G11 School Build 2019

G11 School Build

Trips & Expeditions

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fter half a year, although we hadn't raised enough money yet, the school build trip finally came. This was a trip I was waiting for since I was in 6th grade. It was a trip I would always talk to my friends about and imagine all the possibilities. Now, after the trip, there isn't anything left to imagine. The once vacant space is now filled with a pile of unforgettable memories!

To be honest, I had a lot of worries before the trip. I was worried about how I would shower, brush my teeth and wash my hair. I was very concerned with how hygienic the place would be. But all of those thoughts have now changed.

I remember the first day of the trip how I felt really uncomfortable in the car and got car sick several times. The trip took around 2 hours, and we were on a path that was very bumpy. Later in the trip, Khun Varnee expressed how surprised she was by how good the condition of the road to the school was, and that it was the best road that she has ever encountered on her many school build trips. Hearing that, I was very shocked, and I came to realize that the road I experienced wasn't even the worst, and that there are people out there going through the same poorlyconditioned road for decades.

On one of the days, we went out in groups to visit some of the local families around the area to get insight into their living conditions. I remembered someone commenting how everything in the local's houses looked like it was from 50 years ago. There was little to no electricity and there was no light pollution at all at night. Everything was very organic, people harvested their own food and had enough to live on.

I came to realize that these people didn't need our pity: it is us who need-

Trips & Expeditions

ed to envy them. Their lives didn't depend on electricity and internet like ours do. They find their happiness in their interactions with each other. They were happy seeing their families when school ended. They were happy to just play football with each other and play chase. They were happy singing with each other and performing. Their happiness was so real yet so simple, it was hard not to envy.

We all have to appreciate the things we have in our own lives. There are goods and bads but no one's life is perfect because perfection isn't what we seek: it is happiness that is the most valuable. Helping the kids renovate a building and construct another, seems like a small action, but I know that it is going to contribute to their lives and stay with them. It may be just a service activity we had to do, but it is life changing for the kids around the area for whomwe built the school, for the next generation, and for as long as they cherish it.

Bei Bei G.11

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Trips & Expeditions

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n November 11, 2019. I travelled with my classmates from Bangkok to the Burma-Bangkok border in Mae Hong Son to build the school that we've been planning since December of our sophomore year. When we arrived at the site, we set up our tents and toured the site to get a better idea of what we had to do the following day. We worked collaboratively with our tent mates to build our own tents. It was all of our first time setting up tents on our own. We were briefed by the organization's staff on what had to be done. They delegated jobs to each one of us.

I was responsible for painting the school.

November 12, 2019: From the morning to the afternoon, we worked on building the school.

The color of the school was mainly purple, with yellow edges surrounding it. For the entire day, my paint team and I worked on painting the school, while the other people had other jobs such as drilling, drawing, and constructing the shelves.

During this time, we had to work collaboratively in our teams and outside of our own team to discuss which areas had to be done first, or to point out

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Trips & Expeditions

areas that had to be worked on, such as when there were mistakes made on the walls of the schools.

This day was extremely and hard because none of us had experience working in construction before.

We had to learn a new set of skills that we have never experienced before. I had to learn how to paint properly, as well as learning about the steps of constructing a simple schools structure.

We continued with final touches on November 13, such as painting the fine details and finishing the designs of the drawings that we made. Because we had left over time, we decided to add walls to the canteen and paint pictures of cartoon people onto the walls. I helped with painting a large tree and pictures of people. I have never painted before and found It very difficult to come up with a a nice design. This is because it required a lot of meticulousness and concentration.

Wandy G.11

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I found friends who were more experienced than I was to give me advice and tips on how to make my paintings prettier. We gave eachother feedback, and helped eachother finish the drawings. On November 14th, we had a free flea market in the morning where we set up clothes and shoe donations. The villagers were allowed to grab 20 pieces of clothing. They were very happy with the donations we gave them. In addition, the village is very far from the hospital, so we donated medicine and first aid kits to them, as well as instructions on how to use it. Lastly, we had a closing ceremony where we handed over the school to the kids.

Trips & Expeditions

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he School build project allows us to understand the wealth disparity within Thailand. Economical status results in children being unable to have proper education (an important asset of the modern world). Without proper education, it is less likely that these communities would develop and able to thrive within themselves without having to send children into the cities.

This was an opportunity to see how rural areas people live. Once I was able to interact with the children and talk with the people in the area, I succumbed to the realization that everyone can be happy despite what they lacke. People up on the mountain don't value objects or ease of living.

They work with what they have and utilize it to the best of their ability. If this year's crop doesn't yield as much as last year, they don't whine or blame the weather, they go back to work because that's the thing that they know would guarantee a better next year.

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At the school there is a non-functioning solar farm. It costs almost three million baht but is underutilized and most likely broken. The people who built it understand that the community needed electricity, but did not foresee the complication of distributing electricity to a community who's infrastructure is mostly hand-built by its owner.

Going on this trip allowed me to see two things: one, people are happy despite their circumstances. Our perception of how a person should live may blind us from actually seeing the thriving community, a community where children are living happily with their parents, a community that isn't reliant on outside aid but would happily receive it. Secondly, technology may be useful and important in our daily lives, but when implemented without accounting in every single factor it can be useless, the solar farm is one of the most efficient ways of harvesting electricity. But, without the infrastructure to support it, its nothing more than a field of metal. Hence, help without the proper guidance can become useless, giving the community who receives it a sense of false hope.

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Activities & Events

Prior to the building, I had a stigma against how inefficient this would be or why don't they just hire construction workers. After getting to see the school for myself and knowing that it is doable and not absurd, I began to reflect on how my actions may one day help a child's future. I and my classmates helped each other build a school for the children. Once the school was built it evoked a notion of accomplishment and hope.

The sense of hope is due to the realization that the reformation of the school may attract more students and possibly more teachers. This creates students who want to learn, become curious and knowledgeable. By doing so the children would value their education but also their future.

Keekwang G.11

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