hello again!
this week has been pretty eventful. We have met with the people at the local hospital as well as the people up in Mae Sai with DEPCD as we will likely partner with them and spend our time volunteering at these places. We are mainly spending our time right now meeting with the people, establishing relationships, and assessing needs. The hospital was a pretty crazy experience and really made me value our hospitals that we have in the US. I didn’t feel comfortable taking out my camera for this one, so I’ll do my best to narrate for now. They took us on a tour throughout the hospital and we each took careful note of the surroundings and established five observations to help us lead to ideas for improvements. The hospital was crowded, flooding with people, in every area we visited. The waiting room was overflowed with chaos and sick people everywhere. The hospital was kind of an inside/outdoor kind of facility. Mind you, it is blazing hot and humid here in Chiang Rai. Walking through the outdoor halls were sick people lying in beds, pushed outside and left alone because there wasn’t room for them all inside. They told us that they have only 750 beds in the whole hospital, and that is not near enough for all the sick and injured that enter the hospital on a daily basis. It was heartbreaking seeing these sick people lying outside in the heat receiving no assistance. They also took us through the area where autopsies are done. I walked through the wash room and also into the back where the freezer is...I was led to see dead bodies stacked on the shelves in these freezers. Most had sheets covering the bodies. One of which, the head area was drenched in blood. There was a picture of a shotgun drawn on the outside of the sheet. I assumed this meant that the man had been shot, the doctor went on to tell me that he was a Japanese man who was in the Mafia, shot by another member in the Mafia…pretty crazy to say the least. At the end of the day, our group had a great meeting brainstorming ideas and projects that we can work on at the hospital. I was impressed by all the good ideas that we were coming up with and am excited to see it all carried out.
Yesterday was a pretty cool experience for me. We took the bus down to Mae Sai and we were able to have a meeting with some of the directors of DEPDC and learn more about the program and volunteer opportunities. Unlike the hospital and local schools, DEPDC is about an hour and a half away from our home. Mae Sai is right on the border of Burma. They really have a pretty awesome program up there though. Their focus is on prevention. After all, the best way to stop something is to prevent it, right? They provide education and life-sustaining skills to those individuals who are at risk of being trafficked. This group includes stateless persons, ethnic minorities, and migrants from neighboring countries. They also have some kids who are survivors of trafficking. Ages range from about 5-16 and there are 137 children (97% of an ethnic minority). It is here where I will likely be spending a majority of my time. School doesn’t start until the 18th so we will have some time to figure out what we want to work on with them up there. I’m really interested in their Protection Program, which is actually a little closer to where I am living. This program targets survivors of trafficking, abuse, and abandonment. They provide a wide range of therapy that ranges from psychological therapy to music and sports therapy. I’m hoping to contact this program and see if there are any opportunities to work with them. Either way, I’m just anxious to get started with it all!
Yesterday was a pretty cool experience for me. We took the bus down to Mae Sai and we were able to have a meeting with some of the directors of DEPDC and learn more about the program and volunteer opportunities. Unlike the hospital and local schools, DEPDC is about an hour and a half away from our home. Mae Sai is right on the border of Burma. They really have a pretty awesome program up there though. Their focus is on prevention. After all, the best way to stop something is to prevent it, right? They provide education and life-sustaining skills to those individuals who are at risk of being trafficked. This group includes stateless persons, ethnic minorities, and migrants from neighboring countries. They also have some kids who are survivors of trafficking. Ages range from about 5-16 and there are 137 children (97% of an ethnic minority). It is here where I will likely be spending a majority of my time. School doesn’t start until the 18th so we will have some time to figure out what we want to work on with them up there. I’m really interested in their Protection Program, which is actually a little closer to where I am living. This program targets survivors of trafficking, abuse, and abandonment. They provide a wide range of therapy that ranges from psychological therapy to music and sports therapy. I’m hoping to contact this program and see if there are any opportunities to work with them. Either way, I’m just anxious to get started with it all!
DEPDC grounds
We have been helping out a local friend, Jiup, at the school by teaching at an English camp for grades 1-6. My friend and I are in charge of teaching phonetics. I never anticipated it to be such a challenge and so exhausting! Nevertheless, it was very fun being with all the kids. The language barrier was extremely difficult to work with. We were partnered with one of the teachers who teaches English, but she couldn’t even speak with us, which seemed slightly ironic as she is an English teacher! We came up with a game to help them learn some sounds with various words. They seemed to have a great time once they understood how to play the game. They also loved giving us high fives and shaking our hands and when we left they surrounded us with more high fives, hugs, and countless pictures. At the end of the second day, they had a little closing ceremony for us and made cute little certificates for the each of us to show their appreciation. I really enjoyed the whole experience; it was a great way to get started and a fun way to start interacting with the people.
yesterday was the first day to our holiday weekend for buddha's bday! it was nice to relax after the exhaustion from the english camp! to celebrate a good week of work, we hiked up to a waterfall and finally were able to cool down for once!
This afternoon we are heading to Chiang Mai to see the city! We will be taking another crowded vehicle on our 2 1/2 journey there. Tonight I get to learn to meditate with monks! and I simply cannot wait!
random pics for your enjoyment :]
though you can't tell, all five of us are crammed under the covering of this three-wheeled motorcycle.
typical toilet. the bucket of water & bowl is the flushing system.
what i've learned: never leave the house without toilet paper.
krystal & i enjoying a rainy, thai lunch
a dog chilling under the table enjoying some wrigley's gum
chicken for breakfast? standard.
backyard view-moe pics to come on the house!
our typical vehicle: song taew ("two row")-usually two people hang off the back
a new favorite fruit: rambutan
me SO excited for my SO GOOD soymilk that i found at the market--fresh from australia, mate!
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