Ban Kok Riang (Creative English teaching and community living)

DaLaa MLTV project – code: 2301

Open all year round, minimum 2 months stay

Maximum number of volunteers: 3-4

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Volunteers will join a small Buddhist community in Klong Hoy Khong districk, Sonkhla province, South of  Thailand. They will organize activities for kids at the local school and in the village, share the life of the VSC (volunteer service community), helping with other work such as organize mini work camp in the weekend, helping in gardening and construction work at VSC (volunteers service community).

HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PROJECT

The village is known as Ban Kok Riang which is situated in Klong Hoi Khong district of Songkhla province, Southern Thailand. It is about 30 minutes away from Hatyai city and 15 minutes from the airport. The approximate number of villagers settling in this village is about 1,200 people or 140 families. Most of the villagers own fruit orchard and rubber plantation, and nearly all of them are Buddhists. There are a few Buddhist temples in the area and lots of rubber plantation lined up on the sides of the road. Some people living in the village commute to work at nearby city (Hatyai) for factories that export rubber and processed seafood products.

The school

Baan Plakkla School was founded in 1934 by the abbot of Plakkla temple.  There are nowadays 6 teachers and 62 students from kindergarten to Grade 6 (6-12 years old). The kids have very few chances for interaction with foreigners and English language is more and more needed for their future.

Baan Plakkla School is a small school in Kok Muang sub district, Songkhla 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 students from kindergarten to Grade 6 (6-12 years old). 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.

AIMS of the PLACEMENT

• To support Local school in the village
• To be part of the community of Ban Kok Riang village
• To be part of DaLaa organization , sharing life with staffs and other volunteers from VSC project
• To let children be familiar with volunteers and learn 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 at primary school and at VSC on weekend
• Create teaching materials for teacher and kids
• Activities with villagers: cleaning the temple area, sport activities, homemade cooking dessert
• Cooking, gardening, seeds conservation, recycling, repairing and construction at VSC (volunteers service community)

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.  Volunteers should be able to stay in a remote environment.  Volunteers should be able to take responsibility for themselves and the team by taking care of their health and security and be fully involved in the daily tasks.

** Clothes worn in the village- schools and temples: skirts or shorts long enough to cover your knees also when you are sitting. Women should wear tops that cover their shoulders, no low neckline. Bikinis are not appropriate to swim if you go on holidays. Please wear long shorts and a top instead.

 

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

Volunteers will stay in the volunteers’ hut in the DaLaa organization area, there are also some DaLaa staff staying in the same place. There will be simple mats, pillow and mosquito net. There are basic toilets, showers and a kitchen.  We cook together with the team and DaLaa staffs.  Local people eat rice (or noodles) 3 times a day with side dishes like curries, omelets, 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).

Suan Som Rom Na Phru  (Local crafts discovery & organic garden)

DaLaa MLTV project – code: 2203
All year round
Expected number of volunteers: 2

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Prapai Thongchern also known as Phi Yoi is a 50 years old single woman pioneer in natural living. She  has a a long experience in natural color textiles  and starting local green markets in the province of Phatthalung (South Thailand) that have became really successful. She has restored a family land covering an area of 4 rai (1.6 acre), which used to be a peat swamp field with sago palm dense forest, and turned it into a beautiful farm  named “Suan Som Rom Na Phru”. This farm is used both as a learning space and to provide her with daily fresh food and environment .  The place is ideal for recharging the life energy and finding an inspiration from the simplicity in nature.

AIMS of the PROJECT

       ·            To learn and support organic farming, self-reliance, cooking and local culture and handicrafts.

       ·             To join the life in the community, and possibly exchange culture and language with partners and visitors. 

 WORK- ACTIVITIES

–         Handicrafts- P. Yoi is an expert in local culture and knows how to support the local wisdom and skills to be recognized. She is often invited to join local crafts, organize eco-tourism activities and herself practice many skills like dying clothes or basket weaving.

• –       Learning about food processing, cooking, Thai dishes, Thai desert.  

  –         Agriculture (seeds conservation, planting, potting, caring, collecting, weeding, watering, composting…)

  –         Activities with kids in the local small school. 

REQUIREMENTS

This project is for volunteers who are interested and willing to stay in a basic environment, exchange on organic agriculture, self-reliance, cooking and Thai traditional cultures. The volunteers will learn more about green market and community network building.

Volunteers should be ready to adapt to the Thai, local way of life, and willing to create relationships with volunteers’ friends, hosts and local people. Some difficult points could be mosquitoes and insects, eating rice at every meal, language and culture barrier, changing plans often.

Volunteers should be able to take responsibility for themselves and the team by taking care of their health and security and be fully involved in the daily tasks.

** Clothes worn in the village- schools and temple: skirts or shorts long enough to cover your knees also when you are sitting. Women should wear tops that cover their shoulders, no low neckline. Bikinis are not appropriate to swim if you go on holidays. Please wear long shorts and a top instead.

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

• Volunteers will cook meals together with the host, suitable for vegetarians. (using wooden for cooing)
• Volunteers will stay in a small Thai style house, same area as the host house, mosquito nets, pillows, blankets and mattresses are provided.

Kok Payom Community
“Learning Community, Creative English teaching and environment”

DaLaa MLTV project – code: 0950

Open all year round (except March to April), minimum 2 months stay, Nb of volunteers: 4

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Join the life of a small fishermen village of the Andaman Coast-South Thailand and teach English at the local school, or in a non-formal way in the evening and weekends. The village is bordered with a sea canal and a beautiful mangrove forest. You will share the daily life of the villagers, absorbing their wisdom and spread it in your own way with fresh energy to the local kids, realizing also their difficulties and bring your rock for a better future at Kok Payom.

Background

Kok Payom is a small muslim-majority village in Langú district, Satun, in the South of Thailand, with approx. 600 inhabitants. People in the village mainly rely on fishing and agriculture – rice, rubber, palm, fruits, vegetables, spices – as for their daily living and main source of income. There is 1 mosque, a religious school (Tadika) 1 public primary school (kindergarden and grades 1-6), a few small shops and community spaces in the village. 1 NGO established by local people are active in the Village with the main focus on mangrove and environmental conservation and the other.

Kok Payom, is located 10 kilometers away from the town of Langu in Satun Province.  The village is only few km from the sea and linked to it through a large river/canal: the water is salty and there is a strong tide. Most families own a boat and go fishing everyday at the river or at the sea. There are also rubber plantations and rice fields. It is a very peaceful location surrounded by an area of mangrove forest. This village is about 100 years old.

Until late 1980’s, villagers were working for a company (government concessions) to make coal from the rich wood of the mangrove forest. They cut almost all of it.Then there was the law to definitively stop these concessions and to forbid cutting the rich wood all over Thailand. [This was the start of national parks.  But 80 % of the tropical forests of Thailand were already down to exportation…and locals were forbid to cut trees for their own need, even, in many cases people living in the limits of the new called national parks have been forced to leave their houses].  When Kok Payom people realized the fishes and crabs were disappearing from the canal, some villagers made the link and decided to replant and take care of the mangrove. And indeed, most of the life of the canal and the whole ocean is starting in between the roots of the mangrove (and the corals too).Nowadays, many areas have been replanted around the village, and even if the mangrove has only 2 or 3 trees species and most trees are of the same height, the life is growing under, in between the roots that can deal with the tides and salty water. The villagers want to continue to take care of the mangrove and we would like to support them with hand, head and heart power.

Villagers want also to take care of the social life of the community. The social values of respecting and supporting each other in their traditional way of life are difficult to maintain nowadays. Like everywhere in the world, villagers face more and more challenges. The community has recognized some of these problems and is working hard to find solutions to the environmental and social issues. They greatly welcome visitors, activists and volunteers who can contribute to these efforts.  

Since 2009, DaLaa volunteers have been working with the villagers and children especially at the local schools. There have been a big improvement and continuation of useful activities and constructions. Community members are more aware of environmental issues and how to preserve the local beliefs and life style. In 2010, the villagers, creates “Klong Toh Lem school”, an alternative school on the other side of the canal, in the middle of mangrove forest where children were learning about environment, local values, wisdom, and language in a very natural method of learning every Sunday. Since the Covid period, the activities were totally stopped and the nature took over the School, and now the local people want to start the Klong the Lem aschool again together with the volunteers.  

AIMS of the PROJECT.

• To support and be part of Kok Payom learning community (to preserve their community values and life style)
• To be part of the education of local children, especially with English language
• To learn about local cultures and wisdom

WORK AND ACTIVITIES

Volunteers can possibly do the activities as follows:

• Create non-formal English classes at local schools
• To support some work for community base project (Masjid and Islamic learning centre)
• Organize nature trips with children (awareness of the importance of nature)
• Plant young seedlings in the mangrove forests (occasionally)
• Organize fun and enjoyable activities to the village children at the village meeting place
• Experience Thai Muslim culture, language and local lifestyle with the villagers and support in any useful activities.

REQUIREMENTS

The volunteers should be ready to stay in a remote area, to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities and with few people able to speak in English. Volunteers should be able to handle spontaneous working environment and constant changes in the plans. The mentality and way of thinking is very different from the western world. There will have often activities with the children. To have responsibility for yourself, the kids and full involvement in community matters is a must.

Villagers of Kok Payom are Muslim so there is no pork or alcohol in the village. Women should dress modestly although you will discover when you live there that the villagers are very relaxed.

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

– We will cook meals together with the host family, there is a lot of sea food, rice, vegetables. Because the family is Muslim, there will be no pork nor alcohol.

– Volunteers will stay at the host house.  The mosquito nets, pillows, blankets and mattresses are provided. The conditions are simple.