20 km South from Chiang Rai, Thailand January 2010 Marjaana Haljala (‘Phi Maya’) (Big Sister Maya)

Chiang Rai old bus station – ready to be picked up by Dan (from Dragonfly charity)… …to travel to our destination in countryside 20 km south of Chiang Rai (no taxis/busses go there)

The camp is The home has 19 children between the ages of 5 and 15..most of them come from Akha village tribes near Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai Very poor living conditions and sometimes outright abandonment led to the kids becoming orphans… sometimes arriving to the home with 1-3 siblings.

The children had prepared a lovely dance performance to welcome us! Dinner first night was one of the strangest/culturally interesting moments in my life – not understanding a word! I felt VERY foreign!

Every day we were teaching English to 1-6 th grade students in the local primary school The ‘globe ball’ was a huge hit… in making learning a bit more exciting The School Third Graders... As local teachers didn’t actually know much English at all (learning is mainly with videos), they appreciated help from foreign volunteers. It was very challenging to teach English to someone who doesn’t understand the language with which you try to teach them… therefore, lots and lots of body/sign language, demonstrations, games and pictures!

At the end of our teaching, we were given bouquets of flowers and gifts at school And the teachers’ hospitality was endless.. Here we were taken to a local tea farm to taste last season’s teas. They also took us to their church, where they gave us Christian musical performances and bibles (in Thai language).

Every day after school we were building a mud brick house Our ‘animal safari’ sculptures inside the mud house It is very important to finish the house before rainy season starts (June) so that the roof is covered with cement. Making mud…

…Well, there was no such thing as a ‘normal day’ as the kids were very imaginative and fun, coming up with new things all the time....but they loved posing on pictures

…they loved all the extra attention volunteers bring… …they also loved fooling around…

…they loved playing with our hair… …and they loved little projects. (like this – making ‘friendship braids’)

Kids made some quite amazing batik craftwork on weekends These were made as gifts and sold to Western markets through a local charity (part of financing the orphanage operations) I had a go as well… not so successful experiment…

Time for good-byes… We will miss Baan Saan Rak’s precious children. And we hope to be able to continue supporting this great project!

The charity I volunteered with was DRAGONFLY - I was very happy with the organisation and impressed by their contribution in the areas of Orphanage Care Work, Animal Rescue Centres and Building Projects. You can find their website on: Leaving Baan Saan Rak was difficult and hearth braking, leaving lots of great memories and new friends behind. I would really recommend anyone to consider doing something similar – it gave a lot to me!