This first set is pictures from the morning session in a community along the railroad tracks not far from central Bangkok. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Sometimes we meet outside right along the tracks, other morning we meet in the mosque within the community. As you can see there’s very little room to teach. The space for play is even smaller. Often places where the children end up playing are dangerous, like the area below with the plank of nails sticking up.

The last few pictures are from both communities and I selected these to highlight the volunteers who have shared their Saturday with us. All of the volunteers pictured have joined us teaching on several occasions and are crucial in helping us build relationships with the communities.

We’ve had really good volunteer turn out. Thanks for your help spreading the word and don’t worry if you still want to see recent pictures of our smiling students, visit us on facebook.

~Dwight

PS – My hands are usually too full to take any photos. All the photo credit goes to volunteers like Dew Napattaloong, Arsanchai Sukkuea, and Grace Breedlove.

People always send me questions about volunteering abroad. In addition to telling them about what we’re doing in Bangkok, I stress two points: 1) Be Prepared by educating yourself about what you’re getting into and 2) Get Connected with people who have been to the places you’re going or are doing what you want to do. That’s why I’ve been so enthused to share The Underground Guide to International Volunteering. I’ve spent a while going through it and it touches all topics I get quizzed on so often.

Why should I? Where should I go? Should I pay? Why is it expensive? Where does the money go? Which companies would you recommend? Do I need a visa?

Now those answers are in one organized place.

“The aim for this guide is to answer your questions, instill you with confidence, and make you excited to head off on a volunteering project abroad.” -Kirsty

My favorite part of the guide? The interviews. The guide is packed full of people from all over who have participated in giving their time volunteering. I’m featured in the section on building your own volunteer experience, but it’s encouraging to hear about what others were doing in places so distant and interesting. They offer insightful looks into the challenges and the rewards of what you may encounter when you set out on your adventure.

I found the guide packed full of helpful content and it’s obvious the amount of hard work Kirsty did to put the book together. I mentioned a few weeks ago that part of Kirsty’s goal is to use the e-guide to fundraise for Hands on Disaster Response and to help fund her post-earthquake return to volunteering in devastated Haiti. You can get a copy of the guide with a donation of $14. So if you’re curious about volunteering or know someone who is, I highly recommend it and the money goes right back into inspiring the powerful stories you’ll read about.

Get more on this topic. Listen in this Sunday 5pm EST to hear more about my experiences volunteering abroad. I’ll be interviewed by Megan Schiebe of Global Humanitarian Discussions. If you don’t catch it live you can still follow the link to hear the recording later.

~Dwight

1. Build strong relationships - This is the most important part of what we’re doing. Why? Because it allows us to assess the specific needs of the families. For example, we found out one of our students not only has trouble paying some of her school fees, but sometimes doesn’t have money for food. So we’re talking about providing scholarships for students in this situation and brainstorming what we can do about larger issues such as alcoholism, gambling and drug abuse that have lead to these circumstances.

2. Fuse learning with fun - This is not a replacement for school, which is free in Thailand. Our role is to reinforce what’s happening at school and to step in where problems like not having money for uniforms or supplies could derail their education. We do that by having a good time while exposing the kids to English, often one on one with an English speaking volunteer. A few hours on a Saturday may not seem like much, unless you consider that most of these children’s parents have never had a meaningful encounter with a foreigner, let alone interact for over an hour. Furthermore, in government schools, they are not likely to have a chance to study English until high school.  If nothing else, I hope all the photo updates I’ve posted of the last few weeks have convinced you we’re enjoying ourselves, but there have been other signs of success also. We’ve seen shy kids initiate activities and watched as over the past seven months the entire group has completely dropped any inhibitions they may have had about foreigners.

3. Engage change makers – This is where the volunteering comes in. We’re making it easy for Bangkok residents and sojourners alike become familiar with these communities and encouraging them to get involved. We plan the teaching, so volunteers mainly need to show up and engage the kids. This is not a hard sell, as other volunteering opportunities in Bangkok are scarce and the kids can be very convincing. Since the start of the program we have hosted about fifty or more volunteers and I’m hoping to get more locals active in the program this year. I want the volunteers to really see that they can make a difference and begin to take more ownership of the program.

Tomorrow will be a challenging day, as we begin to earn the trust of this new community. Not to mention adjusting to teaching new students when a freight train comes through your classroom regularly. However, we are optimistic about growing and constantly improving this program. I appreciate your constructive criticism and continued support. We will definitely be adding to this list of goals as the year goes on.

-Dwight

-Dwight

SANUK MY SATURDAY!

[In General] There are a few large slums in Bangkok, but what is more common in this big city is a very mixed housing structure with smaller patches of unconnected slums all over the city. This describes the community we teach in. It’s on the way to plush Bangkok suburbs and hidden behind a large temple, less than a kilometer from the area’s largest shopping mall. Almost every Saturday we meet a group of 25-40 kids. Their ages range, but the majority of them are 4-11 (but as you’ll spot in some of the photos, holding babies may also be on a volunteer’s to-do list).

My outlook on teaching is not too different from my outlook on life. If I was honest we should probably call this time “fun with foreigners” instead of English class. The biggest goal is not English fluency, but building relationships with the kids and having them associate fun with learning. For an hour class, I typically plan to teach about fifteen minutes. The rest of the time? Well, I will let you either come volunteer with us, or examine the incriminating video below. Teaching also varies because Sanuk My Saturday has a unique problem. Quite often, we have too many volunteers! If you can imagine, one Saturday we had 25 kids and TEN teachers. That’ll change your lesson plan a little, right? I want to make sure that volunteers who come get connected and feel that they have a role, so now we’re looking at a few other small slums or homeless communities around Bangkok where we can spread Sanuk My Saturday.

Can you save the world teaching English? I have an answer, but I won’t debate with you. Just know that the plan is to use this program to build bonds in these communities. That access is invaluable because in the future when we have more funding we can expand programming, using Sanuk My Saturday as the launch pad for micro-loans, urban gardens, or whatever we plan to implement.

[Lessons Learned] This program would be impossible without partnership with Thai friends who wanted to do something special in this community. You can’t just show up anywhere and plan to teach English and help people. Now that I want to expand the program, I’m going to have to be careful to make sure I spend a lot of time building the same connections with the community. I have to also tell you about new team member Chris, who joined the program a few months ago by telling me I didn’t have enough help and taking the reigns. Because of her initiative and dedication, she’s now the go to gal for spending your Saturday in Bangkok doing something worthwhile.

[A Special Treat] We have a jambalaya-like mix of good for you here from the last few months. This was put together by another In Search of Sanuk team member, Cody Mckibben. More than being the guy who designed this great looking site, Cody’s also one of those people who will jump up and booty shake or do whatever it takes to put smiles on kid’s faces. You’ll see a little bit of that in this video of our campaign in search of sanuk from Cody’s recent blog, My Secret Recipe for 100% Guaranteed Happiness. Enjoy.

“Dream Big. Work Smart. Start Local.”

-Dwight

Here’s a special thank you from Baan Dada orphanage in Sangklaburi, Thailand.

To fundraise in Bangkok we threw a big party with over three hundred attendees. This was the work of over thirty volunteers. Thanks to Mark and Emily from Digital Democracy who made the following video so you could see what the party was like:

The result of our twitter-festival?

A $600 donation to Baan Dada and $600 to Baan Unrak orphanages.

$380 for carbon offsetting.

That’s a total $1572 for good.

THANK YOU!

There are more cool photos from the party and the orphanages available in the ISOS facebook group.

In case you missed the first part of this post, Couch Surfing With Hope, Introducing Tita Silver, GK is an organization in the Philippines that is building houses with hope. They help the poorest of the poor in the Philippines by giving people not only a living structure, but a new, hopeful perspective on life. I have been to only a fraction of Gawad Kalinga (GK) villages, but the Iriga Character Village in the Bicol region of the Philippines was an astonishing example of how hope is being infused into even the hardest to reach communities.

I caught a 1.5 hour bus from Naga City to the sleepy and ultra humid bus terminal in Iriga City. A local volunteer with GK accidentally, but essentially bumped into me at the terminal and was heading in the same direction towards the village and let me tag along.

The GK Character village is located roughly 20 minutes (7 km) from the Iriga City proper (rather difficult to find if you are a newbie). It is accessible by riding the Filipino version of a tuk-tuk, known as the tricycle. This monstrosity is a motorcycle with a makeshift pedicab welded together with something like a bike tire making up the third wheel. In Bicol they fit 10-12 riders, a miracle in mechanics which I have yet to understand.

I was greeted by smiling people and happy children, willing to show me around their village even if they did not feel comfortable speaking English or talking at all. One of the boys from the village took the liberty to find an umbrella and personally carried it above my head, shielding me from the rainy season as we walked up the hill. At the top, we inhaled the view of the village, the flowers, and the dominating Mt. Iriga in the background.

As with couch surfing in Manila’s Payatas, GK Jack and Jill, and GK Libmanan (all GK village sites), the folks at GK Character village were hospitable, giving, and genuinely cared for my concerns.

A homeowner, Tita Norma (who was always cheerful, far right), graciously provided me with meals and cooked a glorious array of fresh Bicolano garden produced vegetables in fresh coconut milk and rice. For breakfast I was treated to a dazzling mix of various wonderful tasting Filipino breakfast dishes such as fried noodles with vinegar, fried rice, egg, and Filipino pancake.

Just like in Bangkok where little things make a difference, and in Bali with Dwight at the house of life, I was inspired again by the graciousness of people who have very little, but are happy and willing to share.

In the words of one of my favorite philosophers Alain de Botton,

“If is is true that love is a pursuit in others of qualities we lack in ourselves, then in our love of someone from another country, one ambition may be to weld ourselves more closely to values missing from our own culture.”

Being immersed with locals in the Philippines or anywhere gives us valuable exposure to different ways of life. I was inspired by moments spent visiting, joking around (Filipinos love to joke and laugh), listening to stories, and showing appreciation for what others do to uplift others.

Lets be thankful for what we have, grateful for what we can do, and content to weld ourselves to people with giving spirits. As with the makeshift pedicap, this model will carry us further on the road to happiness than we might expect. There is no better place to learn this than in a GK village.

~Migration Mark

Our jeepney crackled through the streets amidst the hustle and bustle of vendors and commuters. The stink of garbage was in the air and the streets and shops were far from what we would consider clean.

“If you can smell the garbage, you are entering Payatas…”

I was on a weekend trip in the Metro Manila area of Payatas (known as one of the main dump sites in Metro Manila) in Quezon City, joining a group of students from Ateneo de Manila University on their immersion program with Gawad Kalinga (GK), an organization building houses with hope. We were divided into groups and I was assigned to stay with Tita “Auntie” Silver’s family in their home built by the GK community. The house was simple but clean, small but sufficient, and the family beamed warmth, kindness and hospitality. In the village I volunteered my services by helping transport sand and cement from one location to another. I had the opportunity to mingle with many people and discuss how much their lives had changed since they had real homes. I was most impressed by what “Auntie,” my host mom, had to say about the impact GK had made in her life.

Introducing Tita Silver:

She is from the island of Mindanao in the south of the Philippines. Tita Silver has a husband and nine children. Her husband is a foreman construction worker and originally moved to Manila to look for work. He eventually found work abroad, doing construction in places like UAE and Vietnam. At the time of my visit Tita Silver’s husband was building a hotel on the touristy island of Boracay.

Migration Mark: How was life in Molave Payatas when you first moved from here from Mindanao in 1992, prior to the Gawad Kalinga village?

Tita Silver: Life was difficult, the area here was not comfortable, with drunkards and drug dealers all over. All the houses were makeshift shanties, made from garbage. At night it was dark and criminals could easily hide from police in dark alleys and piles of junk. Most of the men had no jobs and would sit around and drink. When it would rain everything would get flooded, there would be mud up to our knees, and I wouldn’t even be able to leave. Sometimes there was no water and the drinking water was contaminated. My husband had a job but on payday (every 2 weeks) he would get drunk, spending too much of the family money. Finances would become very tight on the 10th or 11th day, waiting for the next pay check and often the whole family would go hungry for a day.

Migration Mark: How were you introduced to Gawad Kalinga?

Tita Silver: I heard about GK through a friend and approached a GK official, filled out surveys and applications. Then someone checked on us and eventually my family was approved. We were accepted in the GK program. The Tita Silver families GK village house was finished in October 2008.

Migration Mark: How has life changed since the GK village in Payatas has been built?

Tita Silver: GK has provided many families with comfortable living conditions and really improved the conditions of the area. The garbage can still be smelt, but we have fresh water, clean homes, and we are happy. There are much fewer drunkards in the area and it is safe at night because we have become a community and know each other. Now, most of the men work and have steady jobs to provide for their families. GK has improved our lives and given us hope.

“The garbage can still be smelt, but we have fresh water, clean homes, and we are happy.”

Tita Silver is on her feet and thankful for the things they have. She is the head of the GK Payatas homeowners association and her family also runs a small sari-sari (a tiny convenience store) out of a room connected to their home. Most importantly, her children are in are going to school, working and attending local universities. I was privileged to stay with Tita Silver. She graciously gave up the only air mattress in the house for me to rest comfortably, as well as fed me with fantastic meals. When I got really dirty from construction work, one of her sons even let me borrow a pair of bright pink shorts!

~Migration Mark

Nice shorts Mark! Please visit Gawad Kalinga and find out how you can contribute to their life changing work. This Friday, we’ll share another guest post from Migration Mark‘s adventures couch surfing in a GK village in the countryside. Leave your feedback below.

What are the reasons you decide to give? Is it because of what we expect in return? Do we give because someone has told us giving is a great thing to do? I’m getting ready to take fourteen volunteers for a big weekend at the Chonburi Children’s Center. We will spend Saturday at the center and take the kids to the beach on Sunday. The beach will be a special treat since the kids get to go about once a year. When I visited the center before, we not only had a great time, but we were able to help the orphanage by compiling profiles for all the children. This trip I will challenge everyone to give in spite of everything. I’m hoping we’ll all really forget the tasks undone and troubles we’ve left behind in the city and focus on really giving love to these kids.

I need to pack! But before I go, I want to leave you with something to chew on:

What is your style of giving? Do you give from the bottom of your hurt? OR do you give from the bottom of your heart? Is one better than the other?

While we’re doing art projects, teaching English, and running around on the beach, I’ll be wondering about the best ways to give with you. I look forward to hearing from you and writing more on this topic.

~Dwight

You don’t have to be using social media to benefit from these tips. They can be applied to almost any social meeting, whether you’re managing events for a nonprofit or want to have a birthday where you do something to give back.

Small Stones, Big Ripples: Start with your friends and organize people around your plan to save the world. Refine your plan and make it realistic. Get the word out about what you’re doing and connect with other groups in your area. Soon you’ll find you have a small community. Choose a cause you’re passionate about and consider the variety of ways to contribute with your event. You may want to read my interview with Tom Potisit as an example of a small project making big ripples.

Transparency Required: Be ready to show people results. Transparency must be cultivated before, during, and after your event. Keep in mind, building integrity is about more than where the money goes. You should spend time connecting people attending your fundraiser with chances to participate in your cause. I love the feeling the day after the event when I have an inbox full of comments and emails to answer about how people can begin volunteering. As people see the benefits of what you’re doing they’ll be both more interested and more likely to give.

Plan Well, Care Less: Plan well and commit to your cause. When I decided something should be done to help urban refugees, I was determined to be a part of the solution whether or not my event was a success. I was able to care less in many situations because my commitment to change actually freed me from some of the anxieties of event organizing. Don’t let negativity or tight pockets shoot down your goals. When potential sponsors don’t answer your emails or return your phone calls, the need for change still exists. Social change DOES NOT require big sponsors or celebrities. Use me as proof. In Search of Sanuk has accomplished a great deal through our community and we haven’t hosted a sponsored event yet. How much more will you be able accomplish with all your connections?

The Law of Harry & Hurry: What I call the “Law of Harry and Hurry” is an extension of the above idea. No one wants a guilt trip about going to see Harry Potter instead of showing up at your charity event. People are busy. You can’t expect them to match your level of commitment, so don’t make them feel bad about their Harry or their hurry. Relax. Tell them not to worry if they can’t make it and make sure they know how they can get involved in other ways. You could always ask in a loud voice, “What do you have against ORPHANS?!” But I’m not sure how effective that would be. Show you’re committed with or without them. When they recognize this, they’ll be even more eager to work with you. In Bangkok we’re determined to make a difference, come take part.

Passion Wanted: Attract passionate people to your event. When we host the Bangkok Tweetup, I’m always amazed at the how diverse the crowd can be. They love travel, they’re business owners, and an array of other interesting pursuits. Remember, when all else fails cold beer and cool people wins you more high quality members than any amount of themes, raffles, or door prizes. Spend less time printing fancy name tags and more time engaging people about your cause and encouraging them to meet the other great people who came.

I hope these suggestions have been helpful. We’re volunteering almost every weekend and we’re hosting Twestival Bangkok in September. We will keep providing outlets for change to happen here. Let me know what you’re doing where you are!

“Dream big, work smart, start local.”

~Dwight