My Volunteer Trip to Thailand

Hey everyone!
First off, thank you so much for taking the time to look at my page, I am so excited to start making steps toward this trip. I will be graduating in August from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and have made the decision that I would like to teach English as a Second Language overseas. Originally, I had made plans to study abroad this semester in New Zealand, but after a few meetings with my academic advisor, he informed me that I wouldn't be able to make that happen with the classes I had left in my degree. I thought that my hopes of traveling overseas were going to be put off for a while, until I was walking through our student union one day and saw some advertising for a program called GIVE Volunteers. I stopped in for one of their informational sessions and instantly fell in love with their Southeast Asian volunteer abroad program. With this program, I will be flying into Chiang Mai in northern Thailand where I will meet the 20-30 other volunteers who I will be working and enjoying my time with on what will become a month long adventure of volunteering and learning in Thailand and Laos.

This is truly a once in a lifetime experience that will ultimately set me on the path of a life full of traveling, serving, and teaching. I am overwhelmingly excited for the mere possibility of taking this life changing trip, but there is no way I can make it happen without your help.

The Finances:
The month-long trip itself costs $3,200 which includes lodging, accomodations, and meals for an entire month, excursion activities, National Park fees, domestic ground and air transportation within the host countries and the flight from Thailand to Laos, the payment of GIVE staff members and guides who will ensure our safety while abroad, and a GIVE t-shirt.

The only thing not included in this price is my flight to Thailand and back which will cost me anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 depending on when I can book it. 

This is a program I am so insanely inspired by and something that will provide me with the resources I need to start a career which will ultimately fulfill me for years to come. I would be so overwhelmingly grateful for any kind of help you can provide me.

More information:
Below I have included some information about what I will be doing on a day to day basis. I absolutely cannot wait for all of these adventures to come!

Thailand:

Laos:


My Day by Day Trip:
We will spend our first night learning a little bit about Thai culture (and not to mention eating some delicious authentic Thai food, my favorite!) until ultimately settling down to rest up for the remainder of our amazing trip. The next day we will make our way into the jungles of Chiang Dao National Park to what will be our home for the next week, the Karen hill-tribe village of Wang Phra. I will spend this week fully immersed in the culture and lifestyle of the Karen people, spending my days teaching English to the local children and becoming acquainted with the exact sort of lifestyle I would like to make a career out of.  On Day 9, we will build our own bamboo raft which will carry us down the Mae Tang River through the tropical jungles to our next home, the Lahu tribal village of Pong Ngan, home to the Elephant Reintroduciton Project. I will spend 3 days here working with the mahouts (elephant whisperers) as we track the elephants through the jungle, farm fresh fruits and sugarcane for them to eat, collect native scrubbing plants for bathing the elephants, and perform basic health checks. After each long day of work, we will spend the night around a bonfire put on by the Lahu people to celebrate the longevity we are helping to create for these elephants. After our work is done in Pong Ngan, we will raft our way back to Chiang Mai, stopping once more for a 50 meter bungy jump to end our Thailand experience.

The next day, we will be flown from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Laos where we will spend the night getting to know the city. The next morning we will make our way to the Asiatic Black Bear Rescue Center for our first day of volunteering in Laos. We will spend the day getting to know the bears who call the Rescue Center home, landscaping and providing the bears with more space to roam or constructing climbing apparatuses for them to climb and play. After work, we will walk to the Kuang Si Waterfall, a 200 foot cascade feeding into a series of smaller falls and bright blue pools. After relaxing in the beautiful scenery of the falls, we will make our way to the Buddhist monastery where we will be fully immersed, learning and practicing meditation with the local monks. The next morning, we will take part in the world famous Alms Ceremony, a Buddhist tradition of waking up before dawn to provide the monks with fresh food for the day as they walk up and down the streets asking for the only food they will eat that day. After this, we will tour the UXO Museum where we will learn all about the effects of the Vietnam War on the people of Laos until we get on a boat cruise that will take us to our home for the next week, Sop Chem, a riverside village surrounded by limestone cliffs. Again, I will spend my days in the village teaching the children of Sop Chem the English language and my nights relaxing and soaking in everything that the culture of Laos has to offer whether it be yoga and meditation on the beach, helping the locals prepare their rice paddies, or playing sports with the local children. My last two days will be spent exploring the great outdoors. First, a 5 kilometer kayaking journey down the Nam Ou River with a stop for a short hike to Tad Mok Waterfall. On the last day, we will trek through the dense jungle and bamboo forest before reaching the peak of Nonkiaw viewpoint as we stand above the clouds. Finally, we will drive back to Luang Prabang for one final night of celebration before flying home.

Each and every time I think about the possibility of embarking on this amazing adventure, I get more and more excited. I would be so thankful if you could help me make this a reality.

Thank you so much!
Kaitlyn 

If you care to learn more about this amazing opportunity, feel free to contact me or take a look at the trip website located at:  http://www.givevolunteers.org/se-asia-package.html

There is also a tab under "About" which has a long list of FAQs that may be able to assist you in any questions you may have. 

Again, thank you so much!