Ms Carmen Choong
Secondary Teacher
Mechai Pattana School (MPS), Thailand. 10 – 14 January 2018 Thirteen students from grade 7 participated in the Rural Empowerment And Development (READ) Programme from 10 – 14 January 2018 in Buriram Province in Thailand. The province is about 5.5 hours away from Bangkok, a place with a cool weather ranging from 15 – 23 oC. The programme was a multi-cultural one with delegates f rom Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia. There were several cultural exchange opportunities such as ‘Culinary of Sorts’ where the participants prepared salads that were representative of their country. Our students prepared Gado Gado using sambal pecel. The judges and other delegates were full of praise for the Indonesian version of the humble salad. One of the objectives of the programme was for the participants to learn how Mechai Pattana School (MPS) empowers the poor with the necessary skills and knowledge for survival.
As the land in that area is dry and infertile, it is unsuitable for farming. Therefore, students from MPS taught the villagers alternative agricultural methods such as stem cutting or even using coconut husks which are aplenty in Thailand. The villagers learn how to
rear chickens so that they can sell the eggs to earn a living too. Such were the agricultural and entrepreneurial skills that all the delegates learnt as well. The delegates learnt that helping the poor is not simply donating money. As much as money is important, it is necessary for skills and knowledge to be imparted so that the poor can survive generation after generation. As the saying goes, “Give a man afish and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he can eat for a lifetime”. The delegates were also engaged in community service where they cleaned up and touched up different parts of the school. They swept the dried leaves along the walkway, removed the weeds amongst the crops, and cleaned the rafts, library, toilets and also the goats’ pen. A lucky few even got to paint the walkway as well as the trees!
Though these activities involved our students getting their hands dirty, they enjoyed the process as they got to interact with peers from other countries, and experience what students in MPS do on a daily basis. Such life skills are something they do not usually get to experience in school. The camp ended with a Gala Night where all the delegates put on a performance that was representative of their country. Our students sang ‘Halo Halo Bandung’ with Jonathan Kamdani leading the performance with an introduction explaining the significance of the
song. To enhance the experience, both Jonathan and Nathan learnt and performed the ukulele. The song was well-received, and it was truly a moment full of national pride for our students as Indonesians.
We hope that this trip has taught our students how to contribute to their own community by giving their time and effort to help the less fortunate around us. As the lyrics of the song goes, “We are the world, we are the children. We are the ones who’ll make a brighter day, so let’s start giving”.
