THAILAND 2019
CONSTRUCTION
Youthlinc sent two teams to Thailand this year, one to the Chiang Mai area in northern Thailand and one to Trat an area located in the southeast of Thailand. Below you can read summaries of the projects completed by both of our wonderful teams!
Thailand July-The Thailand July team traveled to the village of Mae Ka Poo. The teams worked together to complete many projects. They refurbished a playground, made renovations to school rooms, made renovations to the girls and boys on site dormitories, lengthened a essential roadway for the community, made improvements to the schools canteen area, and installed bathrooms for the school.
Thailand June-Our Thailand 2 and Thailand SU teams traveled to Trat, Thailand. The teams were able to piggy back off of one another to help continue the projects from last year’s team at the Leam Thong Lang School. The teams worked to renovate and paint the school’s bathrooms, build tables for the school canteen, and lay tile for the school stage. The teams also renovated the school playground by making improvements to the equipment and painting it to make it safer and more colorful.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Thailand July-The cultural committee did a great job overseeing opening and closing ceremonies. They also carried out a very successful fun fair at the end of the trip. One of the highlights for this committee was planning and implementing the team mural. They did a great job.
Thailand June-The Thai 2 cultural committee planned opening and closing ceremonies, the fun fair, the mural, and the recess activities to supplement English camp. Their main goal in all of these activities was to build a closer bond between Youthlinc participants and the community members and students. They planned hard and each of their projects represented that. The mural came out beautifully, kids had a blast at the fun fair and closing ceremonies were emotional as everyone had to say their goodbyes.
EDUCATION
Thailand July-The education committee collected tons of clothing for the BBBS clothing drive that provided the funds for their committee. They purchased school supplies and children’s books in Thailand which were donated to the school. The school Director was absolutely thrilled with all the supplies! The education committee did a great job and preparing all Youthlinc students with an English lesson and then oversaw a very successful English camp while in-country.
Thailand June-The Thai 2 education committee fund-raise money for school supplies and helped all of the students prepare their lessons before leaving to Thailand. The team used their funds to purchase education supplies in Thailand for the schools, the children were very excited to have their new supplies and learn such fun lessons from their new teachers. The committee also oversaw the Mondo Art Project, which was a highlight for a lot of the children during English camp.
COMMUNITY HEALTH
Thailand July-The community health committee oversaw a successful health fair. They taught a variety of lessons on topics such as diabetes awareness and monitoring, nutrition, exercise, clean water, mental health, alcohol and tobacco use, Women’s health (menstruation, menopause, and cervical cancer). The committee worked hard to collect donations that coincided with the topics they taught. In particular they provided Days for Girls kits for many girls in the community complete with back packs for storing the supplies.
The community health committee also focused on mental health and stress management, a topic often times overlooked. They planned and presented lessons on these topics and then provided stress bracelets. These bracelets when used along with the tactics the team taught help individuals manage and relieve stress.
Thailand June-The Thai 2 community health committee taught many health lessons to the community members in Trat. These lessons were taught and dispersed in many different ways throughout the trip. The lessons were very interactive and informative. During the Health Fair they were able to teach hand washing, first aid, cause and treatment for rashes, dangers of burning garbage, self defense, anger management and personal hygiene. During home visits, they distributed first aid kits. Different families requested medical help and lessons, and the committee, along with the health mentors, were able to offer help and education as best they could.
An additional activity the committee got to experience was visiting a local hospital to see what it was like and discuss common health issues or concerns with hospital staff.
VOCATIONAL
Thailand July-The vocational committee worked with a group of women to teach them how to sew, make soap and compost. The committee worked hard to secure fabric and sewing donations which they took over to Thailand.They were taught how to embroider and they loved it. They started personalizing everything the the embroidery they learned. The women loved learning to sew and caught on super-fast. Soap and composting were both a huge hit. The ladies will be able to build off the things they learned to continue refining their skills.
Thailand June- The Thailand June vocational committee’s focus was to teach women in the area how to sew. These two skills are extremely applicable and the women can easily implement them to sell products for extra income at the local markets. Some of the sewing projects that they worked on were headbands, hair bows, and scrunchies; Pants, shorts and skirts; friendship bracelets, coin purses and bags; Ties and vests. The women were very excited to learn how to sew these things for their Families.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Thailand July-The business committee had two major projects. First, they supported the vocational committee in teaching the group of women some basic business skills using the 5 P’s of business model (product, price, place, promotion, and profit).
Thailand June-The Thai 2 business committee’s main goal was to teach the 5 P’s (product, price, profit, promotion, and place) to help establish some foundational business skill which they can build upon. Working with the vocational committee, they brought in real life experience on how to practice the 5 P’s in conjunction with the startup of co-op sewing business ideas and baking business ideas. This hands on and real-life experience had the women of the village extremely excited to get their try out their ideas!