I added new pictures, but I forgot to give an update about what's going on here. These past few days have been a little crazy. We have gotten a new volunteer each day for the past three days and we are running out of places to put them. I'm lucky that I don't have to share a bed. I finally unpacked some of my things...it's about time, it's only been five weeks haha. I can't believe I only have four weeks left already. This trip is going by so fast and I feel like I have so much left to do here. I guess that means that I'm just going to have to come back and finish what I've started.
I have taken on the task of preparing a leadership course for the youth group at DEPDC. We had our first class this week and the theme was "Modeling the Way" which is adapted from The Leadership Challenge. We talked about clarifying your values and being an example of those values. We also played "simon Says" because simon models the way-Get it? Well I thought it was kind of clever. I think this class will be a huge success and it's turned into being my favorite project.
I'm also currently working on a anti-drug presentation for a school in one of the Hmong villages up north. In Thailand, Meth is a huge problem. It comes in a tablet form mixed with caffeine and they call it "yaba" which translates into crazy medicine. This presentation is going to be modeled after the "Just Say No" program that is taught in the United States. I'm really not an expert on Meth so I hope I can get the facts straight. Thanks goodness for the internet!
Friday, July 16, 2010
New Pictures, Old Info
Well my mom has been complaining that I haven't put any pictures on my blog yet so here they are. One of the pictures is of the Akha village that we stayed in over night. They taught us about their culture and traditions. It was very enlightening and I felt so thrilled that we were not only teaching them, but they were teaching us as well. Elephants came and picked us up in the morning and we road down the mountain on them. I got to ride on the elephants head and I just about died with fulfillment of one of my life-long dreams. In case you didn't know, elephants are my favorite animals and I've always wanted to ride one.
The other picture is at DEPDC. We were teaching the kids square-foot gardening. I'm still waiting to see how this project turns out.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Now that the rain is gone
This week has been rewarding, frustrating, happy, long, complex, challenging, and pretty much any other adjective you can think of. It has been very hot here since the rain stopped coming, but every time I see a cloud I try and you my mind to make it rain, sadly it never does-just kidding, but seriously. Anyway, as volunteers we have finally entered into the stage of the summer where everyone feels the need to be really competitive. I have tried to step back and realize we all have the same end goals, but it has been difficult for others. It's rather very funny to watch on the sidelines. Some people tell you that you can't go to one project because it's full even though the people in charge say there are more openings and then the person that doesn't get to go does that to someone else and so forth. I don't know why this happens, but my theory is that the constant heat reverts many people back to the age of 5. I really hope that we can overcome this challenge as a team and focus back on what we actually came here to do and not focus on how many projects that one person can be the leader of. Sorry for my little rant, but I am watching this happen almost everyday so I felt the need to share it. I am really trying to post pictures for you to see, but my card won't read in the computer. Sorry.
On Friday, I was able to travel to the Akha village and check on the adobe stove we made to see how it is drying. Turns out that we made a great stove, well at least as far as I can tell. It will be another week before we will take out the banana stock and check out how the hollow piping turned out. After that we spent the rest of the day working on finishing the walls for a sauna down in the free clinic that we have been helping to build. At the end, we were asked to write all of our names in the cement so I have officially left my mark on Thailand.
The weekend was nice because we got to unwind from such a crazy week. We traveled all the way to Big C, which is where everyone hangs out and I would say that it is the equivalent of Wal-Mart in Thailand. We went there to get KFC and a Dairy Queen Blizzard which was surprisingly good considering the rest of the food here has been making me sick and sorry that I ate it. Then I went to a driving range and hit some golf balls for the very first time. Everyone said I was a natural but I think they were just being nice. At one point I even managed to hit one behind me. Sunday was great because it was the 4th of July which is my favorite holiday. I was a little sad to be out of the country for the second time in a row, but the group pulled of an awesome day. We had pancakes for breakfast and had hamburgers for dinner and of course as Americans we were able to get a hold of some fireworks. It turned out to be a festivity for the neighbors and we sang and cheered as the fireworks went off. What a great Day that was!
A few of us went up to DEPDC on Monday to teach a leadership class and a compost lesson to the agricultural students. I mostly observed the leadership class to see what we could change, what worked, and I ended up with a huge daunting project at my hands-to create an entire leadership course with a clear objective and I am only given 4 weeks. Yay me! haha, we'll see how this turns out. The compost lesson went very well and we created a little spin with the square-foot gardening. We separated the kids into groups and assigned them each a box and their own compost pile. They are each responsible for adding to it and to maintaining their boxes. Whoever proves to have the best garden/compost pile at the end-wins. We're just not exactly sure what they will win yet, but it definitely lit a fire under them and they loved it. I've never seen kids work so hard.
Yesterday I spent planning out lessons for English as well as working on a leadership program and I think I am off to a good start. Today we met with the organization called SOLD. You can check them out at TheSoldProject.org. It's a very moving organization that focuses on preventing children from entering into prostitution. They provide scholarships for children who are at risk. They are currently building a resource center which they hope will draw in many members of the community and we are going to be doing square-foot gardening with the kids there. It was a pretty amazing meeting and I'm really interested in this organization. I'm hoping that I might be able to come back to Thailand and get involved or even help them with fundraising back in the states.
On Friday, I was able to travel to the Akha village and check on the adobe stove we made to see how it is drying. Turns out that we made a great stove, well at least as far as I can tell. It will be another week before we will take out the banana stock and check out how the hollow piping turned out. After that we spent the rest of the day working on finishing the walls for a sauna down in the free clinic that we have been helping to build. At the end, we were asked to write all of our names in the cement so I have officially left my mark on Thailand.
The weekend was nice because we got to unwind from such a crazy week. We traveled all the way to Big C, which is where everyone hangs out and I would say that it is the equivalent of Wal-Mart in Thailand. We went there to get KFC and a Dairy Queen Blizzard which was surprisingly good considering the rest of the food here has been making me sick and sorry that I ate it. Then I went to a driving range and hit some golf balls for the very first time. Everyone said I was a natural but I think they were just being nice. At one point I even managed to hit one behind me. Sunday was great because it was the 4th of July which is my favorite holiday. I was a little sad to be out of the country for the second time in a row, but the group pulled of an awesome day. We had pancakes for breakfast and had hamburgers for dinner and of course as Americans we were able to get a hold of some fireworks. It turned out to be a festivity for the neighbors and we sang and cheered as the fireworks went off. What a great Day that was!
A few of us went up to DEPDC on Monday to teach a leadership class and a compost lesson to the agricultural students. I mostly observed the leadership class to see what we could change, what worked, and I ended up with a huge daunting project at my hands-to create an entire leadership course with a clear objective and I am only given 4 weeks. Yay me! haha, we'll see how this turns out. The compost lesson went very well and we created a little spin with the square-foot gardening. We separated the kids into groups and assigned them each a box and their own compost pile. They are each responsible for adding to it and to maintaining their boxes. Whoever proves to have the best garden/compost pile at the end-wins. We're just not exactly sure what they will win yet, but it definitely lit a fire under them and they loved it. I've never seen kids work so hard.
Yesterday I spent planning out lessons for English as well as working on a leadership program and I think I am off to a good start. Today we met with the organization called SOLD. You can check them out at TheSoldProject.org. It's a very moving organization that focuses on preventing children from entering into prostitution. They provide scholarships for children who are at risk. They are currently building a resource center which they hope will draw in many members of the community and we are going to be doing square-foot gardening with the kids there. It was a pretty amazing meeting and I'm really interested in this organization. I'm hoping that I might be able to come back to Thailand and get involved or even help them with fundraising back in the states.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Whirlwind
We started projects in a rural village outside of town. Phii Tee, which turns out to be the correct way to spell his name, wanted us to build adobe stoves. We have also been helping to build a free clinic for the tribal people to make healthcare more attainable. It turns out that I'm the only person to ever build a stove before because of my experience in Fiji so the group turned to me for direction. Man did I ever feel inadequate. I was made a co-lead on the project and the pressure was on. Luckily I think I managed to pull through without letting anyone down.
The executive director of HELP, Mike, came to Thailand this week. Everyone made sure to be on their best behavior and turns out he is very chill. We went to Chiang Mai for the weekend to show him around (FYI, we get weekends off, except for the occasional saturday that we need to work, but I promise we are still working very hard and the weekends are hardly a break from working). It was a ton of fun, we got Thai massages for $5, went rafting in the dirtiest river you could ever imagine, and Mike ended the day by buying us all dinner. It was definitely an adventure filled with many bonding moments.
I', still sick and trying to recover, but it's not nearly as bad as it was. I have focused my efforts on becoming more organized with all the different projects that are going on. Right now, we are still getting set up so it's been chaotic and I'm trying to fix that. Mike and I had some good conversations about how to go about doing that and I'll keep you updated.
Last night, the girls found out that I love to dance and they pressured me into dancing in front of the group. It turned into a crazy sort of dance contest where we were given topics to dance out. It started raining and got super silly, but I'm glad that we are all getting along so well.
I have to go but I love you all and I will talk to you soon!
The executive director of HELP, Mike, came to Thailand this week. Everyone made sure to be on their best behavior and turns out he is very chill. We went to Chiang Mai for the weekend to show him around (FYI, we get weekends off, except for the occasional saturday that we need to work, but I promise we are still working very hard and the weekends are hardly a break from working). It was a ton of fun, we got Thai massages for $5, went rafting in the dirtiest river you could ever imagine, and Mike ended the day by buying us all dinner. It was definitely an adventure filled with many bonding moments.
I', still sick and trying to recover, but it's not nearly as bad as it was. I have focused my efforts on becoming more organized with all the different projects that are going on. Right now, we are still getting set up so it's been chaotic and I'm trying to fix that. Mike and I had some good conversations about how to go about doing that and I'll keep you updated.
Last night, the girls found out that I love to dance and they pressured me into dancing in front of the group. It turned into a crazy sort of dance contest where we were given topics to dance out. It started raining and got super silly, but I'm glad that we are all getting along so well.
I have to go but I love you all and I will talk to you soon!
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