Often doing something heroic comes with it’s share of obstacles. This is the case when it comes to volunteering in Bangkok, where it’s usually easier to remain over entertained and under challenged. Information about opportunities is hard to find, with tips and guidelines even more scarce. While there is a real need, busy organizations can’t answer the flurry of email inquiries or they don’t have staff who can communicate in English. Many businesses are offering foreigners chances to volunteer for high fees. This is unappealing and unaffordable for many. To offer an alternative to this, I am now coordinating a project to have volunteers teach in a nearby slum (in addition to sending people to the Bangkok Refugee Center). Also, I’m teaming up with Lindy from Real Volunteer Thailand to freely share information on organizations, guidelines, and ways to contribute. For example, Lindy recently told me about a special place she visited for people suffering with AIDS. Here’s what she said about Baan Gerda:

A recent visit to an AIDS village in Lopburi was nothing short of incredible. Baan Gerda was founded in 2001 by Karl and Thasanee Morsback as a hospice for HIV and AIDS orphans to give them comfort in their last days, but with the introduction of new anti-virals it has morphed into a community where children and foster parents live independently in a loving and secure environment. Their motto is that they give these children a life worth living and that was particularly evident when visiting the village. These children are not only living but they are truly thriving. It is a testament to the resilience and determination they have to live

If you have a special skill that you’d like to share with the kids you can contact them to arrange a visit. In the past they have had professional photographers who did a one day workshop with the older children to teach them basic photography and music composer Bruce Gaston who teaches them various musical skills. Share your knowledge with these bright and enthusiastic children.

In you’d like to find out more about their organization or make a donation to help keep the village up and running you can visit their site Baan Gerda.

“As a leader it is your responsibility to put your followers in the best possible position to succeed.” ~Colin Powell

I want to share my visit to a small makeshift school west of Bangkok. The school has been setup to teach the children of mill workers from Burma who can’t afford to send their kids to public schools. These Burmese migrants have come to Bangkok for various reasons including the promise of economic opportunity, bonded servitude, persecution by the Burmese government, and as trafficking victims.

After spending some time with students at the overcrowded school, I visited the home of one child who hasn’t been attending. I found out he stays home all day while his mother who has AIDS is working in the mill. His dad was already dead from the disease. He has an older sister, 15, also away working in the mill and a younger brother who I had just met at the school. Unlike the active younger brother, he was in particularly poor health because he had contracted TB in addition to the AIDS from his parents. Furthermore, he had already lost the ability to open his right eye and the functionality in one of his hands due to his poor health.

Heartbreaking, right? Well this is normally where someone jumps out in a green suit and screams, “Donate Now!” I know what you’re thinking because I was expecting the same thing while I sat on the floor in the tiny room meant to house a whole family. However, I sat almost unnoticed while the boy focused his good eye on the Burmese school master. She asked about the rest of the family, his medicine, his ability to walk and finally made her way around to why I had come. She asked him, “Is there anything you want to eat? There are some guests with us today and perhaps you can request something from them.” He smiled a toothy grin and the teachers laughed and explained he asked for durian. Durian is a favorite among the Burmese, but if you didn’t grow up eating it then the name of this pungent fruit probably strikes fear in your heart (or atleast nostrils). Of all the things he could ask for, I thought. Then I laughed and breathed a self-absorbed sigh of relief because I didn’t have to take him to a Sizzler in Bangkok.

“Does he have any toys? What does he want?” I asked.

“A car.”

“What color?” I inquired further.

“A red car.”

“Ok.”

The end. (You can see pictures here).

There’s no plea here for donations here. Instead, I’m begging you to consider your exposure and response to issues hurting your community. For some of us poverty exists only in infomercials. So how do you respond when you really do have opportunities to help people? Are you afraid of what you have to lose? Is there anything too small to help someone else? Anything too big? While you may not be inspired to start a NGO or pick up and move to a village in a developing nation—I’m hoping that if given the chance, you’d do anything to make sure one sick little boy gets his durian and red car.

~Dwight