On Friday 27 November, the ACSA group composed of Takuya, Poom, Earth, Gun and Ying, went to the Doi Saket Wittayakom School to host different kinds of activities together with the ACSA group from NIS.


As part of our CAS activities, we wanted to demonstrate our social interaction skills and act as role models in helping others. Through the Inter-faith service day, we had the chance to get to know each other from different schools and exchange some of our ideas and thoughts.

We met with A. Brad the week before to discuss the event and went ahead to plan our own games that were engaging and educational for Grade 9 students.

On the day itself, we were honored by the presence of the Consul General of the United States of America, Mr Morrow. He delivered the welcome address and stayed with us during the entire day. We enjoyed the time we spent together doing co-operative activities.  

Students from NIS organised the first game wherein two people in the middle of the circle had to look for the name of the animal being said and touch them while the student with the chosen animal name had to call out other animals before they are caught by the hunter. In this game, all of us had fun trying not to get hit by the hunter in the middle and at the same time we practiced saying the names of animals in English.

We then led the second activity which involved finding the antonym of the word stuck on people’s backs. The game took a lot of time but all of the students learned many new vocabulary from other pairs.

The last activity of the day was called passing the sentence game. We lined up in four lines and a sentence was told to the first person in each of the lines, the message was passed on one by one toward the person at the end of the line. All groups were successful in doing this activity.  

At the end of the day, we had the photo sessions. While we got to know more about each other through games and activities, the Thai students were able to work with students from international school and practice their English. It was a great experience for all of us.

A display of smiles, joyful chants and the pitter patter of little feet were merely some of the details present within the scene that was to be witnessed as we made our way out of the Prem vans and into the Starfish Home for Children, here in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai.

This home, once a posh resort located within the outskirts of Chiang Mai; has undergone a complete transformation, now serving as a home for children, who, not necessarily orphaned, merely need a place to stay as their families are unable to shelter them.

This home, with its once prevalent emphasis on financial gain now usurped by the motivation to help make a difference in young children’s lives becomes, every two weeks, a harmonious display of intercultural interaction between children, and those who wish to give them a breath of fresh air from the normality of their lives at the center.

Thus, every two weeks, on a Saturday morning, a group of about eight to fifteen students from Prem gathers in the cafeteria around 8 A.M and prepares to take the 40 minute ride to the center. Due to the voluntary nature of the activity, certain sessions sees more or less students depending on the amount of work they have - however, punctuality has never been a concern as attendance has always been sufficient to make the trip worthwhile.

Of all the Saturday mornings we spent at the Starfish Home for Children, there is one morning which still resonates within me. During the last session I attended, we had decided to bake cookies and other goods for the children.

Having premade the mixes before hand, we arrived armed with cookie dough, syrup and food coloring. From the moment the children noticed that we were going to be cooking, a sudden wave of joy flowed across their faces. We then showed them how to flatten the dough and how to cut it into the shapes needed.

It was funny to see how some children preferred flattening the mix whilst some others would rather color the un-cooked dough – all of the children found the fun in whatever part of the cooking process they were involved in. Needless to say, most of them had food coloring all over their fingers by the time the food came out of the over - perhaps a fact that heightened fun ever more for everybody.

In the end, the activity was not only beneficial for the children but for us as well. Being there, seeing the smiles on children who have the odds against them is truly an inspirational feat. Although at first I thought of waking up on a Saturday morning as being a painstaking task, I began to look forwards to going to Starfish - and now, as the activity has come to its close, I miss those Saturday mornings.

Although I probably will not see these children again since I am graduating in less than two months, one thing I know for sure is that I will forever carry within me the memories of their smiles and laughs – the memoires that even I could make a difference in the live of these children.

I still remember the first day of the Viengping Girls’ Home visit to Prem. It was the 13th of September. While waiting for the vans to arrive, the student volunteers with their supervisors, A. Jenn and A. Ann, were planning how to rotate the kids so that they could all participate in the activities we had planned for them. The gym was booked, sports equipment were borrowed from the boarding house and bathing suits were freshly washed and neatly folded.

We were so excited when the vans pulled in but imagine our shock when the kids started coming out. There were 20 kids ages 4-6 years old, and there were more boys than girls! We had to quickly change our plans. Playing basketball and badminton were definitely out as they were too short to reach the net. We need to find swimming trunks too!

We organized a tag game and our supervisors gathered all the materials they could find in their classrooms to transform the gym into an Art Attack session.

The kids loved to be carried and drink water using the paper cones. They loved splashing in the children’s pool. I spent such a nice and meaningful time especially with one kid called Pi. Even though I can not speak Thai, we communicated pretty well with smiles and gestures. I won't forget when he smiles at me…

As part of our service program in Term 1, the Grade 11 students established ties with Srisangwan School of the Disabled. There were a total of 12 students along with A. Sebastian and A. Jeremy guiding us. We paid our first visit on the 31st of August.

During our first visit, the boys were to play sports like basketball and soccer with the older kids and the girls were to do some art with the rest of the children who could not engage in physical activities.

The boys, Jigme, Stanley, Jordan, Tiziano, Justin, Sid and Useng, were having a tough time playing sports as the children were really good at it and the weather was hot too. I could see that the boys’ shirt were wet with sweat, their faces had turned red and starting to get sunburn.

The girls, Yeshey, Alida, Am, Risa and myself, were doing art and at the same time distributing sweets and snacks to the children who were very grateful for whatever food we could share to them.

The second trip which was on the 28th of September. This time we did not take many snacks but took a lot of sport items like basketballs, soccer balls, Frisbees, badminton racquets and skipping ropes. We also had a lot of art materials like color pencils, crayons and water colours.

We divided ourselves in two groups some of us played sports while some did art with the children. The children were really into art especially, one boy who was in my group. His name was Krue. He really enjoyed art and the most amazing thing was that he used his mouth to draw because his hands were disabled. He drew a sketch of me admiring him and the sketch came out quite well.

We were all tired at the end of each visit but it was worthwhile because of the things we have learned from our experience of interacting with children who have severe disabilities.

We learnt how to play with the disabled children although we had a big communication gap as most of them did not understand English and we did not understand Thai.

We also found out that even though they had some disabilities, they try to find ways to do different things which made them no different than us.

This service activity made us realize that everyone can live life happily and make things possible even though they are not perfect.

Dateline: 4 June 2009


This week several grade 11 CAS students: Bank, Jigme, Julia, Maarten, Tang, Thai and Yeshey, accompanied A. Mel, A. Sandy and K. Joy to the local temple for a "first" meeting with the numerous male and female dogs that the Hand to Paw initiative is supporting.

What luck!!!! All the dogs were there and came running with tails wagging and smiling "dog" faces as we walked through the temple entrance. Of course every one of them knew there would be treats and they weren’t to be disappointed!

The students came prepared with several boxes of dog bones. Everyone was advised to let the dogs come to them since many are very shy and frightened of individuals they do not know and do not trust. However, it didn’t take long. The students seemed to have the magic touch. Perhaps the dogs sensed their goodwill.

Our purpose this week was to familiarize the students with the dogs and give them an opportunity to get to know them. We also wanted to teach them to assess the animals’ physical needs and to look for possible medical problems.

Despite our vigilance over the past few weeks the students found several dogs in need of additional care. Nam Tang had a sore under her chin, most likely a dog bite that required immediate attention.

A group effort removed ticks from Leela and also made sure she was thoroughly sprayed. Star and Dave who are both recovering from recent illness and surgery were given additional food by the students to "fatten them up".


Each student then selected a specific dog that they will monitor and assess for future medical attention. Dam Mee has considerable hair loss that doesn’t seem to be responding to recent treatment so one student will carefully check her next week. It may mean a trip to the local vet.

The students also recorded for each individual dog a description including physical conditions that might require intervention in the future. K. Joy was delighted by the response of the students, finding them gentle, caring and genuinely interested in the dogs and their well-being.

All are anxious to return to the temple next Thursday when we hope to provide treatment for those in need but also to bathe and spray the dogs.

After just one visit several of the participants can’t wait to return and are already making plans for next school year. It seems like the Hand to Paw has touched many hearts at Prem. The kindness and caring demonstrated by these students will ensure a healthy, happier and safer life for the four-legged residents of the local village temple.