I have just returned from what has turned out to be the 7 most humbling, eye opening and meaningful days of my life. It is difficult for me to translate my emotions and self-growth into words simliar to my other experiences. Looking back at everything I have involved myself in over the past few years, this experience has taken it to the next level by pushing me outside of the protection of UWC or Singapore. This was a raw experience and has tested both my independence and my character. Nonetheless, I want to try and share my journey as best as I can with y’all, here is a culmination of my reflection from throughout the process, from before even leaving Singapore to the night I returned. The reflection I made from throughout the trip were initially voice recordings so excuse me if I go off tangent a bit.
Before the reflections, here is a short video I made of the experience:
Prior Reflection
As a group, we have been preparing for our Laos trip for just over a month now. This trip is completely independent of our school and therefore the entire preparation process was in our hands. Whilst this gave us more freedom, it also meant we had to put in a little more time to make sure we were on top of all the work. Out volunteering experience was coordinated through International Volunteer Head Quarters (IVHQ). We decided to use IVHQ because of its level of experience as-well-as the operating values they promote. Mainly, IVHQ pays a lot of attention on differentiating between true volunteer work and volun-toursim. IVHQ’s tools such as the application process, recommendation letter requirements and online volunteer training all help make sure of volunteering experience is genuine.
There were three programs on offer in Laos, English teaching, construction, and childcare. As a group, we decided to do English teaching as we believed it was the program that best suited our specific skill set and the program that could potentially have the most impact in just 1 week.
Some of the work we have had to complete as a group before the trip itself include completing the application process, booking our flights, organising visas, submitting letters of recommendation and familiarising ourselves with some of the Laotian customs. We are excited to be departing for our expedition this Sunday (22/10/19).
Second Day
We have been in Laos for 2 days now and aside from settling into the new environment, we have already begun our volunteering process. Today we had a 3-hour orientation and preparation session with one of the local staff members. Our orientation consisted of various activities and lessons that introduced us to Laotian culture, traditions, history, and customs. I feel like this aspect of the orientation will be extremely useful because we won’t be as ignorant as we would have otherwise been when we visit the school for the first time tomorrow. We also had a basic Lao lesson, we learnt the basic words such as ‘Hello’, ‘How are you’, ‘My name is’, but we also learned a few phrases specific to the work we will be doing in the school, such as ‘copy this down’, ‘repeat after me’, ‘quiet please’ and ‘very good’.
Aside from this introduction to Laotian culture and language, we also began creating lesson plans for our first few lessons, the staff emphasised that we go in tomorrow very organised and structure to best utilise the time we spend with the class. After everything we have done today, we are all extremely excited to meet the children for the first time but I think I speak for everyone when I say we need a lot of rest as the days are going to be extremely hot and tiring.
Fourth Day
Today is Wednesday and currently, we have completed 2 full days of teaching with 2 more days to go. Honestly, our time with the kids so far has been amazing. Our group of 4 split up into two smaller groups, Jason Teo and I have been assigned to the grade 3 class while my two other friends have been assigned to the grade 4 class. For the kids in my class, this is the first-ever time they have been taught the English language. For the last two days, we have been exclusively focusing on the alphabet. Generally, the lessons would begin with us writing up the alphabet on the chalkboard and all the children copying it down, whilst the children copied the letters we would walk around and provide individual help to correct handwriting errors as well as demonstrate on the board fundamental errors a lot of the children were making. Once the kids were done with this we would then read out each letter and have the class repeat after us. The lessons continued in this sort of fashion with various activities we had planned the day before to help familiarise the children with the alphabet.
At first, our lessons seemed overly basic and it was hard to see the end goal in all our work. However, our instructor, Kham, explained to us that everything we do is part of a larger curriculum designed for an entire year, where we end off, the next group of volunteers will pick up and continue, it just so happened that we came in at the beginning of the academic year in Lao.
One thing that stood out in today’s class was how excited all the kids were to see us again, Kham tells us that we are the youngest ever volunteers in this organization and the kids are enjoying having young teachers. As we biked in to through the school gates today all the children ran to the window of their classes and waved, the energy and enthusiasm of the children radiate and stands out a million times more than the boiling classrooms and scruffy walls. We have 2 more days with the children and I hope we can continue developing a relationship with them, I am excited for what is to come.
Post Reflection
Sadly, the trip is now over. As cheesy as it sounds this week was truly life-changing. All the emotion and tears shed in the last 24 hours is evidence that this was a truly genuine volunteering experience.
Looking back it is hard to pinpoint at what point of the trip I became so attached to the children, staff, and work we were doing there but it truly feels like I am leaving my second family. All four of us teenage boys cried on our last night in Laos, the trip uniquely touched each of us. For me, I cried mainly because I have been so inspired by the children I have been working with that it makes me very emotional to leave. These children have so little and yet they come every day so willing and eager to learn. We ride our bikes down a road that is tainted with potholes, into a school made up of just a single building but walk into a room of students that truly could be from any classroom in the world. Their passion, energy and childhood innocence transcend all the disadvantages life has put on them.
On top of the children, Kham our local director has truly inspired me and left a lasting effect on the way I view the world and success. Kham has dedicated his life to these children, every night he would tutor kids from the village in English, a language he taught himself, to allow them to apply to the one university in Lao. On top of this Kham has dedicated countless amounts of his own time and money to this community. All these heroic acts are not what truly made Kham so inspiring, it is his spirit and nature. He is always laughing, smiling and genuinely having a good time, in all my 17 years I have never met any man as content has Kham. A man who was given so little by this world has made it his life to give as much back as possible.
None of us could except that this was the end of our relationship with the children and Kham, moving forward we have plans to continue working with this community. Our first initiative is to help fund Kham’s independent project to provide all the children at the school with a toothbrush and toothpaste, to promote dental hygiene among the kids. On top of this, we would like to organise another trip to Lao so we can continue with the English program and work again with the children that changed our lives.
