Project Bamboo

I was fortunate enough to embark on an Overseas Community Involvement Project (OCIP) to Bamboo School, Kanchanaburi in Thailand during Dec 2022.Bamboo School is an orphange in the remote village of Bong-Ti, situated on the border of Myanmar and Thailand. Catherine Riley-Bryan, affectionately known as Momo-Cat by the children and locals, an extrememly sweet and kind lady has been running this place since 2000. Bamboo school also acts as a local medical centre with an ambulance that Momo drives around for emergency calls (often at midnight).

A beautiful experience...

Our goal for the 11 days we spent at the school was to help refurbish and paint a lake-side classroom they recently built, along with engaging children through games and cultural exchange activities during the evenings. They have a frugal way of dealing with waste where they pack all the dry waste tightly into used plastic bottles to the extent they become rock hard. These bottles, known as "eco-bricks" are then used for building walls and fences.

All of us volunteers were assigned 2-3 kids each to engage and interact with. Kitti (tall, in black) is in 9th grade has been at the school for 5 years. He doesn't play much sports but would like to study computers in the future. Challape (tiny one in spiderman top) is in kindergarten and is always running around with his friends.

Lasting memories

We made stars to hang in the classroom as part of Christmas celebrations.
One of us got her knee displaced playing with the kids and she had be carried off from the bottom of the hill and taken in an ambulance. Nothing serious, so smiles all around.
Pictured with Momo and some of the kids after we cooked them Singaporean laksa for dinner.

Beyond the visit

Following the visit to the school, we spent 2 days in Bangkok to check out local sightseeing places and street markets. I really enjoyed Jodd Fair which is best explored at night.

Yep, thats exactly what it looks like - fried baby octopus and takoyaki behind. I wasn't brave enough to try those, but I did try eating a fried cricket - surprisingly tastes just like a salted hollow nut.
Coconut is quite a popular ingredient in Thai deserts. I believe this was coconut milk on ice with grass jelly?

I learnt...

That it is extremely important to pay attention to detail, expect problems and be prepared for them on such a trip. I have seen the necessity of care and considerations that need to be kept in mind regarding the stakeholders, the logistics, the timeline, and last but certainly not the least the impact of our actions. As my first time being involved in planning a project of this scale and impace, I for the most part played a passive role, observing, learning, and contributing when called upon.

If I were to do this again, I would jump at the opportunity to take initiative and tackle challenges head on. One thing I learnt from this experience that I would like to try and apply to the rest of my life is finding purpose and meaning behind the endeavours I take upon and being mindful of them when striving to succeed in them.