This year, 67 students received scholarships; they all attend different schools in Andaman region and each student receives between 6.000 and 15.000 baths (150/375 euros) per year to help purchase essential stationary items. This can be additional reading books, dictionaries or other school equipment they may need. This really reduces the burden on the family to find extra money to help put their children through education. Thank you for your continued support.

posted by Andaman Discoveries @ 2:52 PM | Permalink | 437 Comments

After arriving in the mega city of Bangkok I could not wait to be back in the village of Kuraburi again. This lovely little town created a second home for me from the day I walked in the Andaman Discoveries office last year. This year I am back for one Month to write a report on Andaman Discoveries for the university of NHTV in Breda.

When I arrived in the office, the new and familiar faces gave me a feeling of happiness. Kuraburi has changed only a little in the eight months since my last visit and it was not difficult for me to find my place here again.

After a few days my friend from Portugal, Susana, arrived in Thailand to volunteer with Andaman Discoveries, the same project as she had done last year. Through rain and storms we started our mission to arrive in Kuraburi. Finally arriving through the storms we settled in and caught up with all our old friends. The next day Susana started her volunteer project at the Junior school in Kuraburi and I started on my field research.

One week passed and I really looked forward to a day of teaching together with Susana. I squeezed in the fully loaded school bus arrived and at the school with lots of excited and eager children and it was great to play with the children before the classes started. On this day we were teaching classes 2, 4 and 5, we taught the children about body-parts through drawings, games and songs. The younger children had more difficulty picking up English words, but had great fun in trying and laughing at our double act teaching style and the drawing is so much more fun :D, we all loved this.

So today I am back at my laptop, working on my assignment and enjoying the memories from the school day, Susana has two more days to teach before we are off to Ranong for some hot spring relaxation and waterfall excursions.

Thank you for the wonderful times Andaman Discoveries!

Cheers Nicole

posted by Andaman Discoveries @ 10:32 AM | Permalink | 78 Comments

In May the community-based tourism groups fromeach of the villages comprising the N-ACT network met on Koh Pratong for their meeting. This meeting welcomed guest village Lan Ka Roo from Khao Sok, Surat Thani. While waiting for all members to arrive a friendly conversation began on the reason for the different Thai names of surrounding Khao Sok areas like Khao Pra Hak “Broken knife Hill”, Lan Ka Roo “Lizard stuck at hole” and Khao Mah Ngan “Turn up Dog Hill”. The Thai spirit of creative imagination never gets old!

As the meeting got underway representative from the communities had an information exchange on how to set up a homestay, the roles of guides and hosting foreign guests. Host group, Ban Lion, introduced their homestay program and highlighted activities they offer guests. Members engaged in discussions on pricing calculations for developing and updated homestay programs with the costs increases they incur. The CBT group from Koh Kho Khao presented on their program to offer and give his suggestions to the network. The Village Leader from Tapae Yoi gave an introduction for his group and discussed future plans for CBT development in his village. Chamni from Plenprai Sri Nakha discussed some challenges his group were facing, and acknowledged that communities can face problems from both internal and external sources. He also noted that he was very proud that the groups at the meeting did not focus only on money but recognized that well developed CBT programs will help bring awareness to the group and further success in the future.

To conclude the meeting, a pertinent question from AD Intern Jennifer to the network asked “What did the members gain from the meeting?” One member responded that it helped them to change past activities and learn new ideas to generate income for their communities. Hem from Ban Talae Nok replied that he was happy that everyone was able to exchange their work and consult each other to improve their community groups. He concluded that community-based tourism is to be approached one step at a time and not to expect the rapid growth of a tour company. Now that is sustainable minded tourism!

posted by Andaman Discoveries @ 5:05 PM | Permalink | 367 Comments

Khun Root, the director of the orphanage, was overwhelmed with the generosity shown by Kellie, and is warmed by the kindness of visitors that come to work with and learn about his project.

Kellie left the home with a parting thought; she realizes the importance of e-learning for children and on return to her native Australia is going to do a fundraising campaign to gather old laptops and computers to donate to the home; everyone at the project is so excited that they soon may be able to have the use of computers in their everyday life.

posted by Andaman Discoveries @ 4:57 PM | Permalink | 114 Comments