Thailand: Volunteer Care-Work with Children

Thailand: Volunteer Care-Work with Children

Whatever your age, abilities or level of experience you are welcome to join a volunteer Care project in Thailand; whether you are on a gap year - or even a gap month - from further education, or are coming to us during a career break, or even during your retirement. All we ask is that you have energy and enthusiasm and a commitment to seeing the work through. Our local staff will provide you with the very highest level of support throughout your time with us.

Voluntary Childcare Work with Projects Abroad

Many volunteers find that a Care project is one of the most rewarding types of overseas voluntary work they can get involved in. The majority of volunteer care projects in Thailand are in kindergartens with children aged from about 3 to 6 years old. This phase of a child's life and the support they receive at this time is incredibly important, and the positive influence a volunteer can have on a child in their pre-school years will hopefully last them for the rest of their lives.

The kindergartens are located in Krabi Province with most placements in and around the towns of Ao Nang and Krabi, where Projects Abroad Thailand is based. Krabi is a one hour flight south of Bangkok and is located on the beautiful Andaman Sea coast of Thailand, which is a particularly popular destination for diving and rock-climbing.

We also have some care placements located in Phuket, about two and a half hours drive north from Krabi. Here volunteers work in a care centre for young children, aged 2 to 5, who have parents in prison or who come from poor families. We also have a placement in a special needs school for children aged from 6 to 20 who have a variety of disabilities including downs syndrome, autism and deafness. This placement is ideal for anyone with experience of working with disabled children.

Volunteering abroad on a Care Project in Thailand

Please do not imagine Thailand to be your typical poverty stricken third world country. The Thai people are hard working, very intelligent and incredibly friendly, the kindergartens and care centres are well organised and the children are disciplined, although sometimes the institutions may be understaffed.

The main way in which the volunteers can assist in Thai kindergartens is through providing creative and educational activities that will expose the children to and give them a familiarity with the English language. In a country that receives so much income from tourism and where knowledge of English can double your salary, surprisingly few people speak it. Sometimes not even 'English teachers' or their equivalents in kindergartens have any knowledge of the language. From this point of view, your knowledge of English is invaluable. Any activity that you do with the children, whether it is drawing, singing, puppet playing, painting or colouring, will prepare the children better for today's widespread globalisation.

Most Care volunteers will find themselves playing games and singing songs with the children, as well as talking to them naturally in English. While some children won't understand much of what's being said, they definitely pick up from their environment enough to know what you mean! In fact we notice a huge difference in the children's language ability between the kindergartens where we have had volunteers for a year or two, and those with whom we have just started working with more recently. Through having this daily interaction at an early age, you will be building strong foundations for a child's future relationships.

Volunteers take part in a wide variety of activities within the placements and your own ideas for games, songs or new activities will be greatly appreciated. If you require extra resources to help you then we are happy to help; just ask the local Projects Abroad staff.

All of the volunteer Care projects in Thailand are keen to have volunteers with fresh ideas and energy to help the permanent staff. We try to take advantage of any particular skills or talents our volunteers have and match them to the placement where they can have the greatest impact. However, it is important to let the local staff know about your ideas and any extra activities you would like to try out, the Thai staff can sometimes be reluctant to ask you to do too much work, so please show them your enthusiasm and a willingness to get involved. Finally, set yourself achievable goals for your time in Thailand and remember that you are contributing to an ongoing process.

The kindergartens in Thailand have their main holidays during April and the start of May, with a shorter holiday in October. During these times all care volunteers can join care projects in Phuket.

The care projects (apart from the special needs placement) are available for two weeks if you don't have time to join us for a month or more. The projects have been selected by our local colleagues as being suitable for short term volunteering for both the host community and the volunteer. Although you will gain a valuable cultural insight and work intensely within the local community please be aware that you may not be able to make the same impact as someone volunteering for a longer period.