Thailand Volunteers

Thailand Outreach Trip:

In Sanghklaburi June/July 2016

Leader : Owen Flattery

Staff : Mark Winberg, Sherine Burl and Chris Bennets (nephew of Br Garry)

Students : Josh Mravljak, Chris Chamberlain, Liam Mulcahy, Joe Kennedy, Jacob Bisogne, Frank Spacil, Joe Aloi, Nick Law, Campbell Tedde and Liam Canestra

We were all fortunate & excited to head to the Thailand jungle near the village Sangkhlaburi - which is up on the Myanmar (Burma boarder, 6 hr drive NW from Bangkok) for 16 days. 

The purpose of our trip was to stay and work at the La Salle school, where 350 students attend.  Also at La Salle School there are nearly 30 orphans who live at the school so we were very involved in the lives of the orphans and spent many afternoons and evenings just hanging out with the children, playing games, drawing and our boys were being such good sports while having their hair braided.  The school is predominately run by Br Victor and Br Dominic and the Bamboo School that we also attended was looked after by Brother Philip.  I really enjoyed getting to know the Brothers who worked tirelessly at the school and I admired their care and dedication to all the students. 

The La Salle school had asked St Bede's College for assistance both financially and physically to assist with the building of an amenities block.  We are lucky here at St Bede's College that our students are fortunate enough to be able to raise money, mostly fundraising, from MAD Day, to fund such trips to Thailand & India.  With my trip to Thailand, I felt such pride in seeing the Orphans living in two houses (girls and boys) that had both been built with monies raised by us at St Bede's College Mentone and built by our students from past trips to La Salle Sanghklaburi.  This school community is surviving on donations from us and a few other schools.  I feel blessed to be able to see where our nominated fundraising goes, as we could really see where the money is spent and how worthwhile this is.  The second group going to Thailand on 10 September will continue with the completion of the amenities block.  This will make such a difference to the lives of all the children while they are at school.  Your donations don't get lost in administration fees like many other charities abroad - it is actually going directly to this school community for buildings, food and amenities so the Catholic Brothers can continue to care and educate these students who otherwise would be left to roam free in the jungle.

Our boys and staff had a great time mixing and getting to know all the students, although language was a slight barrier.  We all got by with a "high five" thumb wrestle and many daily games of soccer.  The Brothers organised an afternoon soccer match between our St Bede's College boys versus the local boys.  This day was huge with all the girls standing up on the steps singing and dancing.  There were teachers MC'ing the match, music blaring and finally a teacher versus student match where our boys had the motto 'No Mercy'.  Everyone had lots of fun - there was sweat, grazed knees and a cut eye, but I think the Thai kids and teachers were just too good for us Aussies.

The trip to Thailand for me has been not so much life changing but an 'Eye Opener' on how these happy gorgeous children live with so little.  Every now and then we would lose WiFi and we would all stress, whereas these kids are just happy to get a bowl of rice to fill their tiny bellies and have someone give them attention.  Being the only female on the trip, I felt the orphans really appreciated me as a mother figure.  I gave out thousands of hugs and kisses to the children, along with band-aids - and I loved seeing the smiles and comfort it would bring to them.  Believe me this tore at my heart strings when it was time to leave!!

One night Owen, Mark, Chris and I had dinner with the Brothers in their residence. We were spoilt with their hospitality but one thing that came out of the evening was how proud we should be of our boys as they not only represented themselves and their families, but they also represented St Bede's College as delightful young men.  We were very pleased with all the young men who came along with us to La Salle Sangkhlaburi, such an honour to travel with such respectful students.

I encourage all students to continue to support our Outreach programs, and hopefully have the opportunity to go on a Trip to Thailand in Year 11 or India at the end of Year 12.  

Sherine Burl

St Bede's College - Canteen