Project Outreach
What exactly is Project Outreach? Simply put: it’s a project to reach out and get people thinking globally. This webpage is a resource for you to put my ideas into practice. I’ll be posting information here on (roughly) a monthly basis…so check back often and get involved!
First off, I’d like to say a huge “THANKS!” to everyone who opened their wallets at MYC and donated money to Project Outreach’s Operation Christmas. I’m very happy to say that we met our fundraising goal…a total of 100,000 yen was raised for the Baan Dada and Baan Unrak children’s homes in Thailand. Half was then sent to each home with volunteers who travelled there over the Christmas holiday. Here are their stories…
Baan Unrak
By Kevin Chen, Baan Unrak trip coordinator
This Christmas 16 volunteers from 7 different countries participated in the annual Baan Unrak volunteering trip in Sangklaburi, Thailand, as part of the many volunteering trips organized by GO M.A.D. organization every year. We were in Sangklaburi from Dec 20 until Dec 27, and for many of us, it was the most memorable Christmas we’ve ever had. Majority of the children at the Baan Unrak children’s home are from Myanmar, as the town of Sangklaburi is merely 20km away from the border. Many people crosses over the border (mountains) into Thailand, and children are often abandoned by their parents as a result of lack of economic support, or the parents may have died due to various reasons including the lack of access to health care system, leading to the number of children in need to grow.
Baan Unrak organization began in 1991 by an Italian woman, Didi Devamala who was volunteering in Sangklaburi on an agricultural project. Now, almost 20 years later, Baan Unrak cares for approximately 150 children, 50 single mothers with their children, and created a fully accredited primary school that began in 2005. The single mothers receive training in weaving, which allows them to weave products such as clothing, bags, and accessories. Woven goods are then sold through Baan Unrak shops in the town of Sangklaburi and through the Internet. Part of the sales money goes to the single mothers, which allow them to make a saving, and the rest goes to Baan Unrak to help finance the organization.
When the volunteers went to Baan Unrak this Christmas, we spend the mornings teaching children from kindergarten up to grade 6 at Baan Unrak primary school. After lunch, we would head to the children’s home to help with various projects around the home. For example, we painted and posted signs, along with placing garbage cans around the children’s home to remind children to not litter. We also took part in packing Christmas presents for the kids (each kid received a bag of goodies for Christmas, some of which were second hand but still in fairly good condition), decorating the home for the Christmas party, and made up a skit for the party as well.
This year, the volunteers were able to raise about 600,000yen in total through Christmas card sales and donation money we received from various people and groups. We were able to raise more money than the Baan Unrak group in 2008 even though we had one less participant this time around. On behalf of the 2009 Baan Unrak JET volunteers I would like to express our greatest gratitude to the HAJET community for your support. Your support and donation made a difference for the kids of Baan Unrak. You gave them a reason to believe that despite the hardship they have endured, somewhere out there are people who care a great deal about them. You gave them hope that they too can have a bright future ahead of them.
“Hope, at the end of the day, connects us all, no matter how different we are.”
- Marketa Irglova
Baan Dada
By Justin Genziano, Baan Dada volunteer
Baan Dada Children’s Home, in Western Thailand about 20 km from the Burmese border, is home to around 60 children, many of whom are refugees from across the border. The home is run by two “Dada’s,” or “brothers,” affectionately named Dada One and Dada Two, who oversee all the daily logistics from picking up the children at school to pushing the citizenship paperwork so the children can go to school. Although often referred to as an orphanage, only about 9 of the children are actually orphans. The rest of them have family, but most have left their families in the Thai mountains or Burma to come to the home. While many of the children have enough sad stories to fill several lifetimes, their happy and smiling faces would never give hint at it. Their main concerns of the day were which stick would go best in the play fort and which puppy they were going to smother in love (often disguised in a series of tail-pullings and poking)…pretty typical.
Four of us from Hokkaido (Alistair Shelley-Kutchan, Callie Sorensen-Sapporo, Giselle Gonzalez-Nayoro, and Justin Genziano-Tanno) left our frozen wasteland for the warmer climate promised in Thailand. But rather than immediately hitting the famed beaches and islands, we made a week-long trip out west to Sangklaburi—not-so-much the tourist destination, but surprisingly one of the most beautiful and unspoiled areas of Thailand. We went with the JET volunteer organization GoMad, which consisted of four other ALTs from down south (a larger group of about 20 JETs went to another, larger home, Baan Unrak). As we arrived at Baan Dada, we were greeted by a cavalcade of children and two golden retrievers, a bit of an unexpected surprise when you’re in the middle of the Thai jungle. We were tackled by their affection and soon each of us had two or three additional appendages bearing a strong resemblance to children.
While there, we were left to help in any way we deemed fit. The boys took to the hard manual labor and helped to dig gravel for a cement mix. We extended a cement courtyard by about 40 square meters. (By the by, that’s a lot of digging and hauling and hoeing…in about 31 degree weather. We’re quite the studs, and have the traps and delts to prove it.) The ladies had equally exhausting work directly with the children. They worked on making Christmas decorations, organized miniature English lessons, helped write pen pal letters, and took turns churning ice cream (whew!). Our big undertaking was organizing the events of Christmas day. We arranged half a day of games and activities for the younger children, including a very rousing game of pin the nose on Rudolph. We all pitched in to make dinner that night, which was to be spaghetti, pizza, apple cake, and mango ice cream. I’m proud to say that I made the (amazingly delicious) sauce for the spaghetti…from scratch…for 80 people…without any onions or garlic. Oh, and did I mention that we were in the middle of the Thai jungle?
In addition to the help we were able to offer by our presence, we were able to conjure up a significant amount of money to donate to the home. Along with Project Outreach’s donation of 5 万 (a big thanks to you all who donated), between nine of us, we were able to fundraise over $5,000 (US) for the home. With that money, the home was able to pay off longstanding debts with the hardware stores and clothing suppliers (for school uniforms) it regularly uses in town, and help fund their vaccination program. We even went with them to make the payments. Won’t lie–it felt pretty good to see exactly where the money goes.
Being there for scantly a week is hardly enough time to get to know each of the kids and make a significant impact on their lives. After all, they’ve got people walking in and out of their lives every couple of days. The biggest impact is left with those that have volunteered, and that impact is best shared. As we boarded our minivan, we stopped for photo-ops with the cute kids and exchanged big toothy grins for good-byes. I know that they probably won’t remember me and will cling on to the next volunteer much like they do with every volunteer. And likewise for me as I won’t remember which one was Mala-oo versus Mala-ee. But again, it’s the impact on me and what I do with it that counts. So here I am, telling you, “It was remarkable.”
Monthly Spotlight
Spotlight on… showing some love
On January 12th, 2010, a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the impoverished island nation of Haiti causing catastrophic damage and massive fatalities.
Please, show Haiti some love. There are hundreds of relief organizations accepting donations all over the world, pick one and give whatever you can afford. Even if you can’t give much, give anyway. Each little bit makes a difference (our Operation Christmas fundraising gives proof to that).
So, here’s a list of some websites you can visit to get more information on the earthquake and what you can do to help.
Support Disaster Relief in Haiti (Google)
Haiti Relief (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Haiti Earthquake Relief- How You Can Help (Huffington Post)
And here are some links straight to relief organization pages…
Red Cross International
CARE
Doctors Without Borders
International Development and Relief Foundation
Oxfam International
Save the Children International
UNICEF
World Vision
Please donate. It’s almost Valentine’s Day…let’s show Haiti some love!
Useful Stuff
Water Conservation
Water Conservation Tips, Facts and Resources
Japan specific water information
How many gallons of water does it take to make…?
Save Water Australia
Water Footprint Network
Energy
Energy facts, games and activities
Japan specific energy information
How much water does it take to make electricity?
More to come later!
Volunteering
Habitat for Humanity International
Smile Kids Japan
Go Make A Difference
Baan Unrak
Baan Dada
Contact Us
Have an awesome idea? Want to get involved? Got some hate mail you want to send my way? E-mail me at outreach.hajet [at] gmail.com !
