Thailand Volunteering Project May – June 2011

Ban Apa Village 

Our May/June 2011 project has just kicked off with volunteers arriving and our Madventurer crew Maria getting them settled into their new home for the next 6 weeks.  Here’s some info on what the Thailand volunteers will be getting up to. 

Thailand Volunteer Project

The community project is in a rural village called Ban Apa which is about a 30 minute drive from Chiang Rai. The community in Ban Apa has been supported by Madventurer since 2008. We have completed most of the structure of the community centre and also built toilets and some housing for disadvantaged villagers. We aim to do the final parts of plastering and painting to the community centre, and with any time remaining to help bury some water pipes around the village that have been installed to help with water and sanitation initiatives. We are also delighted to support a local NGO community based organisation called the ‘Hill Tribe Organisation’ which organises community based home stays and promotes tourism in a structured and supported manner. 

Accommodation - The house where the volunteers are staying is basic but will be comfortable.   They will be living as how most of the villagers live which will help them to get immersed into village life.  Water is piped from local water tanks which can be used to wash, and there is a long drop toilet.  Your overseas crew will show volunteers around and introduce you to your home and surroundings. Volunteers will be accommodated in home-stays with local families and you will share a room with other volunteers. It will be girls in one room and boys in another.

Village Life - The village has around 200 people and is a typical Thai village with a local chief. There is a shop where volunteers can buy drinks, basic food supplies, although our Madventurer cook will supply your meals will mostly shop in the regional town at the market. Most villagers are subsistence farmers with maize, rice, tea, bananas and pineapples being the most popular crops. In addition many families supplement their income by leading local treks during the main tourism seasons.

Village School - If volunteers are interested in teaching there is a Primary School near the village which has children aged from 6 to 12 who are also looking forward to having volunteers to undertake extra-curricular English teaching and other activities, depending on the facilities and timetables.  Crew can help to set up a timetable for lessons.

Weekend Travel - Both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai offer some great local eateries, markets, night bazaars and drinking spots. The 2 towns are 3 hours drive apart and within the area there are many temples and excursions such as elephant rides, waterfalls and lakes. Most volunteers like to leave the village at weekends to explore the local areas. The village has a local driver who you can pay to travel to the local towns if you would like to do some independent travel.  You can always stay around the village project as well if you wish.

Depending on how long the community centre and sanitation blocks take to build we maybe also be working in a neighbouring village called Ban Mai Pratana as well.

Ban Mai Pratana village 

Project - Ban Mai Pratana village, is around one hour and 30 minutes drive from Chiang Rai.   The community in Ban Mai Pratana has recently requested support from Madventurer. They have a number of Projects they need funding and volunteer support to help initiate. The priority is to install individual toilets for local families in the village. The population of the village is 90 split over 21 families. Currently 11 of these families unfortunately do not have their own toilets, and each family does not want or like to share their facility.  I am sure you can understand they would all like their own facilities and a little more privacy that would come from this. So those who lack their own pit latrine need support which helps the families of the community and also helps the local environment. We have been informed that it takes around one week to build one family toilet so we will use local materials and methods, under the guidance of the villagers and our overseas crew, to carry out the work at the pace they set.  It maybe a little different from what you are used to back home but its best to relax into the Thai way of life and embrace each day as it comes.  Remember the more you put into the project the more you will get out of it.

This village again is a typical Thai village with a local school for teaching, village chief and both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai offer facilities for weekend travel if you would like to go off and explore.

 We will post some updates as the project progresses and a few photos so you can see how the Thailand Volunteers are getting on.  If you would like to join us and help Make a Difference in a Hilltribe community then just get in touch with our Mad HQ on 01434 633137, 0845 121 1996 or email elainel@madventurer.com for more details!

Madventurer Overseas Crew - Maria Hildesheim

Latest project news

The Thailand Volunteers have finished the project this week.  They managed to complete the 6 week project build in good time and finished the much needed community centre for the village.   Everyone said a sad farewell to their village hosts, each other and Maria our Mad crew for this amazing project.  A massive thanks to Hugh, Elli, Adam, Aidan and Maria for all their hard work to get the structure finished.  Thanks also goes out to our wonderful hosts in the village, their hospitality has been enormously appreciated.  Lets hope they can continue to use the community centre to help create local jobs, be a hub for the community and surrounding villages and be a wonderful lasting memory of our incredible Thailand volunteers.   Well done guys!

Mad HQ