Tag Archives: chiang mai

What you can do to help: Orphanages

8 Dec

This is a tough one.  How do we really help orphaned children here and around the world?  Spending time with these beautiful babies, it makes no sense to me at all how they don’t each have loving families.  I wish I could just take them all home!  But since I can’t and we have to start somewhere, there was one particular area I would like to focus on and help.  Nutrition.

The food they receive every day is pretty basic.  Clear soup, rice and sometimes fried veggies.  For snack I only ever saw them have cookies with frosting on them and sugary sweets.  One of my little boys, had his baby teeth already rotted away.  I’m not sure how in a country that is so bountiful in delicious fruits, they didn’t have any for the babies here.  Or FRESH veggies for that matter.  Obviously, I wasn’t with them all day, every day for every meal but what I (and the other volunteers) saw was clear, these growing children need a more nutritious diet.

So what do we do?  Though I left a donation for the children’s home, I want to set aside a special account just to get fruits and veggies into the bellies of these kids.  Set a certain percentage of all Love Infinitely Project donations to go into this special fund.  Perhaps set this up as a yearly donation.  Then we can follow up in person.  I’ve heard this is the case in many other orphanages throughout Thailand and other countries as well.  I’d love to visit and send you all out to see what can be done about this at orphanages around the world.

If we can’t adopt every child, the least we can do is make sure they grow up to be healthy and strong.

Like I said, we have to start somewhere.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

Volunteer Week 2: Viengping Children’s Home

8 Dec

Coming off my amazing adventure at the Elephant Nature Park, I went straight into working at the Viengping Children’s Home, an orphanage just North of Chiang Mai.  In order to volunteer here, you must fill out an application and have it approved by the director.  My first day was Monday morning 11/21.  It took me a bit to figure out the bus system, but eventually figured it out and was there just past 9am.  I met with the director in her office to talk about my background with children.  Or in my case, teenagers.  But she assigned me to the “Sawasdee” Room which is where the 1-2 yr olds were.  Babies.  Once the children are 5 years old, they go to public school during the day.  So, babies it was for me!

Of course, they’re the cutest little babies you ever did see!  There were about 10 in the 1-2 year old group and 10 in the 2-3 year old group.  From the time volunteers arrive at 9am until 10:30am they have play time.  Followed by lunch, nap (volunteer lunch) and more play and activities after that.  The type of play and activity depends on the number of volunteers, staff and what day it is.  It was a little confusing at first because only the director spoke English, but by Day 2 I was getting the rhythm of the place.

On average there were only about 3 volunteers, a mix of locals and some foreigners.  One man from the US has been volunteering there for about 3 months.  I got a lot more information from him as it was difficult for me to communicate with the staff.  We each took 1 or 2 children at a time to go play.  We’d go on walks, play on the playground, ride the big wheels or go into the mini gymnasium.  One day, we all went on a big walk to the grass area behind the Home for Boys.  Volunteers aren’t allowed to take pictures but I snuck a few in with my phone that day.  All the babies were curious as to what it was.

Every day the babies would greet me at the gate to their playroom with their arms stretched up.  Every day they had to pry them off of me to go to lunch.  (Babies don’t like lunch because they know playtime is over. )  The babies were such a fun treat to be with every day because they wonder and marvel at everything.  All is new to them.  Also, they are just barely learning to speak so it is fun to teach them new words.  Their environment is so bright and colorful with educational games at every turn.  Though they don’t have individual toys, they do have a toy area with tricycles and big wheels.

There is one more group of 1-3 year olds, the babies with HIV/AIDS.  Volunteers aren’t allowed to go with them and neither are the other children.  As babies, they are kept in their own building and their staff takes them out to play separately.  Once these children are old enough, they will be incorporated into the rest of the group, but as babies, they are just too fragile.  Then there is the newborns.  The tiny babies!  Only staff is allowed to go into the nursery.  I would catch the nurses taking the littlest ones out for strolls.  Just adorable! 

I didn’t realize just how much the entire experience had touched me until it was time to say goodbye.  My last day, there were more volunteers than the rest of the week, probably about 8-10.  After we got the kids in and I’d squeezed them all one last time, I spoke with a few of the new volunteers about my experience at Viengping.  I became a bit emotional talking about each of the babies.  Wishing I had more time.  I still think about my little ones every day. Especially what they must have thought the day I didn’t show up for playtime.  It was so much harder leaving them than I ever imagined.  I then walked to the office to talk to the director and she held both my hands as I, through tears, thanked her for letting me volunteer.  Then I cried leaving the grounds and on the bus back into the city.

If I could have changed one thing about my trip, I would have extended my stay in Thailand.  I don’t feel like my work with the children of Viengping is done.  There is so much more I would have liked to have accomplished.  Which means, I’ll probably be headed back there again.  Hopefully with a team.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

What you can do to help: Elephants

30 Nov

You say, well that’s all fine and dandy Brenda, but I will never make it to Thailand to volunteer with elephants, is there any other way to help?  To that I say, of course.  In fact, I’m not entirely sure that going to Thailand and volunteering with elephants is going to save them necessarily.  Not that it doesn’t take an army of volunteers to run a place like the Elephant Nature Park, it does.  Plus, the money that we pay to stay there and the donations they receive from visitors help keep it running and expanding, allowing them to help rescue even more animals.

However, one question that my fellow volunteers and I discussed at length was, what else can be done to save the elephants?  After learning about the history Thailand has with it’s beloved elephant, even being there made us feel helpless.  But aren’t elephants endangered?  Yes.  Don’t the Thai people revere the elephant?  Yes and no.  Elephants (ช้าง) are the national symbol of Thailand.  Their history is long, going back hundreds of years to when they helped save the kingdom in times of war.  Their image used to be emblazoned on the flag (back when it was Siam), on their coins, Buddhist Temples and the king rode upon a white elephant in ceremonies.  They are symbols of victory, wisdom and good luck.  Strong.  Hard-working.  Intelligent and loyal.  They are mighty.  So, what went wrong?

After the logging industry became illegal in Thailand (still legal in neighboring Burma), there was no more work for the elephant.  Not only that, but they unknowingly helped destroy their own natural habitat.  No longer a way for the Thai people to use elephants for profit and no home for the elephants to go back to made for a bad situation for everyone.  Until the country opened up it’s gates to tourists.  Enter jumbo tourism.  People come to Thailand wanting to come in contact with these magnificent creatures and mahouts (elephant trainers) know this very well.

Despite there being a law to protect the elephants in the ‘wild’, domesticated elephants have the same rights as livestock.  Basically meaning that they have NO rights.  One can do anything to a ‘domesticated’ elephant and it’s perfectly legal.  What separates a domestic elephant from a wild elephant?  Nothing.  And what can stop a mahout from going into the wild, killing a mother elephant and stealing her baby for domestic use?  Nothing.  Frustrated yet?  Me too.

It gets worse…

[Disturbing material, be advised.]

There are only a few thousand elephants left in Thailand and the amount in captivity as domestic elephants is staggering.  In the video above you see what is called ‘the training crush‘, where they crush a baby elephant’s spirit in order to domesticate it.  (70% of these babies are poached from the wild.)  These are still-nursing babies.  Put in a tiny wooden cage and tortured with sharp knives, poked with nails in their eyes, ears, feet, beaten mercilessly and kept without food or water for days or weeks.  Some babies don’t survive the crush.  They are continued to be beaten for the rest of their lives.  Every single domesticated elephant in Thailand has gone through ‘the crush‘.

Every single one.

Even though elephants (even babies) could easily injure or kill a human with their incredible strength, they don’t.  They are scared, in many cases alone without other elephant companions and they fear the abuse of the mahout.  Most go blind from being stabbed in the eye so many times.  Many of the elephants at the ENP are at least partially blind due to this.  It leaves them crippled and physically and emotionally scarred.

If you feel helpless, don’t.  The power is in our hands to change this.  Each one of us.  It is us after all that keeps the mahouts, elephant shows (ahem, circuses), camps and farms in business.  Mahouts can make up to 2000 Baht a day with their street begging elephants.  Now outlawed in both Chiang Mai and Bangkok, the major culprit is Phuket with about 400-500 elephants in the hotel and entertainment business.  Elephant experiences in Thailand (and all over the world) can be stopped simply by not going to them.  Many claim to be volunteer experiences like ENP, but most are not.  If it involves riding the elephant, watching it paint, dance, play soccer or do tricks of any kind, don’t do it.  And tell others not to as well.  Not just for elephants in Thailand but for elephants everywhere.

Another thing we can do is write in to guidebooks and tourism journals and tell them not to advertize animal tourism.  Lonely Planet does a pretty good job of steering people away from places of abuse.  We need them all to advise against any kind of animal show.  Trip Advisor needs help with this especially because it is based on customer reviews.  I know this post isn’t about tigers, monkeys, snakes or crocodiles, but they are a part of this too.  Places like Tiger Kingdom (which has STRONG advertizing all over Chiang Mai) are horrible places of animal abuse keeping the animals scared and even sedated.

If you want to help these animals right now, spread the word.  Write in to tourism websites and guidebooks.  This type of activism is what will help save these animals in the long run.

Until all are free.

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

*I must note that the mahouts at the ENP are trained in a different manner.  Kindness and compassion are evident.  The beautiful connection between an elephant and her mahout is clear.  There is love and respect on both sides.  Seeing a mahout create music for his elephant, carve her likeness with the utmost care and detail out of wood and seeing an elephant get silly and play with her mahout brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. 

This is the way it should be.

Volunteer Week 1: The Elephant Nature Park

30 Nov

“Never doubt the power of one person to create positive change in the world.”

I don’t even know where to start with my 7 days volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park except I am now even more determined in my mission to create positive change.  For everyone.   And even more, I know the power to do so is in each of our hands.

If we want to make the world a better place all we have to do is do it.

The week started out on Monday morning 11/14 at the ENP office in Chiang Mai’s old city.  In the office I met some of the other volunteers.  Once we checked in, we were taken about an hour and half north of the city to the sanctuary.  We had a quick orientation of park stuff and met our VCs (Volunteer Coordinators).  Already I had become friends with 5 other amazing girls who were traveling solo.  We bonded quickly and the 6 of us were all magically paired up as roomates.  What luck!

Right away we were off to ele feeding time which was my first time up close and personal with an elephant.  All of us were in awe.  They are magnificent.  And hungry!  After ele feeding time is human feeding time.  Oh boy, it’s buffet style and the food (almost entirely vegan) is so good.  So despite the immense amounts of physical labor I did, I’m pretty sure I still managed to gain weight!  After lunch is ele bathing time, we get buckets and head down to the river, where the elephants pretty much bathe us.  The first afternoon we had a talk with Lek, who is the founder of the park.  She’s an amazing woman, yet still told us that we were the angels for coming to the park and volunteering.  It was an honor to get to hear her speak.  We learned so much about what domesticated elephants go through in Thailand.  It’s horrific.  More on that here…

The first day is a pretty easy one, mostly a lot of education, orientation and getting to know each other.  Day 2 is when it gets real.  Every day we have two labor jobs that last about 2 hours each; morning and afternoon.  Baby ele feeding is at 11am, ele feeding time is 11:30, ele bathing is at 1pm and those never change.  Every morning you check the board to see what your group is doing that day.  The jobs consist of: working in the ele kitchen to prep the food for each elephant, shoveling ele poop, watering the plants (way harder than it sounds…), cutting grass, cutting corn (hardest of all the jobs), planting pineapples (or ‘plating penaples’ as it was written on the board), shoveling sand, dung bagging, fertilizer duty or if you were lucky, ele walk.  Ah, the ele walk where you basically get to take a walk around the grounds, meet the eles and see how the whole thing works.  There is also a vet program you can sign up for where you get to follow the park vets on their medical rounds.

The labor is hard.  There is a lot of shoveling and heavy lifting in the hot sun.  It’s not for the weak or people who don’t like to get dirty.  There are 1 day and overnight options for visitors who just want an elephant experience.  Volunteering is legit hard work.  Luckily, your fellow volunteers, park dogs and VCs make it not only bearable, but fun as well.  Just know that if you’re planning on going to volunteer, be ready to basically be an ele slave.  You prep their food, you feed them, bathe them, clean up after them…  Hard work.  But for as hard as you work, you have even more fun.  With the eles, the other park animals and your new friends.

Some jobs were ‘easier’ than others.  Working in the ele kitchen was probably one of the lighter jobs (if you can call it that) and we always had good music to work to thanks to Chet’s (one of our VCs) obsession with Lady Gaga.  All of the other jobs are just plain hard.  The hardest was cutting corn.  We were taken in a big truck about 45 min away from the park (VC Jack joked that we were going to Burma) to a giant cornfield, where we were given machetes and told to take a row and start cutting.  Once we cleared a large chunk of the field, we carried the heavy bales of corn to the truck.  I injured myself every day.  (I’m klumzy.)  But the corn day we all ended up with cuts and bruises.  Thankfully from the corn stalks and not the machetes…

Other activities during the week included: talks with park staff, educational videos, a visit to a local school, Thai culture and a language lesson.  Some  evenings we even had free.  For my birthday, the ENP threw me a birthday party, complete with elephant cake!  We also went tubing down the river (hijinks galore) and lots of other fun stuff.  There was a bar and a massage parlor in the common area, so it wasn’t all work and no play.  There was a lot of Thai Uno, a lot of Chang and a lot of laughs.  I made the most incredible friends!  Not something I expected, a true bonus.

There were of course the wonderful non-human friends I made too, the animals.  ENP is home to about 35 elephants, many cows, water buffalo, 1 bear and about 100 dogs/puppies.  All rescues and all there to live out the rest of their lives in beautiful harmony.  Elephants are really amazing beings.  Despite all the suffering and torture they have endured in their life at the hands of humans, they still let us take care of them.  They have such complex personalities and emotional lives.  They are extremely intelligent.  Full of grace.  Forgiveness.  We can learn a lot from them.  But they are also very silly, no matter what age they are.  Eles know how to have fun!  Of course, the babies are especially funny and the teenage boys a bit naughty.

Each one of them stole my heart.

So, if you are looking for a volunteer experience that will stay in your heart forever, this is definitely the place for you.  It’s also a no-brainer.  Everything is done for you.  You just show up.  It’s easy if you aren’t quite sure how to go about taking on a big experience doing volunteer work abroad.  Of course, that’s what Love Infinitely Project is for.  This is perfect training ground for my LIP Staff and a great way to begin taking on this kind of work.  If you have any questions about how to get in contact with ENP, sign up for volunteering or how to organize this kind of trip, we can help!  Send us an email at: loveinfinitelyproject@gmail.com

See my photo journal of my stay at the ENP here!

♥∞

~B

  Follow B on Twitter in India: @iamsunshine78

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