EIL Intercultural Learning

Ciara Slattery, a student in social science from UCC in Cork, volunteered for 4 weeks in a a centre for single mother with her friend Naomi Meany:

For my volunteer placement I spent four weeks volunteering in Wildflower Home located outside of Chiang Mai city in Northern Thailand. Wildflower home is a residential centre for unemployed tribal pregnant women and single mothers. I loved every minute working here as the women and children were very welcoming and friendly and the day was very varied and busy. I arrived at 9am and spent the morning in the day-care centre with eight very active and energetic children and the afternoons teaching English to some of the mothers and helping in the garden until 4pm. There was much to do throughout the day and the work was certainly challenging at times, especially in relation to effectively communicating with Thai toddlers! However, after being given some help to learn some very basic Thai, we spent many enjoyable mornings doing dance, arts and crafts and other activities. Some of the older children also enjoyed teaching us various Thai words!

My afternoon was spent teaching English which was a little daunting at first but which became the highlight of my day very quickly. It was wonderful to see how well the women progressed and became more confident speaking English. I also spent some time helping in the garden, where the women grow vegetables. There were also various construction projects in progress at the time so I assisted with these, which ranged from carrying bamboo to helping to fix a leaking roof. There was a volunteer co-ordinator who was available to talk with at any time and who provided excellent support and advice. Although there were certainly times whilst volunteering which were frustrating or emotionally difficult especially with regards to some of the harsh backgrounds which many of the residents had come from, seeing the importance of the work done by Wildflower Home has taught me the importance of the work of NGOs. However, I have also learnt much from the women and children themselves as a result of their enthusiasm and compassion, and I very much hope to return to Wildflower Home sometime in the future. My time in Thailand was truly an eye-opening experience and one which I believe will be very influential in my life in the future.