I’m sitting here in my office here at the Friends for Asia Volunteer House, after one of the busiest weeks we’ve ever had. We currently have 17 volunteers and interns in our Thailand projects. I’ve really enjoyed listening to the volunteer stories throughout this festive week, leading up to the Loy Krathong holiday celebrations this weekend. Here are some of the stories I have heard:
Stories from Volunteers in the Teaching Monks Project
Michael, a German man in our Teaching Monks Volunteer Project, spent his afternoon with the novice monks at his temple school, stopping tourists and asking them questions about their homes and answering questions about Buddhism and Thailand. The monks are shy, but Michael has a very outgoing personality and is able to get any shy novice monk to smile and practice their English skills with those scary western tourists. Callie, a young American woman in our Teaching Monks Volunteer Project, showed me a video she made from her experience at her temple school. It’s a great video of the students making traditional hot air balloon lanterns and releasing them in the temple grounds. We’ll be posting this video on our YouTube account soon.
Stories from Volunteers in the Single Mother’s Home Projects
Menco and Suzanne have been asked by the administration of the Single Mother’s Home to escort some of their international workers to Bangkok, so they can visit the United Nations office and complete documents to assist them with their citizenship. Menco and Suzanne also bought a wheel barrow for their volunteer projects at the Single Mother’s Home, as it’ll assist them with moving dirt and construction with the new buildings there at the Single Mother’s Home. Menco likes using his hands and building. Therefore, this is definitely the volunteer project for him. He’s helping making new office space, and kitchen areas for the staff and women at the Single Mother’s Home.
Stories from Volunteers at the Elephant Camp
At the Elephant Camp this week, the volunteers had such a good time, they didn’t want to leave. Well, at least they ended up leaving an hour later than normal, as they were busy making lists of what they plan to do next week. They said they had a great time volunteering throughout the week making elephant dung paper, cutting grass and today… jungle zip lining. Okay, well, I guess that jungle zip lining isn’t really volunteering. However, when the zip line place is in the same village as the Elephant Camp, how can a volunteer resist?
Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong
Now that the week is over, our volunteers are free to enjoy the Loy Krathong holiday weekend. Things really come alive during this time of year, with floating lanterns, fireworks and celebrations throughout the Chiang Mai and Thailand. It’ll certainly be a fun weekend for all. With that, I leave you with one of my favorite Loy Krathong photos.
