I had the opportunity of volunteering with an amazing organization, BaandinThai (www.baandinthai.com), this past weekend. Just a brief overview, the organization was founded to bring homes to the homeless and destitute. It has evolved into building whatever facilities are needed such as dormitories, libraries, schools and so on. They also have included other activities such as painting temples, repairing old buildings and basically whatever else anyone needs them to do. Even though the headquarters is based in Bangkok most of the community service takes place in the rural areas/provinces of Thailand.
This past weekend, December 26th and 27th, we traveled to the Uthaithani province which is about 4 hours outside of Bangkok and began on a school library project for the locals.
Here comes the coolest part, everything and I mean EVERY part of the structure is made from mud and water. The bricks are made from 70% sand, dirt, water and rice grains. The mortar is also made from the same mix but is not as thick.
I learned so much about building houses and how to protect the house from rain damage it was unreal. But more than that I learned so much about the Thai people.
If you many of you do not know, Thailand is called the Land of Smiles. During my 4 months of living in BKK, I have barely seen anyone crack a smile unless it is one of the white male farangs making a deal on the corner. My experiences with the Thai's had yet to be friendly.
While volunteering I was able to meet a group of Thai's that truly cared about the well being of their fellow Thai's. There was so much love, passion and dedication in the little 2 days that I spent with them. As a farang, I have been met with disgust, jealousy and injustice, but here they treated me as their own. They helped translate everything the staff was saying (because everything was spoken in Thai), pointed out popular sites, fed me and prepared special dishes since I am a vegetarian, and taught me some Thai phrases. The best part everyone, EVERYONE was SMILING all of the time.
I witnessed the true Thai culture. They took care of each other as if they had known each other their whole lifes or like they were family. Whatever snacks they had bought or brought with them they shared or offered to every volunteer and there was like 30 of us.
I had to have one hiccup. The preparation for this trip was very short notice. I received the email notifcation about the trip on Thursday, the bus was leaving on Saturday. So when I asked if it was overnight, I was told "no" and that we would be coming back the same day. Well after a days' worth of work I was tired and ready for a hot bath. To my dismay, it was an overnight trip. I had no clothes with me, no underwear, shirts pants, soap, deodorant, NOTHING!!!
The moment I informed the staff, everyone was offering me the clothes off their backs and anything else. I almost shed a tear :-)
Instead I was taken to a market where I was able to buy the items that I needed and arrived back at the work site to an array of tents. My fellow Thai volunteers had already set up my tent for me and had a plate of food waiting on me.
This by far was one of the best trips I have ever had while in Thailand. I finally felt like I was living abroad and learning about another culture. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me.
I plan on volunteering with them for the duration of my trip. I have pics and vids from this weekend so look at those in my videos section. Our next project will be January 31st and we're going to paint a Buddhist temple!!!!
This past weekend, December 26th and 27th, we traveled to the Uthaithani province which is about 4 hours outside of Bangkok and began on a school library project for the locals.
Here comes the coolest part, everything and I mean EVERY part of the structure is made from mud and water. The bricks are made from 70% sand, dirt, water and rice grains. The mortar is also made from the same mix but is not as thick.
I learned so much about building houses and how to protect the house from rain damage it was unreal. But more than that I learned so much about the Thai people.
If you many of you do not know, Thailand is called the Land of Smiles. During my 4 months of living in BKK, I have barely seen anyone crack a smile unless it is one of the white male farangs making a deal on the corner. My experiences with the Thai's had yet to be friendly.
While volunteering I was able to meet a group of Thai's that truly cared about the well being of their fellow Thai's. There was so much love, passion and dedication in the little 2 days that I spent with them. As a farang, I have been met with disgust, jealousy and injustice, but here they treated me as their own. They helped translate everything the staff was saying (because everything was spoken in Thai), pointed out popular sites, fed me and prepared special dishes since I am a vegetarian, and taught me some Thai phrases. The best part everyone, EVERYONE was SMILING all of the time.
I witnessed the true Thai culture. They took care of each other as if they had known each other their whole lifes or like they were family. Whatever snacks they had bought or brought with them they shared or offered to every volunteer and there was like 30 of us.
I had to have one hiccup. The preparation for this trip was very short notice. I received the email notifcation about the trip on Thursday, the bus was leaving on Saturday. So when I asked if it was overnight, I was told "no" and that we would be coming back the same day. Well after a days' worth of work I was tired and ready for a hot bath. To my dismay, it was an overnight trip. I had no clothes with me, no underwear, shirts pants, soap, deodorant, NOTHING!!!
The moment I informed the staff, everyone was offering me the clothes off their backs and anything else. I almost shed a tear :-)
Instead I was taken to a market where I was able to buy the items that I needed and arrived back at the work site to an array of tents. My fellow Thai volunteers had already set up my tent for me and had a plate of food waiting on me.
This by far was one of the best trips I have ever had while in Thailand. I finally felt like I was living abroad and learning about another culture. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me.
I plan on volunteering with them for the duration of my trip. I have pics and vids from this weekend so look at those in my videos section. Our next project will be January 31st and we're going to paint a Buddhist temple!!!!
