After a fast journey, we arrived at Pinkaew school. We were first welcomed by all the teachers and had a quick lunch. We were shown the garden area needed improving and started with what appeared to be a straightforward task of moving soil which ended up being quite a challenge physically. Mariha exclaimed, “Wow that was hard manual labour!”. 

After an hour of hard work, we needed a rest from the sun, so we went to set up the reading corner in the library. The children were extremely excited and really liked the new cushions. While Kenny was fixing up posters, Jericho volunteered reading to the children which they thoroughly enjoyed. Jericho was surprised of the English skills of some of the children. Afterwards, we went to say hello to all the children at the school and gave them all a postcard which was prepared by the RBIS secondary students. They really enjoyed them with a lot of the messages being translated by Kenny and Poom to which they were touched by our heartfelt messages. 

After that, we had an enjoyable lunch to prepare for the next 4 hours of hard work on the garden. We were also lucky to be joined by the extremely helpful students of the school. Awei couldn’t believe how strong and fit the children were who made the work look easy. While we were doing this, Poom decided to make us a delicious evening meal so he set off to prepare a well-deserved meal. We were pleasantly surprised  how good the food was and gave it an 11/10.                                                                                                                                                                                                Written by Jericho (Y.12)

After a wonderful breakfast, we split into two groups, the first group was Hafsa, Jericho, and Awei. They completed the garden by adding more sand and planting the shrubs. After a day and a half of hard work, we were pleased to see the final outcome. Then, Poom, Kenny, Mariha and Ms Sherian visited all the classrooms to teach some English and Art lessons. Poom said "I enjoyed letting them play English games, and was so surprised by how many of them understood basic English". Mariha said "The children were really excited about the artwork and created some stunning pieces."  

The next task was mixing concrete so we could actually use bricks to repair the steps. This is the first time we've ever laid bricks and it was an enjoyable experience. After lunch, we visited the Pinkaew temple, next to the school, where we met the head monk, who was really interested in what we were doing. He said that next time we visit Pinkaew School again, we can sleep in the temple. We were also very thankful for his blessings and wishes of good luck. 

After visiting the temple, Hafsa and Awei went to the library to sort out the books we gave to the school, which was really time consuming. It also gave them the chance to see how excited the children were with the changes made in the library. Then, the other group began work on garden 2 with the help from the primary students from year 4 and 5. Everyone worked so hard that we were able to complete garden 2 during the afternoon. 

Hafsa commented "I was so happy to see how excited the children were with all the activities that we arranged for day 2".                                              Written by Kenny (Y13)

After our breakfast of KFC and porridge, we started a new venture of repairing, preparing and painting pillars. We used a scraper, Jericho was an expert, surprisingly, and  offered advice to Awei who wanted to quit at first but persevered and became the star of the day.   Next up was priming the pillars for painting, and Mariha managed to get more primer on her clothes and shoes than on the pillar itself. Mariha exclaimed “I am a child!”. 

“It’s hard to paint, because there are some holes in the pillars. It was the first time I used a roller and it was difficult at the start but at the end I mastered it.” Kenny said. The task took a long time but we were able to paint each pillar before a well-deserved lunch.  After lunch we completed the task by painting the bottom third of the pillars with a beautiful blue. In contrast, painting metal was different from painting on concrete. Painting the metal gates and railings was time consuming as there were many nooks which we couldn’t reach.       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         We wrapped up just before dinner and after a hard days work of painting, we enjoyed our meal of Thai green curry cooked once again by our wonderful chef , Poom. To round off the day, we went to a whole seller to buy snacks for the kids which will be given out on Friday.

“It’s been a colourful day” quoted Jericho                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Written by Mariha Yr.12

Today was different from all the other days. Ms. Duangduan Klipmalai the director of Pinkaew school is also the director of Wat Chaiyaphum school and she invited us to attend the teacher day (Wai Kru) ceremony. It was an eye opening experience; the school band started the proceedings and they were heart stopping especially the bass drum. The dancing was elegant and graceful like they were floating in the clouds. Every child from early years to secondary 3 and alumni, 330 children, went on the stage to wai and pay respect to the teachers. "It was fascinating to see how much the students respect the teachers" Kenny thought. 

After the ceremony we were asked to teach primary 4 and secondary 1 and 2. Kenny and Jericho decided to go to the secondary classes. They felt that it was an unforgettable experience as it took them time to make the students open up. Once they started responding the lesson was flowing well. Poom, Mariha and Hafsa were teaching the primary classes. The children were very quiet at first but after Hafsa pulled out some candy and said "read a sentence in English by yourself and you will get some candy." they started to participate. Poom said "it was an enjoyable and fun experience". 

After that, we returned to Pinkaew school for lunch. After lunch Kenny went to two classes and taught them basic EMS which contain scene safety, patient assessment, activating the 1669 system. The children were glued to every word that Kenny said and really enjoy the practical CPR and choking exercises. Moreover, they can additionally know how to treat life-threatening bleeding and how to move patients to safety. 

Everyone else had the pleasure of painting again and it was a time consuming task because the pillars and railings had intricate designs. Unfortunately, we did not have time to lay the tiles on the steps and landing so the school said that they will do it for us in a few days time. 

In the evening we packed the snack bags for the children which will be given out to them tomorrow. We are really looking forward to giving the children something for their participation and everything we have done this week. We are proud to say that we have continued recycling during our trip; every bottle, top and carton has been placed in a recycling bin at the school.   Hafsa said it was a fulfilling end to a long day.                                  Written by Poom Year 12

                                                                                       The Prostheses Foundation of H.R.H. The Princess Mother

The Prostheses Foundation was founded by H.R.H. Srinagarindra, The Princess Mother who was concerned about the suffering of the amputees especially those who also suffer poverty, and those without access to prosthesis services. They produce artificial legs for those who can’t afford to buy their own. 

We been collecting for some time now and this month we will send our cans and ring pulls by post to the collection point in Chiang Mai.

 Lets now begin  our collection of cans and ring pulls again and support,  'The Prostheses Foundation of H.R.H. The Princess Mother'