After Year 6-9 Project Week, last week was Service Week, with Year 12 students involved in a wide range of service projects around Bangkok and beyond.
Below are brief summaries from a number of these service projects, written by a student from each project.
During the course of Service Week, we collaborated with Ms Yoshimoto from the Noon Noon Books project of the Bookworm Foundation: A non-profit organization dedicated to providing children with inclusively designed books. These books are designed not to be tailored towards disabled or impaired children but instead are designed to be able to be enjoyed by a wide variety of children, regardless of any impairments or disabilities, such that these children can connect over these books as a medium.
The Bookworm foundation provides handmade children's books with tactile pages and large and easily legible typesetting for sale. Any purchases made of these books will contribute to funds used to provide another copy of the book to a charity of choice free of charge. All of their books are handmade by volunteers.
Our involvement in the project was to record and edit together audio and background noises for an audiobook companion to the children's books provided by the bookworm foundation. We also provided Ms Yoshi with a Thai translation of the book. We worked together to record our lines in the theatre and then edited it together with soundscapes provided to use by Ms Yoshi and copyright free sounds found online. We also got the opportunity later on to visit a school for children with multiple impairments and disabilities where we got to see the students and give them gifts.
Putter
Baan Luuk Rak is a beautiful and heartwarming orphanage that cherishes and takes care of kids ranging from newborn to young adults. A group of Year 12 students were there during Service Week, to play and to spread our love for them. Kids over there, they needed love and someone to play.
From our perspective, it was challenging because kids have a lot of energy and can never stop playing. However, we were devastated to see that they have no parents and that they needed our attention. So it was rewarding for us to see their smile and how they could reciprocate their feelings and love back to us. It was hard to say goodbye.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Jarrod, Ms Claire, Mr Will Mcnamee and Khroo Yaa for this remarkable trip. Right now, I'm planning to go back to see them during the summer and hopefully, I can help Mr Jarrod to organise the trip for next year.
Taiyo
From the 10th to the 14th June, 13 students, under the supervision of Ms Martine and Mr Jon, visited the Boon Choo Foundation for disabled children in Chon Buri. The students worked tirelessly to construct a vegetable garden for the Foundation, with the support of local gardeners. As well as this, the students played with the children and prepared several fun activities, such as painting small tote bags and filling them with toys.
In preparation for Service Week, our group had to fundraise, which we did through selling popcorn, cookie dough, and shaved fruits during breaks and lunches. This money was then used to purchase the necessary equipment, and a variety of toys for the Foundation. This proved to be successful, as the children were excited about their gifts, and many enjoyed playing games with the students.
Overall, this Service Week trip was amazing, as we, the students, were able to learn new skills, such as how to properly construct a garden from scratch, and were able to learn more about our surrounding environment.
Manon
This Service Week trip was a wonderful week where students kayaked across the klongs in Bangkok and Nonthaburi and cleaned them in order to address the global issue of plastic pollution and its effects on marine life. Students also teamed up with an international organisation named Trash Heroes to collect trash in Taco Lake by paddle boating. The team of 11 students kayaked for 4 days and collected about 10 large baskets of trash weighing approximately 100 kgs. The trash was then sorted by the team into different categories which would then be recycled and put into better use. This act by the team is a great demonstration of how teamwork can be put into use and can result into wonders
Piyush
From this service week at the schools that are under the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, I have finally understood how tiring it was to be a teacher and keeping up the energy to interact with the students. Therefore, I admire all the teachers so much for the tremendous amount of energy you have and your will to share your knowledge with us. I also would like to thank Kroo Kitty, Kroo Jeab and Kroo Toey for taking care of us during the trip and making this amazing experience feasible. In this Service Week trip, I have learned so much more than just teaching the students. I learn to appreciate myself more with what I have. This is because we are extremely fortunate to be studying in international schools while countless others do not have such an opportunity. I, therefore, learn to give more and take less. With the advantages I have over students in rural areas, I wanted to give them back as much as I could through education and happiness. In addition, I have stepped outside my comfort zone by leading some of the activities, and thus, my confidence in engaging with a larger crowd has improved drastically from this experience. Last but not least, I want to acknowledge what King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Princess Srinagarindra have done for Thailand and the people. They have helped the local people in Chiang Rai to escape from opium addiction and poverty cycle by providing them with aids and education that are priceless. Therefore, I am grateful to be able to be a part of the foundation and I am willing to be involved in such experience again in the future.
Bei Bei
Upon completing my voluntary service at Samutprakarn Hospital, I have now gained a new-found appreciation for health sciences and patient care. During my time at the hospital, I was given the opportunity to aid the nurses of the adult female ward in caring for the admitted patients. From cleaning wounds to performing hematocrits (test for the number of red blood cells in the patient's blood), I was fortunate enough to observe and perform basic practices in hopes of bettering the patients' lives. Additionally, I was also given the opportunity to feed and care for the elderly patients who were in a semiconscious state, this was achieved using a Nasogastric tube which was connected to the patient’s stomach via the esophageal tract.
This experience has not only shown me the hardships that accompany patient care but have also solidified my interest and passion for the health sciences and the field of medicine. It has shown me the impact of healthcare and has developed my understanding of the United Nations Global Goal 3, Good Health and Well-Being.
Marwin
Spending five days at the Bangkok Refugee Centre (BRC) has been an exciting, eye-opening and challenging experience. As cute and obedient as the children were, they were animated and always enthusiastic to learn.
The experience of teaching a full class of students has shown us that there are different challenges and skills which need to be applied and unexpected things that come up each day. Throughout the day, some of our planned activities spontaneously changed which taught us that we need to be prepared for any situation. As an example, we learned to plan time-filling activities in case previously planned activities ended earlier or could not take place.
This week really exercised and stressed our abilities to teach. The lack of insight regarding the children’s skillsets, and the language barrier between the students and us made the week very challenging. Although this made the tasks really difficult, it was nice to be placed out of my comfort-zone.
Whilst it being a challenge as well as a handful of work to teach subjects such as Science to students, especially the energetic younger ones, with an English or Thai language deficiency, the week was still a lot of fun! Looking back we can now say that we actively helped the students, taught them something completely new and overcame all the challenges we faced at the beginning of the week. Personally, I thought that it was an interesting experience and something new, as the class really sees you as their teacher and also calls you by this name.
In conclusion, the week at BRC was a memorable experience. I will cherish the bonds I made with the students and the staff members at BRC, and I hope to make another visit over the summer!
Maud and Ilesh
This is our last full week of school this year, and we have the High School Sports Awards on Tuesday, EXPO 2019 on Wednesday and Year 12 Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings on Thursday.
I look forward to seeing many of you at these events.
Roo Stenning (roo.st@standrews.ac.th)
Head of High School
With the goal of providing meaningful help to the flood victims in the northern regions of Thailand, our entire community at St Andrews Bangkok came together to raise funds and donations for the affected families. In the span of a few short weeks, added to donations of food and clothing, we managed to raise an astounding total of 386,676.50 THB in donation funds. To all students, teachers, parents, and staff who participated in our efforts and contributed to this cause—thank you!
