Hill Tribe Project

One of the experiences that I won’t forget in my life was taking part in The Hill Tribe project in Ban Maelid School. The latter is one of the Regent’s School community partners, and has already been visited more than 5 times from our students. I am so grateful that in February I had the opportunity to go and visit that school as well.

What were my aims?

Hiking

The most important aims of this projects were to make conference bags (for International Round Square conference),to paint some of the walls and to teach the Thai kids some English. I personally set targets for me as well, which I hoped I would achieve. My aims were to get to know the local Thai community and how do they live, to interact with different kids as much as possible, play with them, also learn some new skills as sewing and wall painting.At the same time I was hoping to develop myself as a caring, reflective and a knowledgeable person. 

What difficulties did I encounter?

Cleaning the area.

Before the actual project I was a bit nervous and maybe scared as well, because I didn’t know Thai I thought I won’t be able to communicate with the kids there. Also I had never done sewing before and it seemed really hard for me.My thoughts were completely changed when after 1 day’s travel we finally reached the School. The beautiful smiles of the children and their warm welcome made me feel very happy that I completely forgot about my tiredness. Fortunately the kids could talk a bit of English which made easier for us to communicate. We played some games like football and volleyball together, and I had such a good feelings seeing that all the children were enjoying our games.

What did I do?

Performing a song for the children

Next two days we were really busy sewing bags and painting the walls of the school. The Thai girls were teaching us how to sew were so adorable and patient. First I was painting that I wouldn’t be able to do it, but then as I tried harder I realized that my skills we actually improving.It was really pleasing to see the results after the hard work even though I only managed to make the half of the bag. I also tried to paint some walls, which I hadn’t experienced before as well. But as I like art, that activity was really enjoyable for me. After the work I didn’t really differed from the color of the wall, I was all covered in paint.

One of the things that shocked me the most was that the student were supposed to walk nearly 4 hours across the mountains to go to school and then return back home. We all really wanted to try walking the same distance that they did every day. I was concerned that maybe I will be tired but with the help of some local some students we organized a hike and walked with them until where they lived.

What did I achieve?

I learnt a lot from the people living in Ban Maelid. I realized that life can sometimes be really hard, full of unexpected events, but we have to appreciate our lives be ready for all that situations without ever giving up. I  saw myself as a reflective person as I became more aware of my strengths and areas of growth.I learned how to sew and paint.

I felt as an open minded person as learned how Thai people live, and how their life is different from what i am used to. I also learned to pronounce some Thai sentences (like how to introduce myself) .

I also hope that I did act as a positive difference for the Hill Tribe villagers, being more of a caring person.

Finally, I’m sure that all that 5 days that I spent in Hill Tribe will never be forgotten and I will need all the experience that I had in future, in my life.

One big community.