A Huge Mess of Things

by Nhaca Le · 2009-07-30 05:06:00 UTC
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Trying to serve a community that has never been touched before by foreign hands is indefinitely challenging. Let’s explore some facts.

The volunteers: this is the first time I have ever ventured into the realm of global service, and my co-volunteer, Deven, has never left the United States before this trip. We are both rising sophomores at Georgetown University and know very little about how to assess a foreign community’s need.

The organization: Learning Enterprises is a completely student-run NGO that before LE Thailand only taught English to the impoverished communities that it sent volunteers to. This idea of serving the community beyond teaching English is completely new to LE Thailand this year. This also happens to be the first year that LE branched into Thailand. Because LE is completely student-run and somewhat of a baby-organization (it was founded in 1992 but didn’t become the NGO that it is today until a few years ago), it is somewhat rough around the edges and its volunteers are given pretty much free reign to do whatever they wish with very little guidance or instruction.

The community: The village of Sanamklee has never been host to foreign do-gooders in recent history. It is very small, very rural, and very intimate. Because it is so intimate, and Buddhism and Thai culture is all about the community, it seems as though very few people go to bed hungry. The Sanamklee School itself supplies free lunch for all of its students. Because the village is so rural, the only real professional jobs in the immediate area are teaching and nursing. When asked by us volunteers what the community needs, community members scratch their heads and feebly answer “more English?” as if it’s a question, uncertain.

Our naiveté coupled with LE’s lack of guidance and Sanamklee’s uncertainty about its need has led to a huge mess of things in terms of my grand global service scheme/romance. Dreams have definitely been shattered and now I’m left staring at the pieces trying to decipher what went wrong, what can be made better next year, and what I need to take responsibility for. These pieces will be explored in detail in future posts.

Nhaca Le
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