September 2019

Ban Prang Mu School

September 30, 2019 DaLaa Leave a comment Workcamps

(Activities with kids at a primary school)

Work Camp – code: DaLaa6301

Dates: 12-25 January 2020

(Maximum number of volunteers: 15)

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Ban Prang Mu School is a very small school in Ban Prang Mu sub-district, Phatthalung province, Southern Thailand. The school director, who shares our values, would like to welcome volunteers, to improve English skills for students to be able to communicate in this language. Volunteers can help to organize English lessons or other fun activities with the 91 students from kindergarten to Grade 6 (6-12 years old) during these 2 weeks. The English skills of the students are very poor. They are not familiar with foreigners. You can experience the local way of life, exchange with other volunteers, villagers and support the children education.

HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PROJECT

Ban Prang Mu School, Phatthalung Province was founded in 1921 in Prang Mueng Nai temple. There are nowadays 91 students from kindergarten to Grade 6 (6-12 years old). The kids have very few chances for interaction with foreigners and the English language is more and more needed for their future. The director Mr Suriyasak Vorakanjananon know us (DaLaa association) through our volunteer placement in a nearby school (Wat Pho) and contacted us to see the possibility to start a cooperation and to have volunteers joining their work. After a survey visit, we decided to start a workcamp in this community.

AIMS of the PROJECT

To support Ban Prang Mu School
To be part of the community of Ban Prang Mu village
To let children be familiar with volunteers and learn in an international/multi-culture atmosphere
To improve English skills for students to be able to communicate with foreigners

WORK AND ACTIVITIES

Give non-formal English classes and other fun activities with the students
Create teaching materials for teacher and kids
Activities with villagers: cleaning the temple area, sports activities, homemade cooking dessert

** We’ll keep you update 1 month or 2 weeks before the camp starts for a more detailed schedule**

** You will be supervised by a DaLaa coordinator that will be the link between the volunteers’ team and the local school.

** We will try to mix Thai volunteers and international from different countries but we cannot guarantee it. We will keep you informed during and after your application.

REQUIREMENTS

The volunteers should be ready to stay in a local area, to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities. Very few local people are able to speak in English. Volunteers should be able to be with the kids and prepare some games and material for teaching.

FOOD and ACCOMMODATION

Volunteers will sleep in the classroom. There will be simple mats, pillow and mosquito net. You will need to bring your sleeping bag and a small mattress. There are basic toilets, showers and a kitchen at the school canteen. The teachers and villagers will help the volunteers to cook. Local people eat rice (or noodles) 3 times a day with side dishes like curries, omelettes, local leaves and vegetables. Volunteers will be welcome to cook their own food using the ingredients available there. (No oven, only a gas and woks or pans).

Muay, Thai volunteer with French Civic Service 2018-2019

September 30, 2019 DaLaa Leave a comment DaLaa News

My name is Muay or Gail. I’m 19 years old. I was a volunteer for 10 months in Service Civique program, which is supported by the French government. The organization that I worked with is Solidarite Jeunesses in their delegation called REV in the south of France, about half an hour from Nimes.

It was my first time going to Europe for a long time. In the beginning, I was worried about a lot of things. For example, new culture, people, language. But finally, I decided to go because I want to grow up and discover a lot of new things and experience.

About the work, there were 3 types of work.

Local animation, Local animation is the actions or activities that we did with local people because in the project we try to link, communicate and live with local people. For example, we did English classes for kids and adults in the village. We organized many events like international dinner, the aims of this event are taking with villagers, sharing our culture and to present our project to the villagers. We also join the local activity for example, I join the French local theatre. And we have a second-hand shop, the place where volunteers can meet and talk with villagers.
Chantier (the French word for working place), we planted a lot of trees to help farmer solve the problem of flamingo eating the rice. We also checked the hiking spot, if the way is still ok or the sign is not broken. And gardening as well.
Training, I joined 3 training. 2 with SJ about diversity, racism and discrimination and 1 with the red cross. All these trainings teach me a lot and change the way I see things and people.

In the volunteer house, we live with volunteers from many countries. For me, in the beginning, it was very hard to adapt and understand the culture because it was so different from my culture. It took time to learn but from this difficulty, I had learned how to open mind and accept something different.

From these 10 months, I had learned a lot of things and discover a lot of new things, I experience happy moments, I meet nice people, Also I face difficult situations and having difficulty with some people. So I grow up a lot, my world becomes bigger and diverse. This volunteering was a big chance and big change too. It was a hard year, happy year, and changing year to become a better person and growing up.

Yong, one year in France

September 10, 2019 DaLaa Leave a comment Volunteer stories

My name is Yong. Now I’m 28 years old but I was 24 years old when I participated in long term volunteer project in France.

I was a volunteer in Service Civique program, which is supported by French government. The organization that I worked with is called Citrus. It is in the south of France, about an hour from Toulouse.

This was my first time living aboard for a year. It was challenging in the beginning. I carried a lot of fears and worries. But once I arrived in the project, I felt much better with a warm welcoming from the staffs and also other volunteers.

About working, we worked together between volunteers and insertion workers. Most of the time, we cleaned or renovated the train station. Apart from this, we also host the groups. When we hosted the group, we worked together and also cooked together. It doesn’t sound difficult but it does. Cooking for a big group of people was one big challenge of our voluntary service. At the end of my volunteering year, I also took part in the workcamp. I led teenagers’ workcamp with 2 more leaders. Workcamp leading helps me a lot to be more patient and flexible at the same time. I experienced a few hard situations and we had learned from them. Moreover, we worked also with teenagers in the village. There was a club named “Bouge Ta Bogue”. We organized some trips outside and also some cultural activities with teenagers.

About living, we lived together in volunteers’ house. There are 3 bedrooms, one for girls, one for boys and another for guests. It sounds simple but not actually. Washing dishes was always our issue. We had a meeting every Friday with our mentor to organize and discuss our daily lives in the house. Imagine living together all the time for a year, it was not easy but in the end, we end up to be really close friends.

After this one year experience, I found myself growing up a lot, for sure not for my physical aspect haha. I had learned how to open my mind for the strangers, how to adapt and compromise when they were hard situations and also how to be confident and make a decision when it needed. I had learned to believe in myself and my abilities. This volunteering experience gave me a chance to learn that voluntary service supports us to discover about the others and (the big part is) to discover ourselves. J