My name is Nicola and I'm here in Khao Lak, Thailand as a volunteer, teaching English to Thai school children. On 26 December 2004, there was a tsunami which hit Khao Lak, killing many people and destroying villages and homes.The Tsunami Volunteer Centre was set up and many people from all over the world came to help the Thai people rebuild their homes and lives.
This photograph is of a Tsunami memorial.
The photograph below, is of a memorial created by the original volunteers who came straight after the tsunami. It shows all the different cities and countries that they came from to help.
The majority of the Thai people who spoke English were killed, so there was also a need for English teachers. Volunteer Teacher Thailand was created and volunteers come here and teach English to Thai children. During the school holidays, volunteers also teach English to Thai adults.
These photographs show the volunteer centre. This is where we plan our English lessons and make resources for the children.
Every week we visit four schools and one orphanage. The schools don't have many of the things which we are lucky to have in UK schools. For example, there are hardly any computers, no interactive whiteboards, no TVs or DVDs. The teachers still use blackboards and chalk - most of you will be too young to have been taught in this way.
Also, you have to take your shoes off to enter any buildings in Thailand, so none of the teachers or children wear shoes in the schools. It is also very hot most of the time, but most classrooms do have fans to help keep everybody cool.
Here are some of the children working hard.
This is a photograph of me with some of the children. I hope you have enjoyed learning about volunteers in Thailand and if you would like to help, that would be great.
You can find out more, by visiting our website at www.volunteerteacherthailand.org.
Lots of Love, from Thailand.
I Nikki, You look happy. Did you already eat grilled elephant ear. You take some fish and chips and wrap them up with the elephant ear, add some salt and vinegar, and voila! just like Liverpool
ReplyDeleteWell, just joking and checking whether this thing works. I´m glad you are living it up, well, I hope you are. Take care with mosquitoes, I know a good remedy against mosquitoes that I learnt when I was working in Sri Lanka: when you go to sleep you put cloves of garlics between the fingers of your feet, that is, four cloves in each feet. I´m promise you that no mosquitoes will get close to you. It has some added disadvantages, but this wil be another chapter.
Javier