Klong Toh lem Academy Foundation
Volunteering Activities
What We Need
AIMS of the PROJECT
1- To preserve the mangrove forest and the environment
2- To support and be part of Kok Payom learning community (to preserve their community values and life style)
3- To build a good relationship between volunteers and local people
4- To learn about local cultures and wisdom
WORK AND ACTIVITIES
1. Revitalizing some area of the mangrove forest by pruning the small trees branches and allowing them enough place to grow.
2. Renovating/adjusting surrounding at KlongTohLem Academy and the Islamic Education Center of the village
3. Organizing activities with kids especially on Sundays at KlongTohLem Academy
4. Learning the local life of this fisherman’s village, Kok Payom
Other activities, possibly if time allows, cultivating seedlings in the nursery, planting trees, agriculture visiting villagers’ homes, helping on village matters, etc.
**Please bear in mind that the proposed activities above are something that we and the host project have agreed on about 6 months before the camp takes place. We will try to keep the plan fit but it may have some changes. We will send you an update about 1 month before the camp begins.
REQUIREMENTS
The volunteers should be ready to stay in a remote area, to adapt to the local conditions with only basic facilities.Very few local people are able to speak in English. Volunteers should be able to handle spontaneous working environment and constant changes in the plans. The mentality and way of thinking is very different from the western world.There will have often activities with the children. To have responsibility for you, the kids and full involvement in community matters is a must. For the 2 weeks, you will be leaded by a DaLaa member/staff who will help to coordinate the project.
The villagers of Kok Payom are Muslim so there must be no pork nor alcohol products brought to the village.
DALAA organization
We are officially recognized and known as “International Volunteers for Social Development Association (DaLaa)”. Our office is situated close to Hatyai city in South Thailand. Our main aim is to contribute to long lasting social development. Our secondary aims are support, preserving and friendship. This is achieved through projects and activities that create opportunities where volunteers and local people can work live and have fun together.
When & Who
What we Provide
Volunteers will sleepat the village meeting place (also the pier) on the river side. There is a hut with 3 rooms and a big meeting area with a roof where we can put more tents. There will be simple mats, pillow and mosquito net. You will need to bring your sleeping bag and a small mattress if you want to be more comfortable. There are basic toilets, showers and a kitchen. The villagers will help the volunteers to cook. Local people eat rice (or noodles) 3 times a day with side dishes like curries, omelettes, local leaves and vegetables. Volunteers will be welcome to cook their own food using the ingredients available there. (No oven, only a gas and woks or pans).
HOST FAMILY: 1 or 2 night(s), volunteers will be offered an opportunity to stay over with the locals at their houses. The schedule and details will be explained during the work camp.
Our Fees
The fee is fixed to 8,000 Baht per person for the 2 weeks.The fee will be used on one part for living expenses (gas, water, electricity, food, transport) and materials used in projects/activities and for the other part to support financially our organization. Volunteers’ fee is our only income.
**Volunteers should bring their fee payment in cash the first day they arrive. We prefer the Thai currency Not Euro so please exchange it before. In case saving it on international credit card, you should make sure with your bank if your card really works with any Thai ATM machine.
**Participants are responsible for their own travel and all personal expenses during the free time.
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Additional Info about Us
Klong Toh Lem Academy Foundation is the community foundation to create the society for lifelong learning.
we are aiming to
1. To support the local formal school and education management.
2. To support and organize the non formal education for local youth and adult.
3. To create the community informal education (local learning center)
4. To support the local community base organization.
HISTORY and REASONS OF THE PROJECT
Kok Payom, with a population of about 600, is located 10kilometers away from the town of Langu in Satun Province. The village is only few km from the sea and linked to it through a large river/canal: the water is salty and there is a strong tide. Most families own a boat and go fishing everyday at the river or at the sea. There are also rubber plantations and rice fields. It is a very peaceful location surrounded by an area of mangrove forest. This village is about 100 years old.
Until late 1980’s, villagers were working for a company (government concessions) to make coal from the rich wood of the mangrove forest. They cut almost all of it.Then there was the law to definitively stop these concessions and to forbid cutting the rich wood all over Thailand. [This was the start of national parks. But 80 % of the tropical forests of Thailand were already down to exportation...and locals were forbid to cut trees for their own need, even, in many cases people living in the limits of the new called national parks have been forced to leave their houses]. When Kok Payom people realized the fishes and crabs were disappearing from the canal, some villagers made the link and decided to replant and take care of the mangrove. And indeed, most of the life of the canal and the whole ocean is starting in between the roots of the mangrove (and the corals too).Nowadays, many areas have been replanted around the village, and even if the mangrove has only 2 or 3 trees species and most trees are of the same height, the life is growing under, in between the roots that can deal with the tides and salty water. The villagers want to continue to take care of the mangrove and we would like to support them with hand, head and heart power.
Villagers want also to take care of the social life of the community. The social values of respecting and supporting each other in their traditional way of life are difficult to maintain nowadays. Like everywhere in the world, villagers facemore and more challenges. The community has recognized some of these problems and is working hard to find solutions to the environmental and social issues. They greatly welcome visitors, activists and volunteers who can contribute to these efforts. One of DaLaa staff, Sakkarin moved to the village in 2010 and started KlongTohLem Academy with the villagers, an alternative school on the other side of the canal, in the middle of mangrove forest where children can learn about environment, local values, wisdoms, and language in a very natural method of learning. The informal class at this alternative school is conducted every Sunday. There are approximately 20-25 children, aged between 7-12 attending. So far, the main school building and other necessary structures have been constructed from collaboration of both villagers and volunteers. However, there is still some work that needs to be done. The villagers are also building a new mosque for a year already and it is still not finished. There is an Islamic Education center inside where kids participate every week. This helps to k