By Emma McWhinney and Melody Remnant

Thailand is different to home in so many ways. Our time at Ban Klong Hang School has provided countless examples of ways in which the institution of school varies considerably from country to country.

Ban Klong Haeng school is located minutes from Ao Nang, the main tourist strip in the region. Despite the overwhelming presence of tourists in the area the students were fascinated by our presence at their school. The first few lessons were nothing more than photo opportunities for the students, intermingled with some basic getting to know you.

Teaching the older students (12-15 year olds) was most certainly a challenge. Whilst it is easy for us to see how beneficial it is to be multilingual, some of the students lacked motivation and were generally disengaged when it came to English (especially written English). However some of the most rewarding moments of our stay here so far have been associated with these same disengaged students. Seeing the transformation in both the behaviour and ability of countless individuals has truly made us feel like our effort and persistence has made a difference in their lives.

The teachers at Ban Klong Haeng were eager to find out about our lives at home and frequently offered us food and little treats. Our main teaching contact, Yu, spoke fantastic English and was always keen to ensure we felt welcome and comfortable. It’s fair to say that our presence brought much laughter to the staff room.

Despite the fact that our time at Ban Klong Haeng was short we feel that our assistance and the resources we brought with us were truly appreciated. Our creativity was constantly challenged as a result of the limited teaching materials. We therefore hope that future volunteers will strive to help the staff and students at Ban Klong Haeng in anyway possible.

You can learn more about Teaching in the beautiful country of Thailand here

Thai school children

Staff outside the new Projects Abroad - Thailand office

By Suzi Lamb,

My third visit to Projects Abroad – Thailand was a busy one. Since spending a month working on our Conservation project last summer in Thailand lots has changed.

Conservation Director Marten Meynell has been out in Thailand for almost a year now and has done a great job of developing the Conservation work further. His monthly updates on the Thailand Conservation website are well worth a read. Conservation staff, Guang and Pam also do a fantastic job both with the diving side of the project and on land, accompanying the volunteers on beach clean-ups and mangrove days.

However, the biggest change is that our Teaching and Care projects are now also based in and around Krabi and we welcome Parichart Chaipikul, known as Ant, to our staff team as Director for Teaching and Care. Assistant Manager, Chane has moved with us from Bangkok, and continues to show the volunteers around when they first arrive and much more. We have also just finished our new office (see photo), located at the back of the volunteer house, which certainly gives the staff much needed extra space.

We still have a few Teaching and Care projects located in Chumphon, about three hours from Krabi and for volunteers wanting an experience of Thailand which is well off the tourist trail, this is an excellent option. Chumphon Coordinator, Jamnong will welcome you into his local community and have you speaking basic Thai in no time!

Staff training and visiting our new projects left me with no time to visit any of Thailand’s beautiful beaches this time, however, the volunteers enjoyed a weekend at stunning Ko Phi Phi. Thailand definitely offers volunteers plenty to do in their free time, combined with a unique insight into the Thailand most tourists don’t see and I’m already looking forward to my forth visit.

From her trip to our projects in Thailand, Dutch staff member Janou shares some good advice.

Although I am a staff member of the Dutch office, I never did voluntary work abroad as a Gap Year or in a later stage of my life. It was always on my wish list, but I never made the time. And being a mum now I put travelling / volunteering abroad at the bottom of my wish list.

Laurens, my husband, and recruitment manager of the Dutch Office, spoke always so passionately about his 10 months as a Projects Abroad volunteer in South Africa that my only recommendation to potential volunteers is: Please travel while you still can!

Luckily my wish came anyhow.

In January we got the amazing chance to visit our projects in Thailand. We travelled with our 2,5 year old daughter Philien. And we loved it!

I was in Asia before (Indonesia), but Thailand was beyond my expectations. The respect for the King, the friendly people, the lovely food and the beautiful sights made me fall in love with Thailand. And the local people fell in love with Philien…. It is so easy to get around and there is so much to see. When you are volunteering in Thailand there is no way you will feel bored.

Our Ao Nang based Diving & Marine Conservation project is a project like no other. You will learn how to scuba dive and will do marine life and coral reef research and monitoring and recovering work.
While diving you will see the most colourful amazing fishes and plants you have ever seen. Unfortunately I just missed a seahorse, but it was there!! Next to the diving part you also will help cleaning beaches and plant mangroves and learn about the importance of mangroves.
Sleeping with other volunteers in a shared apartment, tasty food being provided - you can have the time of your life!

My opinion remains the same, when you feel like travelling or volunteering abroad, please take your chances: HELP, LEARN, EXPLORE!!!!

Janou Vos

What a fantastic trip that was! One month, 5 countries, 13 flights and 12 time zones ahead of home. The Plan was to document the amazing work of our volunteers in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. Breathtaking, inspiring and heartbreaking sometimes but mostly, very rewarding.

I think I met an average of 10 people a day every day who offered me tea. I can now count to ten in Thai, Khmer, Sinhala and Tamil, also I can very politely ask “Can I take a picture of you?” in Thai and Khmer.

Meeting new people, visiting a new placement and taking new pictures everyday, driving every weekday and flying to a different country every weekend, that was my routine for a month.

The most remarkable thing is definitely the work of our volunteers - we behind the scenes don’t normally see their work as we’re too busy organizing their placements behind our desks, but I must say they do an amazing job and I have the best example here with me; Rotanak is an orphan boy who lives in the Lighthouse orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Please notice how good his English is. The reason is very simple: Volunteers.

Click this link to see the video:
http://www.teaching-abroad.co.uk/expes/rotanak-cambodia.html

The photos show the volunteers in Action, I really wonder how many did I photograph? Teaching English to Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, taking care of physically and mentally disordered kids in Thailand, taking active part in operations on our medical placements in India, supporting local physiotherapists in Nepal or Teaching English to kids at the Tsunami camp in Sri Lanka. So many places and so many examples of how the volunteers can make a real difference.

I took nearly 5 thousand pictures, I needed a week to classify them all, a selection is already in the UK and shortly you’ll be able to see them at the global Projects Abroad online Gallery, Posters, Brochures, Leaflets and of course our website.

I want to thank all the colleagues and now new friends I met over all the destinations I visited, I really hope to see you all again!

I also managed to take general pictures of the actual destinations, here’s an online gallery, have a look and feel free to criticise them.

Link to photogallery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60409115@N00/

Thanks very much, Kap kun kap, hapkun, Istuti, Nanri, Danyevat !!!

Claudio