Celebrated yearly, the event is significant for Yaowawit’s children because most of their cultural upbringings are rooted in Chinese tradition, which has been practiced in Thailand for centuries. The event began with firecrackers and ended with traditional dances. However, unlike the events celebrated at other places, the one at Yaowawit added educational parts.

The first part was in hospitality lessons. Aside from dressing in Chinese traditional costumes, the children learned how to prepare popular Chinese cakes, called Patongko. The lesson was taught by a Yaowawit’s friend from Kapong. And other lessons were in serving teas and in using chopsticks the right ways. The second part was in Chinese calligraphy. The kids drew best wishes on paper and hung the papers for good luck. The third part was an opera. The kids portrayed a brief story of Justice Bao, who saved the lives of three peasant women.

Yaowawit holds various culturally inspired events like this one over the coming weeks and months in the next school term. If you want to attend one of those, contact us at lodge@yaowawit.org.

LAT (Learn-Aid-Travel) is a variation of CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) programs that BIS customizes for its grade-11 students. This project lets those students interact with their Yaowawit’s friends whose background, culture, and language are different from theirs. It is hoped the experience will make them compassionate global citizens adapted to social, economic, or cultural differences around them.

When 8 students and 2 teachers from BIS arrived at Yaowawit, they quickly got to know Yaowawit’s students through some conversations as Yaowawit was finishing the Chinese New Year event. And the BIS’s teachers, who had been to Yaowawit before, helped with the introduction session and various other activities. Most were tutoring, assisting, and playing educational games with the children in and outside the classrooms along with the farming work in the school gardens, where the BIS group also constructed an equipment storage house. Additionally, the group also took part in Yaowawit’s music show and product sales at local markets.

Although the activities were mostly at Yaowawit, the BIS group also visited Yaowawit’s local partners (two schools and a small business for homemade products) and spent fun times on bamboo rafting, elephant bathing, and popular beaches.

If your school group wants to do such activities at Yaowawit, please contact us at info@yaowawit.org. The activities can be customized to suit your group.

Before the school term is completed (this time at the end of March), the kids go on 2 whole-day trips for sightseeing. The goal is to show the kids places of essential value—be it historical, social, or economical—so that the kids develop appreciation for those places. The first day of the trips was for grades 4, 5, and 6. The second day was for grades 1, 2, and 3. Visiting places outside school occasionally gave the kids plenty of excitement.

Takuapa was the first destination, which included Old Takuapa’s flea market, ancient city walls, and Aum Chinese temple. Then the kids had a brief rest for some soft drinks outside Takuapa at the old iron bridge overlooking rice fields that used to be a tin mining area. Their lunch was on Nang Thong Beach in Khao Lak, and afterward they also took a walk along the streets browsing shops and getting some educational information about businesses in this tourist area. Their next stop was at Tha Sai Temple in Thai Muang. The temple is famous for its unique architecture (made of carved teak woods) and for its by-the-beach location. Thus, the kids got plenty of fun times playing in the sand and the sea for the rest of the afternoon.

The trips were sponsored by the ministry of education. If your organization wants to sponsor such other educational trips, please contact us at info@yaowawit.org.

Eco Voyage brought to Yaowawit another French family group, this time a couple with two young daughters. The daughters seemed to be so happy that they were making friends with our kids as soon as they arrived. Although they did not speak English, they could play with our kids together. As it was on a weekend, our kids were all available for fun games with their new friends.

Aside from those games, they also went to a Sunday local market and, in the afternoon, took a trip to a waterfall together. The cool water in the waterfall pool gave the kids a cheerful time for swimming, splashing, or chasing one another. That late afternoon, the family also took workshops in making Thai dessert and milk-goat soap. That evening, everybody was in the theatre area. The couple joined their kids who had been playing with our kids—chasing one another, laughing, cheering, and dancing—while the music was on. The next day, Monday morning as our kids began their school day, their French friends also tagged along inside the classrooms until noon when the bus driver came to call them for a departure time. The goodbye was always difficult for the kids, but their friends promised to come back again next time.

If your group wants to visit us, contact us at info@yaowawit.org. Activities can be customized to suit your plan.

Twelve schools including Yaowawit sent their athletic teams to the sports stadium in Kapong. Half of the first day was dedicated to the opening ceremony accompanied by various dancing shows and marching bands that students performed. The tournament focused on athletics competitions only, especially running in different distance categories.

However, the students from different schools were mixed and randomly grouped into five teams based on group colors: pink, orange, yellow, green, and violet. This mix-up was meant to create friendship among the students as they had to work in a team for the same goals even though they were not from the same schools. After the teams were formed, they were first tasked with a rope-pulling competition as an ice-breaking game among the students in each team.

Although the sun was really hot this summer, the kids were not discouraged but competed bravely while enjoying the fun of having new friends.