2019 Youthlinc Real Life Refugee Scholarship Winners Youthlinc is pleased to announce a new…
Thailand June’s first day in-country
We received an update from Mike Denison, co-team leader for Thailand June. We know you’re excited to hear about their first day!
“DAY 1: What a fantastic way to start the trip! Our guest house setup is really nice. We have breakfast and dinner each day on a beautiful covered patio surrounded by an amazing array of flowering plants and trees.
After breakfast, there was so much nervous energy in our group as we went to the school just 1.5km up the road for the first time for the opening ceremony. All the school children were lined up on the floor mats with their teachers, the village leaders were there to welcome us, and curious people from the community came to see what the crazy Americans were doing in remote Thailand.
Several speeches were given to introduce everyone to us and make us feel welcome. The local church choir sang a lovely song. In turn, we introduced ourselves to them, sang the national anthem and another song, and did a fun dance. They were very happy when we gave them a gift of six sewing machines and explained we would help teach how to use them.
It was a very magical event!
The school is preparing lunch for us every day, and the first one was delicious! Rice and curry never tasted so good 😃
Our team had a chance to spend time with many of the school kids playing games during after-lunch recess. It’s great to see how playing together breaks the ice to develop instant friendships.
As we toured the school campus, we discovered that the construction projects will be more time-consuming than anticipated. So we decided to change our afternoon of rest and worked like crazy to get a good jump on it. The team did the demolition work on the old school stage as preparation for the new concrete stage. We mixed mortar by hand for the village tile setter. And several of our girls helped build the cinder block forms for the new stage.
It was a great start!
After that, we headed back to the guest houses for much-needed showers and dinner. We then close every day with a few minutes of reflection by going around the circle and give every team member a chance to express thoughts about the day.
Lots of happy faces over here!”
Thanks for the update, Mike!
