are going to work on finishing the other two walls using mainly bamboo

Looking Forward

Well, we only have about ten more days left in Thailand. Time flies! It has been quite an adventure, and we are excited that it is not quite over yet. One project we have going on this week that I am particularly excited about is an English Camp at the YMCA. Lizzy and I will sleep over Friday and Saturday night at the YMCA in Chiang Rai (about two hours away from our house), teaching English to camp participants.

Trip to Krabi!

As Stephen mentioned, every 6 weeks volunteers get 2 days of vacation. We decided to go to Krabi for ours and it was absolutely gorgeous there!! We had so much fun hanging out on the beach, going to cool islands, and relaxing. I figured pictures are a better way to explain our trip so here they are :) 

Stephen grew out his beard. He shaved it yesterday, thank goodness.

Just hanging out on the beach

Gorgeous sunset

We took a long boat tour to 4 different islands

Snorkling. Stephen got poked by something scary on his foot and I got stung by a little jellyfish on my arm!

Chicken Island

Walking from one island to the next

Stephen and I walked far down the beach and found a private island to hangout at!

One morning we woke up to a trail of blood coming from the hotel door...kind of sketchy

ferry ride to Phi Phi Island

Ferry ride to Phi Phi

Phi Phi Island

The beach we hung out on at Phi Phi

Phi Phi Island

We loved these umbrellas and chairs that we got in Phi Phi

Phi Phi

Golden Mountain in Bangkok

At the top of Golden Mountain

Stephen and SuJung

Me and SuJung. My favorite Korean!

Paddle Boating at our country director's house in Bangkok


The trip was so much fun and we loved every minute of it! But we are excited to be back in Thaton and getting back to work. We have been really busy the past two days and the weeks only gets busier :) We are loving being here and having the opportunity to serve!

An Orphanage, a Mudhouse, and the NBA Playoffs

It is hard to believe, but Lizzy and I have passed our half way point here in Thailand. What an adventure it has been so far. We feel so blessed to be having these amazing experiences, and thank everyone who helped us get here from the bottom of our hearts.

Good News Church

The highlight of this post is a weekend visit to a nearby orphanage.  A few weeks ago, while taking a bus home from a neighboring city, another volunteer and I met some elementary aged girls on their way back to their orphanage. When we told them what we were doing in Thailand, they begged us to visit. As Lizzy said in the last post, we were at the orphanage(called the Good News Church) last week trying to think of projects (like a water filtering system) that we could work on. This weekend, all eighteen of the HELP volunteers were able to spend time at the orphanage.



 

And Lizzy says i'm not good at taking pictures...

On Saturday morning, we helped the kids with their weekly chores which included working in the fields, cleaning the buildings, and even slaughtering and preparing a pig. After lunch, we spent several hours with the kids at various stations which we prepared beforehand. I replaced strings on the orphanage-owned guitars with some kids and Lizzy painted faces, while other volunteers showed the kids how to play four square, played soccer, taught the kids yoga, and did arts and crafts. Some of the volunteers (including Lizzy) were also to attend a worship service Saturday night (they are all Christian) and sleep over at the orphanage. It was a blast! And very rewarding. The kids and administrators were so grateful for our service. Although their gracious hosting left us wondering who was really serving who. I am sure we will spend more time at the Good News Church in the weeks to come.

Mud House

We partnered with a local school that emphasizes teaching life skills to the students. This week, we have been working on building a house out of local material with some of the students. So far, the work has involved mixing mud and rice debris (with our bare feet!) and pouring the mixture into rectangular molds to form bricks. We are currently letting the bricks dry for seven days in the sun, after which we will continue our building of the house.

Unfortunately, the building of the other house (that burned down), is still at a standstill because the chair of the partnering NGO is recovering from appendicitis.

 Medical Clinic

I was able to spend some time this week at a medical clinic in a small Shan Village. These Shan people have been driven out of Burma for political or economic reasons, and are struggling in Thailand because they are not recognized by the state. This makes our service with them all that more meaningful. We are currently working on an aids movie and flipchart that will be used by a local NGO that focuses on aids and mental health awareness among the Shan villages. Aids is a huge problem in Thailand, and especially in these small villages, where people often haven't heard of the disease, or believe it is contracted through food. 

Looking Forward

 Help volunteers get two days off every six weeks to travel. Lizzy and I are taking advantage of this by spending the end of this week in Krabi (a city on the southern Penninsula of Thailand). We couldn't be more excited. We are taking a 14 hour bus ride to Bangkok, from which we will take a flight to Krabi. I am sure we will have some beautiful pictures to post in our next blog entry.

Below are random pictures that we hadn't posted yet.



This is one of my personal favorite pictures. By some miracle, our neighbor has access to (and LOVES watching) all of the NBA playoff games. His is probably the only household in Northern Thailand to carry the games, and we live right next door. Coincidance? I think not. It is definitely worth waking up early to watch.



A calander that Lizzy and I made to detail the schedule of our projects

On the way up to the waterfall

At the waterfall

Chilling in the water just before we went behind the waterfall. The force of the waterfall was especially satisfying because of our lack of adequate water pressure in our house.

All of the "wave 1" volunteers. People have started going home, so we wanted to get one last picture of all of us.