Thailand

Thailand Outreach Program (Group 1 2015)

In the last week of Term 2, ten Year 11 students, three staff (including Principal Garry Coyte) and one previous School Captain headed off for the experience of a lifetime in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand. Situated 350 kilometres North West of Bangkok, Sangkhlaburi is home to two Lasallian schools collectively known as the Bamboo School Project. Whilst the St Bede’s College volunteers visited both schools, we spent the majority of our time living and working in Parmenie, a school frequented by around 150 students aged from around 5 – 15 years old.

The students in Sangkhlaburi are stateless – they have no birth certificate and no identification card. They live on the border between Thailand and Myanmar, yet are unable to become a citizen of either. The Bamboo School project (run by Lasallian Brothers) aims to take some of these children, feed them and clothe them every day, teach them English, Thai and Burmese and try to improve their living conditions at home. Whilst at the school the Brothers register them with the government with the aim of securing their identity papers, giving them the opportunity to gain a better paying job or to go onto further study. 

Over the last few years, thanks to the Mission Action Day fund and previous Outreach groups, several new buildings have been built at Parmenie, allowing the school to expand on their work and accept new students. The project for 2015 is to build a new canteen and eating area for the young kindergarten students, which was severely damaged in a storm early this year. Whilst the conditions were difficult, with heavy rain consistently falling for the first eight days, spirits remained high as the boys slogged through the mud, shifting hundreds of wheelbarrows filled with dirt to level out the foundations for the new building. When not toiling away on the worksite, we spent our free time interacting with the children at the school, visiting classrooms and playing games at lunchtime.

Throughout our visit we were struck by just how happy these children are to be at school, and how truly grateful they were for any time we spent with them. Brother Victor Gilmunoz, who is responsible for the creation of this wonderful project, spoke in his address to us that it is his dream that one day there’ll be no need for the Bamboo school, because these stateless children will be recognised by the government and given even better opportunities than he is able to at Parmenie. In response, St Bede’s College have committed that so long as there is a need for this amazing place, we will be around to lend a hand.

If you’d like to read more about the trip, please visit out blog at http://thailandoutreachprogram2015.wordpress.com

We have also put together a short video which can be found at http://vimeo.com/134048861

The students and staff who attended the trip were as follows:

•  
  • Brodie Amor
  • Charlie Boulton
  • Andrew DiGiovambattista
  • Jason Knipe
  • Brodie Linford
  • Jack Pritchett
  • Jonathon Selhorst
  • Adam Thatcher
  • Lachlan Wigney
  • Jake Williams
  • Ben Wilson (staff)
  • Br Garry Coyte (staff)
  • Laura McCormick (staff)
  • Andrew Pulis (ex-student)