After enjoying a semi-permanent home in Chiang Mai, the shorter ‘chapters’ of our journey over the last few weeks have made for a whirlwind of new sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feels… one of which is the tightness of our backs from shifting loaded backpacks from songthaws to trains to taxis to boats to pickup trucks to get us from north to south Thailand.
Out of Chaing Mai we first traveled for 16 hours on an overnight train to Bangkok, and were all pleasantly surprised by the cozy quarters the train official so effortlessly converted our seats into. Still a bit bleary-eyed, we negotiated our way into taxis to take us to the Camillian Center for a volunteer opportunity arranged by Tessa. We arrived into the welcoming care of Faisal, a Pakistani-Canadian man who has been volunteering his time as coordinator of the center for several years now. The main branch of Camillian, which has been working since 1995 around all issues of those affected by HIV/AIDS, is in Rayong. The Bangkok branch we stayed with was recently inaugurated in January of last year. They currently serve about twenty-eight kids who either have some sort of physical disability, mental disability, or are HIV+. Half live there permanently, and the other half arrive each day for day care. Their stories are each unique and inspiring– often a tale of having been abandoned in hospitals or dumped on the streets, though if you didn’t hear it, you’d hardly believe since these little ones have made such progress.
The facilities at Camillian are impressive, with a four-floored building, courtyard with trampoline and exercise equipment, physiotherapy rooms with walking bars, weights, straps, balls, etc. The staff is ample; providing for a nearly one-to-one ratio of care for these adorable kids.
We spent the days helping in the early mornings by washing, dressing and feeding the babies, and during the morning sessions would assist in whatever ways were useful– with physiotherapy, art projects, teaching English, or jumping on the trampoline. In the afternoons we would often join some of the cooking staff in teaching some basic recipes for baking, including chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. Though they’ve had a large gas oven since first opening, it hasn’t been used simply because there isn’t a custom of baking. So though it took some leaps of trust, the staff allowed Tessa to light it up. After several repeats of the procedure, we’re hopeful the oven will find good use now.
All in all, the Camillian is well-staffed with some tremendous-hearted caretakers. So while not in dire need, they greatly appreciate volunteers for their injection of new energy, moments of relief for the full-time workers, and as links to the world outside the Camilliam compound. We enjoyed our days laughing and playing with the kids who have such warm and accepting souls, though we also agreed that the work is exhausting! We have great appreciation for the dedication of caretakers who wake up day after day to challenging tasks of meeting multiple needs.
We were able to take a mid-week break and go into Bangkok to explore a bit, have some comfort food, and do a bit more market shopping (y’all are really in for a superb holiday:)), and Alecc, Tessa and Steph had a bit of time exploring a Saturday market just before taking off on another overnight travel trip…
This time we continued further south on a 10-hour bus ride to Ranong. Arriving around 5:30 am, we waited a few hours before being scooped up by Akong and Down, two employees of the NGO called Mirror Art Foundation. They had both spent the night on Koh Lhao, the island on which we were about to go, and had to wait for the tide to come in before motorboating into Ranong to meet us. After a market breakfast of coffee, some fried doughs, sticky rice, fried chicken and shrimp, we and our bags made our way out to the island. Koh Lhao is home to about 50 families of Moken people, who are a population who have historically been ‘sea gypsies’, but have largely been forced to become land-bound. They are neither accepted by Myanmar nor Thailand, and therefore live in a limbo space characterized by powerlessness and impoverishment. Being a people of the sea, Moken have intimate knowledge of the waters but little know-how of construction and land-based living. They space they’ve been relegated to is little, and is covered in many areas with trash and sewage.
The political situation is frustrating, to put it mildly. We were there on a project to help build a community center in order for the villagers to have a space to meet, organize and hopefully collectively improve the living conditions of the island village. In our first tour of the island, however, we learn that a community center does, in fact, already exist. The issue is that post-tsunami the Thai government declared the land on which the center exists to be Thai national park land, and thus illegal for Moken to utilize… ridiculous and sad, really.
Nevertheless, in the spirit of continuing on, our group furthered the building of the community center by gathering rocks and sand from the beach, and purchasing construction supplies from Ranong. Our task was to pour cement beams to support the posts that will hold the raised floor. The land on which this is being built is questionable… on marsh and sewage, but we acknowledge we are there a short time, and trust in those who are overseeing… So over the days we learn the ropes of tying off rebar and mixing concrete. Sometimes we work with just our crew of seven, and often times we’re joined by over twenty women from the community, and we are amazed at the difference of how much we’re able to accomplish. Such a palpable demonstration of the power of solidarity.
During our time on this humble island, we’re well-fed by Peenow, a strong woman (one of only 3 Thai citizens on the island) who advocates for Moken rights. We also sleep on the edge of their meeting space, which is a large dock built of long, round branches. After dinner, we lay out our sleeping bags on top of mats, and enjoy the adventure of the night, of the tide from low to high right underneath us. Sometimes we’re rocked by boats that sway into the dock with the strong breeze; often we’re awoken by strong stenches of fish or otherwise… Certainly our most unique slumber spot of the trip.
The last evening at Koh Lao, the village appears for a short gratitude ceremony in our honor. There are speeches, certificates and t-shirts gifted, and then we each stand behind a pot of food and help distribute to the awaiting community. It’s special to see each face, albeit a brief passing of time with each individual there.
And the next morning we move on, this time hopping on a boat to a garbage-less oasis called Koh Chang (Elephant Island). The motorboat ride through the Andaman sea is gorgeous, and we’re all enamored with the peacefulness and beauty of the long beach. We soak up each moment there– to swim, lay, walk, eat, set off fireworks:)… the feel of the contrast is immediate– to be able to use fresh water more freely whereas it was in scarce supply on Koh Lao.
And yet another contrast met us last night, as we arrived after another 6-hour bus ride from Ranong to Phuket. Though this beach was pummeled by the tsunami just five years ago, development came back in full steam… and we find ourselves in a tourist jungle at the location of our last destination of Patong beach. Steph, Alecc and Tessa have launched into three days of their course for open water scuba diving certification, and Brian and I attend to end-of-semester duties.
As we count remaining days of the trip on one hand, we marvel at the journey… it’s been a challenging one, each of us pushed in unique ways to contemplate who we are, where we stand, where we bend…
Check in mid-week and hopefully you’ll read of the wonders of the Andaman:)
