(Activities with kids at a primary school)

          Dates: 18 -31 August 2024

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Phikulthong School is a very small Buddhism school in Chamuang, Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, Southern Thailand.  We got to know this school through the director that we use to work with in his former school. The school director who shares the same values as Dalaa would like to provide the chance for the students to improve their English by using the language in real life with foreign volunteers. There are 162 students in this school. Volunteers can help 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, and they are not familiar with foreigners. Here you can experience the locals’ way of life, exchange your cultures with other volunteers and villagers, and support the children’s education.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Watwipulthong School in Phatthalung province was founded in 1915. Nowadays, there are 162 students with 12 teachers, teaching from kindergarten to Grade 6 (6-12 years old). The director, Mr.Preecha Pannum, sees that his students are in need of exposure to English speaking atmosphere and different cultures of people around the world. Therefore, he contacted us to see if there is the possibility to cooperate with DaLaa and have some volunteers to help at his school. After a survey visit, we decided to start a workcamp in this community.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT:

1. To support Watphikulthong School
2. To be a part of the community of Chamuang village
3. To help children be familiar with volunteers and learn in international/multi-culture atmosphere
4. To improve students’ English skills

FOOD and ACCOMODATION:                                

1. Volunteers will sleep in the classroom. There will be only some yoga mats, pillows, and mosquito nets. We suggest you bring your own sleeping bag, inflatable mattress, or another yoga mat. It’s ok if you don’t bring any of those, but you need to be sure that you will be comfortable in such condition.
2. There are basic toilets, showers and a kitchen at the school canteen. The teachers and villagers are willing to help you to cook as well.  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).

“Activities with kids at a primary school”

Dates: 21^st July to 3^rd August 2024

SHORT DESCRIPTION

DaLaa became acquainted with Thungprue Pittayakom School after being introduced by the director of Prang-moo School. Additionally, Dalaa organized several mini work camps that Thungprue Pittayakom School participated in. As a result, Thungprue Pittayakom School is now eager to extend a warm welcome to volunteers who are interested in contributing to the students’ development by organizing activities to enhance their language skills and other areas of expertise. Moreover, volunteers will also have the opportunity to engage in local community activities.

HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PLACEMENT

Thungprue Pittayakom School, Songkhla Province was founded in 1957. It has 5 school buildings, 2 buildings for teachers to live in, a multipurpose building, and a cafeteria. Additionally, there are 4 temporary buildings provided by the public, 3 toilets and each school building has 2 bathrooms. There are currently 224 students from kindergarten to lower secondary (6-15 years old), and there are a total of 16 teachers along with a janitor. The kids have very few chances for interaction with foreigners and English language is more and more needed for their future. 

AIMS of the Placement

1. To exchange culture between the volunteers and students.
2. To encourage the student to learn the English language and develop a good perspective of the English language to students.
3. To encourage the parents or guardians to send their child to school.
4. To create good English skills for students.

WORK AND ACTIVITIES

1. Provide a non-formal English classes and other fun activities for the students
2. Create teaching materials for teachers and kids
3. Activities with villagers: cleaning the temple area, sport activities, homemade 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 DaLaa’s coordinator which will help you and people in this community to connect with one another. 

 We can’t guarantee about the number of participants (both Thai and international) We will keep informed during the application process.

FOOD and ACCOMODATION

Volunteers will sleep in the classroom. There will be only some yoga mats, pillows, and mosquito nets. We suggest you bring your own sleeping bag, inflatable mattress, or another yoga mat. It’s okay if you don’t bring any of those, but you need to be sure that you will be comfortable in such condition.

There are basic toilets, showers and a kitchen at the school canteen. The teachers and villagers are willing to help you to cook as well.  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).

Rice planting, Agriculture, Activities with kids and Embedding in the fishing Community

DaLaa Work Camp: DALAA-WC6709

Dates: 1-14 September, 2023 (Maximum of volunteers: 10)

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Koh Sukorn is a preserved island of Andaman sea in South Thailand. During this work camp, we will have a chance to join hands with the community members to preserve the local agriculture (rice planting) while we can learn about their way of living. Moreover, we will be creating activities and games with children and young people to open their views and let them learn about international culture together with the volunteers. 

 

HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PROJECT

Sukorn Island (KohSukorn) is a small island situated in Palian district, Trang province. The island covers an area of 14 sq km. Like every year, we will be conducting activities with communities of Baan Laem and Baan Toong. In these 2 villages, there is population of 1,200 or 337 families, of which 95% are Muslims. The common occupations of the villagers are fishing, rubber tapping, as well as agriculture; growing paddy, watermelons, traditional way of growing vegetables, and keeping livestock. In general the villagers are very generous and still remain the culture of supporting and sharing with each other. Furthermore, they also believe that paddy and agriculture is the main food stability of the village.

Already some years, a group of local researchers had been working with the 2 communities mentioned above. In one community, the village members are still remaining their traditional way of living, while in another, people started to drop their old values and turning to development from the cities. Less and less people are working on paddy fields, or growing their own food supply as it is easier to buy. Therefore, these researchers aim to bring awareness to the locals to keep their old lifestyle and revive the tradition of growing paddy, other traditional agriculture, as well as developing local rice species and doing farmer’s co-operative. However, it is sad that in recent years, the researcher group has not been much active in the effort they created in the early stage. Though we lose their part, we anyhow have successfully continued activities (mainly agriculture and activities with kids) with villagers and develop good relationships through short term work camps and middle term volunteers.

DaLaa has been involved with the villagers of these two communities since the first work camp took place in December 2013. For more information, Koh Sukorn has been for a long time one of our long-term project sites that it has offered an opportunity to long-staying international volunteers to live with a local host family through their service.  We had to stop the long-term program in 2023 because of the main host health issue but hopefully we can re-start at some point.

AIMS of the PROJECT

1. – To support the initiatives of local agricultural activities
2. – To fully and wisely utilize local resources
3. – To be part of the communities
4. – To let children be familiar with volunteers and learn in international/multi-cultural atmosphere

WORK AND ACTIVITIES

• – Working in the rice fields
• – Growing vegetables together with village members and kids
• – Learning and integrating in the fisherman’s lifestyle

REQUIREMENTS

The volunteers should be ready to stay in a remote area, to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities. Not many local people are able to speak 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 activities with the children. To have responsibility for you, the kids and full involvement in community matters is a must. For the 2 weeks, you will be led by a DaLaa member/staff who will help to coordinate the project.

FOOD and ACCOMMODATION

Volunteers will stay at the local people house. You will need to bring  only a light sleeping bag. We will provide with a small mattress and a mosquito net. The living condition is very simple than you would think. You may find it completely different than in your country. There are basic toilets and showers and a kitchen where volunteers will cook by themselves. They can take turn in daily tasks. The ingredients can be purchased at local grocery stores. It may be helpful if you bring some instant ingredients from home, so that you can share some of your traditional food with other volunteers. (No oven, only a gas and woks or pans). As mentioned, that it’s a Muslim village, so there will be no pork used in cooking. 

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

 

 

 

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.