THE PROJECT 👭

We kick started the day with tree planting. We were each given a lemon tree to plant with some of the young Thai Guides and we got lovely and muddy!

Back inside to meet and greet the 40 girls who had come along for the day, the girls we had met in the Hill Tribe village gave a traditional performance wearing similar items to the ones we had witnessed being mades 2 days previous. Throughout the morning, many of us had the opportunity to join in and try on these clothes and attempt (and somewhat fail(!)) to recreate these beautiful dances.

The girls ran some activies for us all including: making sweet sticky rice packages which were either steamed or grilled; creating aromatic flowers out of plant leaves; and having a go at some of the embroidery.

Next, we took the reins! We thought it would be apt to show the girls where we're from to give them an idea of where we are in relation to them. We coloured in maps of the British Isles showing North East England and also had world maps where they could see how far away Thailand and England really are. We made miniature Union Flags and also Horse Guards cut outs too for them to take away.

We then broke for lunch and started the First Aid activities. The girls rotated around the four stations we had created which were:

-Tooth Brushing and Handwashing (El, Abbi and Maisy)

-Recovery Position and Shock (Anna, Beth and Hannah)

-CPR (Louise, Maisie and Grace)

-Bandages and Slings (Florence, Charlotte and Louisa)

At first the language barrier was difficult, but through many actions and a little bit of translation help, everything went really well! Particularly for the tooth brushing activity, it was great to be able to provide the girls with advice (and toothbrushes!) as the majority had never seen one before in their lives. Many found it funny, many found it strange, but all found it useful and hopefully will put this into practice in life at home.

After this we started to make friendship bracelets which the girls were able to take home to finish. Which led onto our final activity, that revolved around Sex Education and we ran a fun game (including sweets!) that both explained the importance of safe sex and how HIV can be spread. 

The grande finale included Abbi, Maisie, Lou and Lou doing their Senior Section promise, whilst the rest of us remade ours at the same time. The day was concluded by a round of Thai and English Taps (the song we sing at the end of a guide meeting).

Buenos noches from Anna, El and Beth, back in Chiang Mai 🌙