Work Camp – code: DaLaa6712
Dates: 9-18 December 2024 (Max. number of volunteers: 15)

SHORT DESCRIPTION

 

Immerse yourself in the fresh winter environment of a Northern Hill tribe at Kong Por Neua, a remote Karen community from Chiang Mai province.  After a preparation day, volunteers will organize two full days of activities with students at the local School to support values of international peace, culture exchange, solidarity, team building, leadership…depending of the skills of each one and using English language as a tool. The next 3 days, we will focus on a Universal Moral & Ethics Camp at the local Buddhist monastery (our living place) organized by the foundation Watcharaparamita. Volunteers may help with vegan cooking, organization of activities, such as games for adults and children, take parts in the discussions and share their own culture. The last two days will be dedicated to local culture and forest discovery/preservation awareness together with our hosts.

   

 

HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PROJECT

This project is born from the gathering between the foundation Watcharaparamita and DaLaa, International volunteers for Social Development association. DaLaa organizes international workcamps often in the education field with children and youth in Thailand. The foundation Watcharaparamita based in Chiang Mai organizes Universal Moral & Ethics Camps for adults and it will be the second time they will do such an event in the Ban Kong Por Neua monastery. Too Neuk, the active monk there, is the one who invited the foundation and the first edition was a success. He is keeping the local people active in the village and organizes often events with them.

This time with DaLaa we wish to expand our love to children there and embrace the foundation’s camp (13-15 December) by creating meaningful activities for the children in both the school and the monastery toward international culture exchange, having fun while respecting each other’s, learning about ourselves and peace. Volunteers will help to prepare and join some parts of the foundation’s camp.

 

Too Neuk giving a speech in his monastery, our local host	The team of the Watcharaparamita foundation

 

AIMS of the PROJECT

 

1. Allow children to broaden their horizons and learn English speaking skills.

2. Create fun activities on the basis of love and kindness.

3. Strengthen love and unity without discrimination of social classes, ethnicity and religion

4. Bring love and kindness to create great power. Join hands to develop ourselves, develop the society, and develop the nation.

       

 SCHEDULE and ACTIVITIES

Mon Dec 9	Traveling from Chiang Mai airport (10 AM) to Om Koi district (4 hours for 200 km) & from Om Koi to Kong Por Neua monastery (1-2 hours for 40 km on dirt roads)
Tue 10	Getting to know each other’s- Visit of the village and preparation of the activities for children. ( Dec 10th is a holiday in Thailand.)
Wed 11 & Thu 12	Activities with children at Ban Utum School (the main School of Na Kian-sub district, 5 km from the monastery) – From 8 AM to 4 PM. The school welcomes 292 students from Kindergarten to Junior high School. We may focus only on primary students (140) or junior high School students (125) depending on the number of volunteers. Volunteers should have in mind some ideas of games/activities they would like to organize.
Fri 13 to Sun 15	Universal Moral & Ethics Camp: we expect about 30 -50 local participants from age 12 to adults. They will stay with us for 3 days sleeping at the monastery. Speakers from Watcharaparamita foundation (about 10-15 people) will have prepared some presentation on important issues such as Dharma (Nature)understanding, our life’s mission, Tests of life, family ethics, why eating vegan… All presentations will be in Thai but we will have summaries in English for foreign volunteers. These would be the morning program. In afternoon, we will have more exchange and discussions including some games to get together. In the night will be time for camp fire and possibly theater, music or extra activities. Depending of their interests, volunteers can join the cooking team, the normal program (hopefully with the help of translators) and organizing games or activities for the afternoon or evening. We would also like to have a group of volunteers to organize activities for other children (under 12) in the compound of the monastery.
Mon 16 morning	Relax and free time
Mon 16 afternoon & Tue 17	We will spend the last 2 days together with some of the local people who have join the camp. We wish to create more connections by visiting their home, and their environment. We especially would like to bring the volunteers to the local watershed forest that are so important part of the ecosystem. Too Neuk will be the main coordinator for this part We will take time for the evaluation of the workcamp
Wed 18	Traveling back to Chiang Mai (Arrival expected around 4 pm in Chiang Mai)

 

It’s recommended for participants to bring in some ideas for group activities to the work camp as you will spend most of your stay with your volunteer friends. Activities can be card games, songs, shows, craft skill sharing or anything that bring you guys together!

Ban Utum School students line up in the morning	Presentation of Dharma in the monastery main room

 

 REQUIREMENTS

The volunteers should be ready to stay in a remote area, to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities.  Very few local people are able to speak in English and even most of the elders do not understand Thai language. Volunteers should be able to handle spontaneous working environment. The mentality and way of thinking is very different from the western world. There will have activities with the children. To have responsibility for you, the kids and full involvement in community matters is a must. For the 10 days, you will be led by a DaLaa member/staff who will help to coordinate the project.

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

We will have a cooking team (that you can join). They will provide volunteers with 3 meals a day. The food will be vegan for the whole stay – No meat is allowed in the monastery.

We will provide volunteers with drinking water tanks/closed bottles. Local people are actually drinking rain water mostly.

We will all stay in the compound of Kong Por Neua monastery. There is a communal building and you will be provided with simple sleeping equipment like thin mats, pillows and blankets. We will sleep in communal rooms (1 for females and 1 for males). These rooms will be used in the day time for the camp so we will need to pack up our sleeping stuff every morning. If you need more privacy, we advise you to bring your own tent that you can pitch in the yard. 

In December, it will be winter: the temperature is around 10 degrees in the morning so volunteers are encouraged to prepare additional winter equipment such as warm clothes, hats, socks, gloves, and scarves. The day time should be warmer.

There are many toilets and shower rooms. You actually shower by throwing water on you with a bucket from a tank. The water is collected from the rain but there should be enough for daily use. – No hot water.

There is no electricity in the village but there are solar panels at the monastery so this should be fine to recharge your phone.

**Please do not expect intensive comfort during your time at the project

 

OTHER PRACTICAL INFORMATION

·       Laundry: hand wash only

·       Internet/phone access: get a SIM card from ‘ONE-TO-CALL’ (AIS) or ‘TRUE MOVE’ company.

·        There are small shops in the village for basic needs drink/snacks…

·       Health center: 5 km away from the monastery, next to Ban Utum School

·       Hospital- ATM: 40 km away at Om Koi district – we will have pick up car available in case of emergency

·        Clothes worn in the village: You will be living in a monastery with elderly people and children around so it is appropriate that you dress modestly, for example no short skirts or shorts too far above the knees. Also, women should wear tops that cover your shoulders. Bring some warm cloth as mentioned above.

·       Language: Only few people in the village can speak good English. We will teach you some basic Thai language during the start of your project. Non-verbal communication will be as well essential.

Work Camp – code: DaLaa6704
Dates: 16- 29 April 2024 (Max. number of volunteers: 10)

SHORT DESCRIPTION

During those 2 weeks, we want to organize 3 children camps at DaLaa Voluntary Service Community in Kok Riang village.  Each camp would take 3 days and involve different Thai children from 7 to 13 years old. We will keep 1 or 2 days in between to relax, evaluate, and prepare the next one. The activities and camp’s daily life organized by volunteers should be strongly connected with our community values, authenticity, responsibility and inclusion. Besides, they should allow children to be in a harmonious and safe environment. English language is poorly understood by the children, so we’ll have to find possibilities to overcome this challenge with the help from our coordinator and Thai volunteers.

BACKGROUND

DaLaa Voluntary Service Community (VSC) is the first door for outsiders to get to know DaLaa organization. The main mission of DaLaa is to coordinate between the hosts and volunteers for working together in the active communities for social growth and environmental preservation.

This new work camp idea is born from a few reasons:

1-Every year,  we organize a kids’ camp during summer holidays (March and April)in VS  welcoming the kids from each of the long-term volunteer placements we have.

2- We have organized kids’ camp with children from SOS Children’s village. It is an international independent non-governmental social organization that helps children without parental care and families living in difficult conditions.

3- We used to organize activities with children around our village, but we haven’t been organizing much during Covid pandemic . We want to start again.

ACTIVITIES

In this workcamp, we will combine 3 camps with the 3 groups of children described above. Each camp would last 3 days. We expect the groups of 10-15 children maximum mainly aged from 7 to 13 years old. The children will be sleeping with us and so taking care of daily life which is as important as other activities. We’ll have a few DaLaa coordinators, Thai, and foreign volunteers. We expect all of us to be fully active and responsible for the children and planning for activities. One person involved in this camp would need to lead at least one activity for the kids. Before it starts, we will organize an online preparation to brainstorm what we are going to do, who is the leader for which session, and so on. Any idea is welcome no matter art, sport, games, English lessons (basic), theater, cooking, gardening, recycling. However, keep in mind about the language barrier, the learning process, and the security.

** You will be supervised by a DaLaa coordinator.

AIMS of the PROJECT

1. To spread our love and values to local children
2. To let children be familiar with volunteers and learn in international/multi-culture atmosphere
3. To develop our VSC activities

REQUIREMENTS

The volunteers should be ready to stay in a local area, and to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities.  Be prerpared of the kids’ poor English skills. Volunteers should be able to be with the kids and prepare some games and materials for activities. 

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

Volunteers will sleep in the tents and small huts. There will be thin mattresses, yoga mats, pillows, and mosquito nets. There are basic toilets, showers, and a kitchen. We will take time to cook together.  Volunteers will be welcome to cook their own food using the ingredients available there. (No oven, only a gas and woks or pans).