We did it! After years of talking about it, months of planning for it and the hard work and energy of several dedicated volunteers (and donors), we successfully brought 14 teenagers from the Baan Unrak Children's Home to experience a once in a life time opportunity: a Youth Volunteer "Green" Camp on the beach! Baan Unrak jungle kids finally got to see the ocean!
The goal: to provide experiential learning opportunities to disadvantaged children from the Thai/Burmese border town of Sangkhlaburi.
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| scenic shot at Jason's beach, aka Ao Nang |
The journey: 1100 kms traveled in 2 days from the village of Sangkhlaburi to Krabi. We piled into the back of our school bus and survived the heat, rains and exhaustion of the road trip...but it was all worth it for the smiles we saw that day the kids set foot on the beach in celebration of our arrival!
The kids: These children selected to travel were picked primarily because they have proven to be good role models and leaders in the home, and because teachers and volunteers that directly work with them found them to be hard working and well-deserving of such a wonderful opportunity.
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| sports day on the beach, kids vs volunteers! |
The inspiration: My own life experiences have taught me that an important part of self-discovery can be found in service to others. Life in our little village can be hard and there are limited choices for work and employment...meaning more times than not our kids have a hard time envisioning a future outside of manual labor and government teaching gigs at the local schools.
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| visit to local tourist attractions |
Travel is an escape; an opportunity to experience new environments, new cultures and more importantly travel provides an opportunity to broaden one's horizons when thinking about the future. The inspiration for this project was to inspire our youth to pursue higher education and to motivate our teens to pursue a higher quality of life than that they currently see as the norm in our poor village.
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| rock climbing with volunteer guides |
The sponsors: The youth camp was hosted by
Projects Abroad Thailand (Krabi) and a special thank you to Ingrid Sprake for inviting our kids to participate and working restlessly to require all the approvals and funding for the camp to be such a great success! Also, thanks to Vishal, Ant, Ruang, Miew and all the community and conservation volunteers from Projects Abroad for creating a warm and welcoming environment for the kids and for making every moment a teachable moment about marine life, coastal conservation, motivation and self improvement.
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| scuba diving with Thar Gyi |
Green Camp: The 'green' camp activities included: beach clean ups; lending a hand planting in a local forest restoration project; recreational art workshops using local resources as inspiration; an introduction to Southern culture Batik painting; marine/coastal conservation workshop and introduction to responsible tourism practices; visits to local heritage sites and temples; an educational mangrove forest walk hosted by government guides; as well as fun interactive games and ice breakers with the team of international volunteers in charge of leading the camp experience!
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| rock climbing, barefoot!!! jungle style |
Adventure Activities: Thanks are also due to individual sponsors and donors for their time, energy and support in providing extra adventure activities: Aqua Vision Dive company for providing the boat, equipment and teachers for a one day discover scuba lesson for our kids; Andaman Sky (and Andy) for providing the equipment and guides for a one day rock climbing adventure course on Railay Beach. Our kids never imagined one day diving under the ocean or experiencing the thrill of dizzying heights and challenging rope work; so special!
The camp was a great moment of achievement for me and for everyone who supported me since the very beginning. I hope this camp marks the first of regular camp and volunteer opportunities for the children at Baan Unrak as well as the children from neighboring home and programs in our small community.
Interested in supporting this project next time?
My website is still in its draft phases, but the donate button works if you're keen to help us out!
Also, check out my Facebook photo albums for all the photos collected from this amazing trip!
Baan Unrak travels to Krabi
Baan Unrak Green Camp
Baan Unrak Adventure Activities
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