You’ve heard from me about the background on the Sanuk My Saturday English teaching project and I was excited to announce expanding to a challenging new classroom this past February. This week, as I’m preparing to spend a few weeks in the US, you’ll hear Chris’s perspective on the project. Below we’ve combined her thoughts with a slideshow of beautiful photos. The pictures were taken by renown travel photographer Gavin Gough who spent a Saturday with us. Enjoy them both.

Our volunteers keep asking me the same questions: “Why do you do this?” and “Where do you see this project going?” And each time, I have the same difficulty answering.

Without getting into a great philosophical debate about the nature of giving, let me address the first question as simply as I can. I volunteer my time because I like it. When I was younger, I volunteered quite a bit, but fell out it for a few years. I was always too busy with school or work, too hung-over the next day, or just too lazy. I had become too complacent with the carefree life around me in well-to-do America. However, traveling, especially in third world countries, can really present the world in a different way, not to mention bring out a person’s true character. I’d like to think that living in Thailand has brought out some of my better sides.

When I moved to Bangkok, it was initially about getting away from the Western world, and experiencing something new and exotic. I did what a lot of people do and got a teaching gig and for my first year in wild and crazy BKK, I let the nightlife steal me away. It was only when I stopped to reassess my life here (“What am I doing?” “Where am I going?”) that I realized I was unhappy with it. And I knew instantly what I wanted to do; I wanted to give something back, something meaningful, to people that need it. Enter Dwight, and In Search of Sanuk, and almost a year later, here we are, with two locations for Sanuk My Saturday and lots of really cool kids to hang around.

So again, why am I doing this? Well, why not? I have the time. I have the desire. And for me, it just makes sense to take a little time and give it to people that need it. It makes me happy and it makes them happy. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

As for the future of the project, well, here’s how I see it. Sanuk My Saturday is an English program. And while fluency would be a great thing to achieve, it is not realistic. What is realistic is giving children with bad home lives or lack of opportunities something positive. Give them a place to hang out that’s safe; give them encouragement; boost their social skills; let them use their brains in a way that is different from regular school; increase their self-esteem; and most of all, let them have fun and be kids! And while these goals aren’t necessarily quantifiable, I have seen the changes in the Pinklao kids firsthand. They have gone from shy and scared of foreigners to outgoing, smiling children.

Sometimes, when I secretly fantasize about having lots of funding, I envision a social center for them. A building that is strictly theirs, a place they can go to learn, to read books (ahhh! a library!), to do art projects, to play games, and to interact. Of course, by this point, we would have dedicated volunteers that come every week and spend a morning, or an afternoon. Perhaps mentorship roles could be worked out with our Thai volunteers and the kids, on a one-on-one basis.

But for now we go and have fun. Sanuk.

-Chris