Round Square International Service Project

Round Square International Service – Big Build Thailand - involved 44 young people and 6 adult leaders from 23 different Round Square schools and our project partner company. The aim of the project was to enable young people from a wide range of cultures, nations, and backgrounds to experience and learn to value each other by working together on voluntary service projects.  In addition to this, young people were given the opportunity to feel that they had done something to help other people and to learn something about themselves from the experience.

We worked on constructing an earthen building in a local school community of Ban Raum Thai, near Kui Buri National Park, Thailand.  The building will serve as an educational building for the school, where students and families will learn about elephant and human co-existence, and build upon the work already being done in the community through a number of organisations.  The project helped students develop responsibility, problem solving skills, self-awareness, compassion, and tenacity.

Students were able to learn and develop many physical skills including creating cob - a mixture of straw, mud, and water - which is used to create an earthen building.  They learned how to make and secure bamboo frames as structural support, to mix, transport and apply cob, and how to plaster and decorate the building.  Students worked with their teams and leaders to further develop leadership skills, particularly focussing on communication and co-operation, as well as working and living with groups of people they had never met before.  

Participants completed 7 full days at the worksite and were very proud of their completed achievement by the end of the project.  In addition, students worked within teams to plan, prepare and present an hour long English lesson to a mixture of students from the local school, sharing their knowledge and joy of learning in an environment very different to their own classrooms.

The students enjoyed cultural experiences including travelling from Bangkok through to the community near and around Kui Buri National Park.  They went on an elephant safari, made paper and crafts from local recyclable and natural materials, learned about camera traps and drone mapping of elephant behaviour, visited caves and temples, and travelled in buses, trucks, boats, and cars.  They experienced local cuisine in community and in the city, and enjoyed a variety of fruits, treats and ice-cream along the way.  Students made their schools proud with their hard work, positive attitudes, and the way they integrated with students and staff from all around the world.  The development of the students showcased many of the Round Square Discoveries whilst making lifelong friends.

Keely and Vicki were very proud to represent SPC and Alice Springs on the trip and encourage other students and staff to apply for such experiences – the next one is in Vietnam this coming December!