Students volunteer around the world

Teaching English in Thailand

In a stuffy classroom near Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, students ranging from 5 to 15 years old blurted out various animals as guesses to a round of animal charades between waves of laughter. The boy at the front of the room, who was acting out an elephant, brought his arm up to his face to mimic the elephant’s trunk. “Ostrich. Giraffe. ELEPHANT!” the other students shouted.

The teachers, juniors Kellie Chiou and Connie Wang and students from other high schools, went to Thailand through the Wisdom Culture and Education Organization (WCEO) on a mission to teach the kids English through games, songs, arts and crafts and other activities last summer for 10 days.

“We taught them songs about animals and played a lot of charades. The kids really liked ants, giraffes and buffalo,” Chiou said. “We also taught them about random topics, such as hygiene.”
Besides teaching English, Wang and Chiou bonded with the students, explored the area and helped with chores for the community.

“While the kids went to school, we went fishing with our bare hands in a pond, baked cakes from a banana-like fruit and helped harvest the crops on their farm,” Wang said. “Sometimes we would go into town and explore too.”

The children stay at the youth area, called Samuel’s Home, while their parents recover at the Drug Rehabilitation Center up the street. Although some of the kids leave after their parents recover, many stay there because their parents cannot afford to take care of them.

The kids were energetic and enthusiastic, according to Wang. The volunteers did not have any access to technology, so instead of spending their free time on the computer or watching television, they helped with housework or learned instruments, such as guitar.

“A lot of [volunteers] learned to play guitar during our time in Thailand,” Wang said. “It was interesting to see people live without technology. We spent 10 days without Facebook, computers or cell phones, but we [were never] bored.”

Fighting congenital heart disease in China

Junior Jennifer Yang also regularly travels abroad to volunteer over the summer. She began volunteering two summers ago in one of China’s poorest provinces, Gansu, with an organization called Angel Heart and has continued working with the organization in the subsequent years.

The volunteers of Angel Heart help children with congenital heart disease.

“We visit the kids in their homes in the countryside and help give them check-ups,” Yang said. “When they get to the hospital, we keep them company as they go through the [intensive care unit] and we interact with the children because they’re all really young.”

In addition to dealing with children, Yang also supports and encourages the parents to help them get through the difficult time.

“I really enjoyed getting to know the parents and the kids and learning their story,” Yang said. “You listen to their story and tell them your own. It’s a mutual learning experience.”

Volunteering abroad an eye opening experience

Volunteering in a different country is an extraordinary experience, said Yang. Not only do volunteers learn to appreciate what they have at home, they feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement as they are able to directly seeing the results that their help yields.

“It’s really fulfilling because you’re not just throwing money at them and leaving, you’re getting involved in the process,” Yang said. “It was definitely eye opening for me. It changed a lot of things I do and changed the way I see the world.”

The citizens the volunteers encounter abroad also can make a great impression on their lives and the memories they create can last a lifetime, according to Wang.

“The trip was definitely amazing,” Wang said. “Even though we were the ones teaching English, I felt that they taught us just as much as we taught them.”