Jungle School

I hopped to stop by the school in the jungle that we were sponsoring, but it just was not possible. The best I could do was get a few pictures that I thought were interesting.

Looking at the pictures, I wonder how the mothers keep their kids shirts so white in the jungle, and how the teacher is not distracted by his kid on his chest.

Meeting Boi Pop Chan

As mentioned before, my Volunteer Club had a fund raiser and one of the people they decided to help was Boi Pop Chan, a little Burmese girl who is paralyzed due to TB Meningitis. 

I visited her and her family unannounced with a good friend of mine.  We arrived at the simple concrete block house and the girl was lying motionless under a net much like you would find over a bassinet.   

We all sat down and had some tea and chatted.  The father, who speaks English quite well, told of the many hardships they face.  There were a few laughs, a lot of love and a fair amount of concern that only parents can give, but there was also unmistakable despair written all over the mother's face.

I wish there could be a warm ending to the story, but there won't be.  The best that can be hoped for is she is loved, kept comfortable, and gets medicine to have fewer seizures.  I am glad we could do a bit (medicine for seizures for a year) but it is too bad that these stories have such tough endings for poor kids.

Thailand Helping The Animals

There are over 100,000 stray dogs in Bangkok and they usually deal with the problem by poisoning them.  Some of my students decided they wanted to help these dogs, so they raised some money for an organization that works for them.

While in Bangkok we stopped in SCAD, which is a project to spay and neuter dogs and cats in Bangkok.  They have a spay and release program.  They try to work in areas where people treat the animals relatively well ( no need to spay a dog who will be poisoned in a week or two).  In addition, they have an education program.

They have their programs suspended right now because the local community does not like all the noise (who can blame them).  They are planning to open one of two new facilities to get things going next month. I think the education part of the program is most important since a thousand or so spays and neuters will have a limited impact on a 100k animal population that is growing due to discarded animals.

Nice people, good cause, good visit.

TV Show-Filming

As I mentioned in the previous post, MBC TV, which is a huge channel in Korea, decided to do an 8 minute piece on our volunteer club.  The piece will air on the 29th between 7:30 and 9:30 ( I will update the time when I know). They spent 8 hours filming at our school. (Update...the actual time is 6:50).

I walked through the gates at 6:45 in the morning I really had no idea how the day would go.  Would the kids have finished the banners and posted everything on the bulletin boards? How would the interviews go?  Would it all be stupid and silly?  Would the other teachers have fun with things?

I saw the lights on in the English classrooms...kids at work already.  Is that a good thing or bad thing?

I went upstairs.  Han Jin was hard at work with a few other students.  She showed me the first banner.  Cute, informative, perfect.  Ditto on the posters. 

2nd banner...not great, but maybe we can use it. Then I read it more closely..."Volunteer Clud".  Oops. Never make banners when you are tired.  We had to re-purpose the banner.

The camera man came around 7 and shot a couple of boys getting ready for school for the introduction, something along the lines, "why is one boy putting on his uniform and the other is not".

Kids were making egg, potato, mayo and ketchup sandwiches and the cameraman filmed the kids making them  

We went upstairs to the English classroom and he filmed the kids finishing the updated banner (thank god we had some paper sitting around to glue to the old banner!) 

We had our morning meeting and then he began taping various activities in the school.  There was one that a student had to vote on something about each teacher.  To be honest, I still do not know exactly what it was about but they made signs and a bulletin board and had fun.

I was really happy so many of my colleagues decided to don the school uniforms.

Mid morning, we started the little shop for selling the cookies, brownies, and sandwiches the kids made along with some cocoa and tea.  I thought there was no way we would sell over 400 cookies and 50 brownies along with about 60 sandwiches in the entire day, but within 15 minutes almost all of it was gone.

One teacher made a "donation box" at the start of the year.  Each time a student cursed in class, they had to make a "donation".  Thank god for those potty mouth fools...we got a $60 donation from them.  The class teacher even put on a uniform for the day.  It was so cute watching the cameraman try to tape her as she giggled like a little school girl.  The camera man was a good sport and the kids yucked it up.

One of the lunch ladies donated $20 to the cause a few weeks ago and we recreated it for the camera.  I was not there, but they went to the lunch room while the kids were eating and called her over and she gave the money.

I thought it was really important that the kids see that their fun was really helping someone.  I arranged a Skype video call with Boi Pop Chan, the paralyzed girl, along with her family. We had it in a special classroom with a 60" monitor (gotta love Korean schools).  

At 1:30 the screen comes up and there is the girl, in a wheelchair, along with her mother, father and a translator.  What a powerful image.

It turned out the father spoke English very well.  The kids asked him a few questions and answers:

• What are your dreams?  I only want to take care of my daughter.
• What is most difficult for you?  We are refugees.  We live in a refugee camp.  We must get permission from the government to leave.  If my daughter has an emergency, we can not go to the hospital easily and she may die.
• If your daughter got better, what would you do?  I am Hmong (pronounced Mon).  We have no land, we have no country, we have no rights.  I want freedom.  Until then, I would just work to help the Hmong people in the refugee camps.

As things wrapped up, The mother gave a beautiful smile, said her first words, "Thank You" the kids waved and said goodbye.  I was getting ready to close the window but decided to let it ride a second.  The mother got up not knowing I still had the video on, put her hand on her daughters' cheek and kissed the other. A remarkably touching moment.

The father spoke fast and with a strong accent, so I made notes and explained everything to the kids after the video call was finished.

I then asked them, "How do you feel?".  One said, "Sad" another "good", another "proud".  I told them my favorite Japanese saying, "lead a good life, so you can enjoy it a second time when you get old". I told them invest your money in things like new phones, or electronics and you will get momentary happiness.  Invest your time in doing good, and you can have long term happiness.

The final part of the day involved getting all the teachers who wore uniforms together with a bunch of students from the volunteer club in front of the school to say goodbye.

In the end, we raised almost $600 for the causes this term. The day was finished and I was thrilled and proud of the students.  I was appreciative of my colleagues.  I was exhausted.

TV Show-the call and craziness

We got a call on Tuesday from MBC, the biggest TV channel in Korea.  They saw the newspaper story about "No Uniform Day" and wanted to film all day on Friday so they could make an 8 minute segment in prime time about our volunteer club. Holy crap.

It could be great for

• the kids...great to get recognition for doing something good.  Doing for others will start to be ingrained into who they are.  It will also be helpful for their university admission.
• school...good publicity is a good thing of course.  The school has new owners and has some positive momentum. I especially want to do something for the Principal Vice-Principal and colleagues all of whom I really like and respect.  They have been great to allow the events in the school
• club...I think the club might have legs.  When I go, some colleagues may want to continue it.
• the viewers...so they think about volunteering. 

On the other hand, Korean TV is sometimes silly and there was a very good chance the focus of the segment could be teachers wearing uniforms...funny but stupid.  It would do nothing for either the reputation of the school and the kids...it may even have a negative effect.  We needed a good plan.

Moonsook is my partner in the volunteer club.  She is like my Korean sister...funny, smart and a bit of a free thinker.  I am really lucky to have her working with me on this. She teaches the seniors and this is the busiest time of the year preparing documents for university admissions which is the priority. She did not have time for our normal communication and we ended up having a conflict over some miscommunication.  Thankfully, she and I are both Korean on some level (get angry and cool down quickly) and we got over it. We worked on a plan and began work. Thankfully, Kyueng Hee, a fabulously nice colleague, gave a helping hand working on some details and some communication and things progressed nicely.

On Thursday, the kids made cookies, decorated a holiday tree and started making banners for the big day.

You never know how people will perform in these situations.Some kids were real disappointments, while others shocked me in their work ethic and character.  One girl, Han Jin, is the biggest surprise.  I knew her a bit, but never thought of her as a leader, but a leader she is...maybe even a potential great leader.  Great work ethic, excellent character, and wonderful follow through.  She has greatness in her.

Since the school doesn't have an oven, I left around 6:00 so I could go home and bake the cookies they made. I had to leave with the banners and bulletin boards unfinished.  A few of the kids stayed behind and continued to work until late.  Would things be ready?

No Uniform Day

Our volunteer group had another fundraiser yesterday...No Uniform Day.  The kids decided it would be fun if they could pay a nominal amount of money, about 50cents, and not have to wear a uniform for a day.  The money we raised will go to help a school in the jungle in Thailand.

The day before, a couple of students told me it would be funny if the teachers wore student uniforms.  I hate dressing up, but I thought the kids would get a kick out of it, so I decided to wear a school uniform...with the shortest tie known to man.  I looked smashing I think.

As it turned out, a local newspaper heard about "No Uniform Day" and decided to write a story about it.  The principal thought it was good that I was wearing a uniform and encouraged other teachers to wear one also. A few were good sports and did it.

The photographer for the newspaper wanted to get some pictures, so we went to the classrooms and the kids were ridiculously excited about their teachers wearing uniforms.

I thought it was fun that the teachers dressed up for a bit, but somehow the students who did all the work to organize things and the purpose got pushed aside a bit in the excitement over the teachers.

Overall I am really happy with the event, and I think everyone else is too.

Edit.
Here is an article written about the event in the Korean newspaper.

Perfect Event

We had our first volunteer activity on Saturday and it was perfect. One of the students organized a trip to Daegu where disabled people play at sport that is a bit like Bocce ball.

We were greeted by a man in a wheelchair.  His arms, and legs were contorted.  His face was contorted when he spoke and was really difficult to understand.  You could see how stressed all the kids looked. As he speed off in his wheelchair (that seemed to be rocket powered) one student said to me, "my heart is beating so fast".

The people who could throw for themselves, did.  The ones who couldn't had these ramps to let the bean bag/ball roll down.  Two of the kids were responsible for moving the ramps.  They had to just listen to the commands of the players and do what they were told.  Then, they would have to help the players hold their ball.

The disabled people (who are referred to as "clients" by the center who organized the event) were remarkably good at this game and incredibly good natured. The guy who met us turned out to be a silver medal winner for Korean Special Olympics which explains why he was so strict about enforcing the rules. He also turned out to be pretty funny.

Naturally they wanted Sandy and I to play against them and predictably, they beat us.  I cannot say that I gave my all, but I am reasonably sure they would have beaten us anyway.  Later, they asked my kids to play.  As much as I like them, I have to say they were really, really bad at this game.

During the break time one man decided to tell his story of how he ended up in a wheelchair.  He was an engineer at an architectural firm.  They gave him a motorcycle as a bonus, he wrecked, had 10 operations, was getting better, something went wrong in the hospital and ended up with physical problems, and by his own estimation, limited mental abilities.  Quite sad, and perfect for kids to hear.

As things began to wind down, one woman needed eye drops put in and the kids were happy to help...one put them in, the other wiped her face. The kids had gotten past being afraid of people with disabilities to jumping quickly to help them. They saw them as people, not freaks.

The participants wanted some group pictures at the end, and by looking at their faces, I think you can see that the kids coming to the event added greatly to their day.

As we were walking out, I asked the kids what they thought.  One said she wants to come every month.  Another said this was a precious memory, another said at first she was scared of them, but now she had fun and liked them.

I cannot think of anyway that this could have gone better.  The kids organized it, they did something good that made somebody else happy, they will likely do it again, and the way they see disabled people has changed. Damn am I proud of them.

Proud as can be

Today was the first fundraiser for the volunteer club.  There were no classes today because of the entrance exam, so the students organized a  movie day.  They charged about 40 cents for the movie, 50 cents for snacks or drinks.  They made nice posters to advertise it which included pictures of the girl who was ill who needed medicine.  The students did almost everything on their own and I was really amazed at how well it went.

As a teacher, you often focus on the problem kids...I guess it is natural.  Things like this give you the chance to celebrate the majority of kids, the ones who are decent, who see a problem that want to help, who want to do good things, but do not have the chance.

I am feeling so proud of my kids right now.

Do Something Good 2nd Month

The volunteer club seems to be going pretty well.  Sometimes it is like making sausage, disgusting to watch, but the end results are good.

The club has about 40 members and is doing the following projects:

Sister School:  Students are raising money to help pay for salaries for teachers in a little school in the jungle.  It is an interesting little village of about 100 people that has been decimated by the pollution caused by a local mine.  Their school is a bamboo hut and their teacher has not graduated high school.  With a bit more money, they can get a better teacher.


Health Care: The students are raising money for a 12 year old girl named Boi Pop Chan who had TB meningitis 3 or 4  years ago and had a lot of brain damage. Since then she is paralyzed, she can not speak, eat on her own or do anything. So her mother is taking care of her full time, so has no income. The father of the kid is a Mon (Burmese ethnic group) soldier. The mother use to be in the Mon army too, as a nurse, but had to stop to take care of her child.

The Mon army is paying for a small house for this kid and her mother. The community is providing them with food. The kid now has a lot of convulsions due to her condition. So she needs to take medicine twice a day. So her monthly treatment just for the convulsions is 1000 baht (about $35) a month. The kids will raise money to pay for that for a while at least.

Animal Care: There are over 100,000 street dogs in Bangkok.  The students are raising money to help support for a spay and neuter program at a clinic for street dogs.

Local Projects: A group of students is looking to help kids, handicapped and old people.  They are going to participate in an event for handicapped people in two weeks.

In the next week or so, the fundraising projects start.  More about that later.


  

Do Something Good 1st Meeting

We had our first meeting of the volunteer club today. Last year's project for the boy who drank acid, Se Tu, had about 30 students, but I did not know what to expect today, so when we got 55 I was really pleased.  

The students decided that they wanted to work on international projects in Thailand including :

• a sister school for Burmese refugees
• an animal sanctuary
• helping with health care for an individual. 

I think I have ended up with another big project which will be like childbirth: I will be exhausted, aggravated, frustrated, happy, proud and in the end I will forget all the bad stuff and think, "That was great!".

Se Teu

Saturday morning we met with Se Teu, the boy who needed throat surgery because he drank acid, and his parents.  He had the first of the last three surgeries he needs about 2 months ago.  His condition has improved a lot.  He can now eat some semi-solid foods.  His parents think that he is well enough to start going to school in April.  The parents were really thankful to my students for helping them.

The meeting happened in the last moments before we left Sangklaburi and I can not think of a better way to end our trip.

A Boy Needs Surgery Part 3

As I mentioned before, the students are trying to raise money to pay for operations for a boy, who is a Burmese refugee in Thailand, that drank acid.

The students are finished with mid term exams and are now going full steam on fundraising. We started making donation boxes yesterday and will raise money starting this week.

One girl, who secretly loves me but says she hates me, asked to not have her picture taken. Naturally, she will be in the first picture I post (she has the yellow blanket on).

I received an excellent ribbon tying lesson from one of the girls. Unfortunately, I was a much worse student than she was teacher and my ribbon had to be thrown away after everyone laughed at me.

The overview of the group. I can't believe we have 26 people now.

Surprisingly enough, the boys even had a good time.

I am doing a series of lessons about issues that children have including HIV, lack of education, access to health care...all exciting stuff (to me at least). The timing on the fundraising has been excellent since the kids are learning about issues and having an opportunity to do something about it.

I am really enjoying this and I think the kids are too.

Boy Who Needs Surgery Post 2

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a boy who needs surgery and the students starting to organize a campaign to raise money. Today we had our 4th meeting and we have plans in place for our 1st fundraiser. The group, which includes about 20 students, will have donation boxes for each classroom. They are going to make posters to tell their classmates about the boy. In addition, the school newspaper is going to write a story about him. I am quite proud of the students right now.

A Boy Who Needs Surgery-Part 1

I mentioned in an earlier post a class I had with a friend from Thailand. During the lesson my students learned about a 5 year old boy who was staying with his grandmother a couple of years ago. One day she left some acid out that she used to polish the stones and the boy drank it believing it was water. This left him with a badly burned trachea and unable to eat solid foods.

My friend in Thailand is arranging for operations to clear scar tissue and fix the situation. The boy has had 5 operations and will need about 5 more. Each operation costs about $300. If the boy was Thai, he would be able to get the operations for a nominal amount of money. Unfortunately, he is from Burma and can not get Thai government support.

Because the parents are afraid the boy will eat something that will spoil the work done in the first 5 operations, he is not going to school.

I knew that some of my students wanted to help the little boy, so I had a meeting to organize some fundraisers for the boy. The kids seem to be enthusiastic about the idea.

I am going to have a series of lessons about problems that children in developing countries face. I am hoping that at the end of the series of lessons, the kids will have learned something about kids in developing countries and the power they have to help change their lives.

I had a meeting with the Principle, Vice-Principle, and some other teachers about the idea. As it turns out, my school likes the idea because it will help the students enter a good university.

Hopefully this is the first part of a good story.