Our Projects

We had quite a few projects planned while we were at the school.           

- Septic tank for the bathrooms

- Sinks for the bathroom
- Replace/update water system
- First Aid room
- Playground
- Grease trap and kitchen update
- Pave a walkway to bathroom
- Paint a mural

In addition to the construction projects we had multiple classes prepared for the children everyday, a health fair for the community, a fun fair for the children, vocational classes for the older students, and a community meeting planned to discuss what can be done in future years.  But most importantly, we started a relationship with this community.  Youthlinc likes to stay at an international site for 3-5 years.  That way we can make lasting improvements and accomplish long term goals.  We are not at a site do all the work and hand people things they need.  As Judy said, “we don’t practice drive by aid”.  The aim is to help the community help themselves…to teach and to build a sustainable relationship that can go on improving the lives of the community long after we leave.  Once we got started on the projects all of the kids and other community members would come around to help us work and it was evident that they were genuinely grateful and interested in the work we were doing.

I was the mentor for the cultural exchange committee.  We were kind of in charge of painting a mural for the school.  We wanted to include the students and have them contribute to most of the design and the actual painting.  We bought supplies at a local hardware store and got started.  We were very lucky to have some very artistic people in our group and the backdrop to our mural formed very quickly.  The idea was to paint Thailand and then have the students add things that were important to them, like their family, pets, friends, ect.  Then we had everyone add their hand print as leave on two big trees painted on either side of the mural.  The complete painting took about 4 days.  The outcome was pretty adorable and the kids had such a good time painting.

One afternoon Shae and I decided we wanted to teach a class.  Shae is a teacher in Salt Lake and had prepared a lesson plan previously with her students.  Her class had put together “All About Me” books for the children in Thailand.  The lesson was to teach the Thai children English descriptive words to describe their lives and make their own "All About Me" books.  Then we would take their books back to Shae’s classroom.

Our group also had a health fair for the community and brought school supplies for the classrooms.

We accomplished a lot and had a pretty amazing time doing it!

Day 1 Thailand

Our first day at the school was a memorable one.  We had a late breakfast that morning.  Seafood noodles and rice.  We left for the school in hired vans that took use everywhere while we were there.  All I can say is...WORST DRIVERS EVER.  

Resident monk

The school we were working at was a rural neighborhood school called WatBangSiad.  Wat means temple and the focus of this area was a beautiful Buddhist temple with huge pillars of gold and orange and red.  There was a massive golden Buddha, large ornate murals on all the walls, dorms for the monks and a graveyard for important people in the community. When we arrived at the school the kids immediately grabbed our hands and led us inside the temple.  They were so excited to show us everything.  We played hand games on the floor of the temple in front of the huge golden Buddha.  Next to the grandeur of the temple the school looks a little shabby to say the least.  The Phang Nga Rotary Club and the students put on an opening ceremony for us with music and dancing.   An amazingly delicious lunch followed that included fruit I had never tried before (Mangosteen and Ramubtons) and we were able to hang out and get to know the people we would be working with for the next 2 weeks or so. 

Old temple and graveyard

Elementary building

That night we had a dinner with the Rotary Club and the Governor of Phang Nag.  The president of Rotary talked to us all for a little bit.  He told us to open our hearts and minds to the experience because what we were there to do was important. That really stuck with me and I made up my mind to really live in the moment and not take one minute of this experience for granted.    

Amazing Thailand

“Seek to make your life’s path long and its purpose the service of your people” - Chief Tecumseh (Crouching Tiger) Shawnee Nation, 1768-1813

So...I have been home from Thailand for a little while now and I figured it was about time for me to document my trip. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for helping me get there and I hope you will be excited to share my experiences.   

Our flight left Salt Lake City at 9:00pm on June 9^th 2010.  We had more than 24 hours of travel ahead of us and we were greeted on the flight with an announcement that we would be delayed on the tarmac for about an hour and 45 minutes…before we even started out trip!  The final destination was Phang Nag, Thailand where we would finally arrive around 11:30pm on June 11^th after some ridiculous number of hours of travel.  For the record lavender essential oil is a wonder drug on long flights.

We ended up with a 12 hour layover in Taiwan but instead of hanging out in the airport all day we boarded a tour bus and hit the town.  I can’t say that Taiwan was my favorite place in the world but sight seeing sure beats sitting around in an airport all day.  It was pouring rain but we still were able to see a few beach towns (Bitou Beach), discovered squat toilets, had lunch in a cloud on the roof of a restaurant (with a rat or two for company), tried some pig’s blood cake and visited Yehliu National Geopark.  Altogether it wasn’t a bad one day trip to the country.

My travel group of students

Squat toilets

Yehliu National Geopark

Once we arrived in Thailand though, I immediately liked it better than Taiwan.  We arrived late at night but still received a warm welcome.  We still had an hour and half drive to our hotel but we finally made it.  It was a lot nicer than I was expecting and it had an actual bed so I could care less what the rest of the place looked like. We went straight to bed because, well because we had been up for the 48 or something like that.  Besides, we had to be up bright and early to head over to the school and see what this trip was all about.

The view from our hotel room.

Our room.

The neighborhood

Yard Sale

Our final fund-raising project before we left on out trip was a yard sale.  Many people donated to the sale and we made more than the amount we were aiming for.  Everyone did a great job and really pulled together!