Giving Back

For two weeks in October, I had the privilege of volunteering with a NGO called Daughter’s Rising, located in the mountains of Northern Thailand, about 90 minutes outside of Chiang Mai. Turns out that in “giving back” I gained even more in return…more than I could have imagined!

Daughter’s Rising is an organization that assists in employing, educating and empowering ethnic minority women to help end human trafficking. It’s an amazing organization that is making a difference in Northern Thailand, which is impacted by the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Myanmar. Daughter’s Rising is tightly linked to Chai Lai Orchid – an elephant sanctuary and eco-lodge (view from the lodge is the feature picture) . All profits from the operation of Chai Lai Orchid are used to fund Daughter’s Rising. Hershey peeps, this probably sounds a bit familiar – like how Hershey profits help fund the Milton Hershey School! Check out their websites if you want to learn more about them.

What Did I Do?

The great thing about volunteering with Daughter’s Rising is that I was able to share my skills and business background to help both the Chai Lai Orchid eco-lodge and the Daughter’s Rising organization. Throughout the 2 weeks, I taught English to a few women working in the cafe – focusing on food & menu vocabulary, along with typical phrases needed for waiting on customers. For the management team, I conducted leadership development trainings and did 1 on 1 leadership coaching and mentoring. Using my financial background, I developed a budgeting fundamentals course and gave workshops on financial acumen to Chai Lai staff and locals from the village. Along with another volunteer, we organized activities for the girls staying in the Daughter’s Rising Safe House and we even hosted a morning of activities for all of the children in the local village while they were off on a school break. It was an action packed 2 weeks of incredible engagement with the staff of both organizations and the residents of Mae Sapok.

Where Did I Live?

During my volunteering stint, I stayed at a newly constructed guest house in the local Karen village of Mae Sapok. The Karen people are the largest ethnic minority in Thailand, speaking their own unique language, which is different from Thai. So some of my interactions with the villagers (like my financial acumen workshop) needed to be translated into the local language. The owner of the guest house was so incredibly hospitable and gracious. I was the first volunteer to complete a stay in her guesthouse and she (Pe Day) made me a scarf as a thank you. She was new to selfies and I couldn’t communicate in Karen to move in closer – so the picture below is the best I could do 😃

Elephants?

It is so hard to capture a two week experience like this in a simple blog post – the work itself, the incredibly beautiful scenery and of course the people. But what I didn’t touch on is the fact that Chai Lai Orchid is known for its elephant sanctuary – so next post…I’ll make it all about the elephants 😃