In April 2018 the Carmel College came to Paksong!
The group of. 16 students and 3 teachers are 14 and 15 years old, students of the 3rd grade VMBO in Raalte, Holland.
The students had to apply for participating in this project and they prepared for the trip with special lessons on fundraising and team building.
During their stay at the TCDF-Eco-Logic forest camp, they did not use mobile phones (digital detox) and the Xperience was based on Back to Basic. The students experienced life in Thailand (in a complete different world then theyr own!).
A lifetime experience!
A big student group helping the foundation a few hours a day makes a huge difference! 38 helping hands!
April is the month that the foundation needs to prepare for the monsoon/rainy season will start soon: before the river floods and the winds come that can damage the property. April is also summer holiday in Thailand and there needs to be preparations for opening of the new school year for our special needs students; because school starts at the same time as the rain and storms. It is important to prepare and be ready for all this in the month of April!
The biggest job done is:
Prepare the farm & property we use for the education of the Special Needs students. before the monsoon hits:
have the vegetable garden ready for the new school season. Make the vegetable bed tip top with new bamboo. Make new A-frames for the beans to grow. Refill every bed with compost, plant some veggies and papaya trees.
Next to the big job, there are daily tasks on our premises that are done every morning after breakfast. .
Collecting vegetables in our garden
Taking care of the chicken (collect eggs) and fish farm
Taking care of the ponies (2) and stables
Collecting wood for the campfires (to keep away forest animals)
Each group worked ca. 30 minutes after breakfast on these daily tasks before joining together for the big job until lunch time.
During the afternoons there were activities, focused on the nature, the area and way of living in Paksong.
Activities
To get to know the way of living in Thailand and to really experience living in a tropical area we organized the following activities for the group, with local people. That means: no tourists and supporting the local community while enjoying nature and culture at its best!
A tour on the premises and explanation of the work of TCDF and Ecologic
Hikes in the area through nature and the village. We can swim at the waterfall on one of those hikes too.
Thai language and culture lesson (very helpful while working with kids and our team and meeting the local people on the hikes)
A trip and swimming at hot springs in a National Park, followed by a visit to a Buddhist temple a climb up the temple hill to ring the bells and see the ocean view.
The edible forest: go with our staff on an exploration to pick vegetables, fruit and plants you never knew you could eat!
Bamboo cooking: true survival skills! Cook your own meal in a piece of bamboo on a self made fire.
Organize sport activities with local children.
Go with local villagers on a survival jungle trek in the area with an overnight camping.
Next to all that the teacher/students organized an activities for the evenings @ the campfire after dinner daily. And there was plenty of time to relax, to swim in the river and explore the area.
The images say it all actually.
Support the Thai Child Development Foundation
And when back in Holland the Xperience does not stop. Not at all! All students and teachers are going to help promoting the Foundation at the Stoppelhaene festival in their village in September. The money raised during this festival is going to be donated to the Foundation!
You can follow the adventures of these brave young Dutch students and their teachers on their facebook page. And if you are in Holland, go visit that festival!
We cannot thank all of them enough for their involvement and motivation! KAB KUHN KAH to all of you!
If you are interested to come over with a group - or if you know people/schools/groups interested in coming to us and experience the real Thailand - let us know, you can contact us any time for more information.