Take Me To Volunteer Travel

Memories of Volunteering Abroad in Chiangmai

Written by Debbie Ho

Even with four long months of hard work and slogging twelve hours a day, there were still a lot more to be done everyday.

In view of the peak season’s end, I contemplated about going on a trip to recuperate from the busy period. “Where should I go? A shopping spree in Hong Kong or just a weekend getaway?” These questions kept ringing in my mind because I didn’t want to make the wrong decision for my precious holiday.

That very Sunday, at the close of the church service, a group of visitors came to share about some volunteering opportunities abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As I listened and watched the presentation slides, I began to imagine myself doing some good while enjoying the cool climate of northern Thailand. My heart began to beat faster and before I know it, I raised my hand when response was asked. So this is how I sign-up as a volunteer for the first time in my life.

I thought to myself that it would be a different experience, not just another vacation, but one that I discover later that had altered my perspective on life.

Arriving at the orphanage
A month later after signing up for the volunteer trip, on 2nd September ’07, a group of 30 volunteers from different walks of life departed from Singapore to Chiangmai, which to most of us was the first volunteering vacation abroad.

Upon arriving in Chiangmai, we checked into a hostel ran by an orphanage founded by a Singapore couple. Its compound had an adjourning block for the homeless children and another for those who are HIV positive.

After unpacking our baggage, we gathered in a hall where we were welcomed with the children’s song and dance item before the candies, cookies and ice cream we bought from the town’s provision shop were brought out. As we were distributing what the children would consider a gastronomical feast, I couldn’t help my tears from welling in my eyes as I saw how easy it was to make these children happy. The joy on these young faces got me thinking about how fortunate our children are in Singapore.

More visiting…
On the following day, we said our goodbyes to our host after uploading the rations of clothes and medical supplies collected from back home. The 6 trucks that would take us deeper and higher up into the mountain took us past the scenic paddy fields and occasion waterfalls before reaching the various tribal villages where time stood still.

As soon as we had unloaded the supplies from the trucks, everyone in our group divided into smaller groups to prepare for the programmes for the evening meeting. At around 8pm, villagers of young and old filled the little hall and we presented them with songs and drama, after which we shared some real life testimonies.

Our performance…
From there on, we moved from one village to another, staying averagely two days and one night in each village. Every single person in our 30-member team, children included, was assigned different task. Some of us had to setup the medical mission zone whilst some of us dispensed medicine to the villagers. Some ladies and all the children in our team gathered the village kids and orphans and taught them songs (albeit the difficulty in understanding each other’s language) and distributed sculptured balloons, candies and cookies. Before leaving each village, we distributed the pre-loved clothes to the adults and children along with some money as a love token from the team.

More than volunteering
I remembered meeting this little girl around the age of 8. What caught me were her beautiful eyes with streams of tears running down her cheeks. One of her arms was folded, her left arm, to be specific. She could not put her arm straight as it would worsen the pain that she was already suffering. The scar was the result of a freak accident of boiling water. The burn was so bad that the skin on her left arm was distorted into a mesh and the pain of the messed-up skin was torturing her.

We found out from the village chief that she has been living with this condition because her family was too poor to send her to the nearest hospital for a skin transplant operation, to replace the skin on her arm taken from other parts of her body.

Upon hearing her plight, our team had a quick discussion and decided to fund for her operation which cost only an average Singaporean fresh graduate’s salary.

A Samaritan in the mountains
There were more children than adults in the villages we visited and according to the locals, it was because many adults had left to work in bigger cities or died because of AIDS and poor sanitation. The kids left behind therefore lacked proper guidance and grow up using drugs and other improper means of living. Although this is not the case for all the children and orphans there, one man, whom I shall address as Mr. T, decided to do something for these under-privileged children.

There are few schools in the mountains of Chiangmai and even if any of the villagers could afford to send their kids to school, it would mean walking on foot for up to half a day to one day to reach the school. Hence, Mr. T decided to start an orphanage cum boarding school with the little that he owned. He managed to get approval from the local authorities to use what I would a haunted and deserted shack. I couldn’t believe anyone could actually live in such conditions, broken windows and non-cemented floor. During my visit, I saw 20 children already housed there, staying in this “boarding school” from Monday to Friday and going back to their family on weekends, that is, if they still have one.

Without further delay, the team decided to gather funds for the place to be cleaned up and painted, to encourage Mr. T to keep up the good work and hopefully give the children a better environment to live-in.

Back home
Although it has been a few weeks since my return from Chiangmai and work is still plentiful. However, just as you are reading this, the volunteering work abroad did not stop. Some long-term plan has been made to help the people of Chiangmai and words cannot depict the joy and fulfillment of being a part of this volunteer work abroad. See you again, my friends in Chiangmai, I will go back again.