Disabled Women's House

Visiting Women’s Disabled House is one of my weekly activities, and I thoroughly enjoy going there, spending some time with the ladies, and it always makes me happy when I see them smiling.

Painting their nails

What were my aims?

I aimed to interact with the ladies there, and make their time more interesting, at the same time developing myself as a communicator and thinker. I wanted to see myself as a caring person by organizing some activities and make them feel like individuals. I also wanted to know more about their backgrounds, and how they had appeared in that house.

What difficulties did I encounter?

Making the ladies more beautiful

Before going there I was feeling nervous and maybe a little scared as well.  I had never been in place like that before and there were so many questions eating me from inside: How I was going to interact with them? How was I going to connect with them? Would I be able to handle what I was about to see? How would they react to me, will they accept me? Also that fact that I knew only a little Thai was scaring me as well, as I thought that I would not be to interact with those ladies. However, when I went there, I understood that they are all normal people, just like me. Yes, they are unfortunate but it doesn’t mean that they can’t have fun, laugh and experience their lives as individuals.

What did I do?

Christmas party for the women

When I reached Disabled Women’s House, I was really surprised by the warm welcome that those ladies gave us with their big smiles. It looked that they were very happy to meet and spend time with us which was really touching for me. During that afternoon we painted their nails, applied make up, made some hairstyles and made them more beautiful.  I wanted to treat and make them up equally but individually so that they will feel that they are different from each other and have individual personalities. We also play some games, danced and talked! Talked? Yes, even if I knew very little Thai, I still could smile at them, and it meant a lot for me when I got their smiles back.

What did I achieve?

It's feels so good seeing them happy.

After the activity I found this quite a touching experience and I felt like I was doing a good thing and making a difference in someone's life by caring for them. I felt very delightful and think now I do understand the way of life of those people who don’t have family. Even though the ladies in the house did not realize it, but they taught me something. I understood that I always have to happy for who I am today, and think about those people who are less fortunate and don’t have all the opportunities that I do. By the end of the activity I could already see myself developing as a Caring person, as throughout the activity I showed empathy, kindness and respect towards the ladies and their needs and feelings. I discovered my personal commitment to service.

I also developed my communication skills, and tried to use my limited Thai and body language to interact with the ladies. Also I think that I worked successfully, effectively and willingly in collaboration with others students who took this same activity.

I learnt some things about the background of those ladies, which made me more of an open minded person, as I could understand and appreciate local Thai people and their culture more.