Unity in Diversity

rejoice together - the feast of St. Angela in Cambodia

2011-01-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

For celebration of the Feast of St. Angela, we shared our joy to the children.

renew our vows

He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. (mk.1.31)

2011-01-15T00:58:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago, Sr. Cecile came to the Rattamondut village where nearby Thailand. This area had landmines before. So far the area has not yet electricity and water pipe. In the very beginning, Sr. Cecile helped them develop their agriculture, gave then ex, and built a road and drawbridge. Recently she work for education, she support 19 schools around this aria. She offer them economic support such as build classrooms, textbooks, teacher’s uniform and dessert which attracting the children come to study, gives US$10 a month for each teacher (teachers employed by government, the first six month no pay, after teaching 6 months they can get US$ 25, one year later US$50, then they will have formal salary US$60), Sr. Cecile said: the biggest challenge is the lack of quality in education. Mary teachers have low formation and very low motivation due to meager salary. She tries to strengthen the quality of education by forming teacher training groups in the schools.

Contributions from Australia

The centre of the Rehabilitation named “Peace Welcome Center for the Sick “runs by Sr. Thu. There are many patients come to seek treatment. Most of them are poor. So they do not need to pay. Sr. Thu also host 12 orphans., there are four primary students need to go to school, a two year old child, the other seven learn rehabilitation from Sr. Thu, of which two are deaf, one is blind.

Come and See

2010-12-29T02:46:00.000-08:00

Bishop Kike and Fr. Totet came to community

Christmas Celebration in the Community

Toto tricycle

The Salesian Sisters

The Sewing Skills Center for Girls.

The Providence of Portieux Sisters (PP)

The Metta Karuna Centre,

the implemented Programs are Education, Community Development

and Disabled Children. Sr . Cecile is the person in charge.

Msgr.Kike's house

Arrupe Centre: Welcome Centre for People with A Disability

Arrupe Centre

Yiey Chee Hospital: Welcome Centre for the Sick People,

Woman health Service Centre

Paul Tep Im Centre: High School and University Student Boarding Centre

The Parish of Battambang

Christmas Celebration on 25th Dec.

Tahen Village

The Kingdom of God is among you

2010-12-26T02:28:00.000-08:00

The Church of Battambang which we ride to every day. The Catholic cathedral in Battambang City was built in 1881. When the Kingdom of Cambodia was all destroyed by war with the Thai, the Catholic communities almost disappeared. In 1850 the Holy See established the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh and Battambang. In 1975 the church was once again under Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime, completely destroyed everything and killed the Cambodian priests and all religious, except the handful of sisters who happened to be outside of the country. A great number of Cambodian Catholics lost their lives during the years of the genocide. All but three churches were completely destroyed. In 1990 the Catholic communities were given permission to worship freely in Cambodia. Battambang in 2000 began a new church. Concerted efforts of all the faithful contributed to building the church for the faithful including the disabled, the poor, women and the sick.

This is a very strong sign of building the kingdom of God.

The new church is not along the main road nor is it your typical church building.

It was built in an area where there are a lot of trees.

Before the Sunday Mass there are several bible study groups that meet.

The custom here is to take off your slippers or shoes before going into the church.

Sometimes there are so many slippers and shoes that we cannot find our pairs.

During the Sunday mass there are about 300 participants and about two thirds are youths.

The readers will go up to the priest for the blessing before reading.

The Offertory

Sometimes they have a traditional dance during the consecration of the mass.

When they have this dance there is a very special position of kneeling during the consecration.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-12-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Dear friends

This is our first time to celebrate the Christmas in Cambodia. It will be lots of activities for Christmas celebration in the Church start from 23th Dec...We will join the activities as one Community. We hope you have a chance to come here with us. Merry Christmas and May 2011 is a year filled with grace and blessings for you!

Much love and prayers,

Ursulines of Cambodia

The world is rich.

2010-11-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

Cambodian Dance

Learning gratitude, thankful to learn

2010-11-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

Cambodian wedding


This is what we are now learning the language - Khmer.

Have you seen this kind of flower?

Our first guest Sr. Emma

These tanks are for keeping water from the rainy season.

To work for the youth's future-our future

2010-11-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

The meeting of the 11th Annual Gathering of the Prefecture was held on the 3rd to the 4th Nov. in Siem Reap Parish. The participants were Sisters, Priests, Volunteers and Representatives from Parishes and NGO's in the Prefecture. It was good to see all participants come to share with each other their experiences. We were happy to have a chance to meet Sisters of other Congregations in this diocese. We listened to the initial reports of what is happening in line with the Pastoral Plan, The vision of the Plan is to journey with wisdom and compassion with children and the young, especially the poorest of the poor, and to work tirelessly for their education and their formation. To work for their future-our future. This vision spans the development of the young in 4 integral aspects: values formation, education, faith formation and leadership development.

Missionary of Charity Sister

Salesian Sister

Sister of Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary


Sisters of Christian Doctrine, Korea

Celebration on the feast of St.Ursula in Cambodia

2010-10-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Bishop Kike Figaredo, Fr.Totet Bananyal, the secretary of the Bishop Miss Theara and six foreigner volunteers came to celebrate with us on the Feast of St.Ursula. Mass was held at 5:30 pm, followed by dinner. Sr.Jantana cooked Thai Tom Yam, Sr.Paulina cooked Indonesia Rice cooked in coconut milk and mixed with eggs and Huaying cooked vegetables. Bishop Kike asked us to share about St. Ursula and St. Angela. Fr. Totet who is Vicar General of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang and parish priest of Battambang, he said it is a good day and happy moment, especially, the people gather together are one family around the table of God! These volunteers included with; five Spanish volunteers, an Australian volunteer, (he was 18 years old, after graduating from high school who decided to do something different, then she got the support from her parents to come to service here for a year). After guests left, we took a break and reflect on all the right places today.

The good things of the land

2010-10-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. ps27
The new inter-provincial Ursuline community was opened in Battambang, Cambodia. Eucharistic Celebration and House Blessing held on Wednesday 29^th September 2010 At 6.00 p.m. The feast of the Archangels .

Cambodians are deep-rooted family values. They spend two weeks of time each year in memory of their ancestors. During this two weeks, Buddhist and Islamic chanting through the microphone to send to the whole city at 3:50 every morning. The last day of the ceremony is a big public festival called Pchum Ben... It is very important in Cambodian culture aspect. This is a time for reunion and commemoration, but also an expression of love and gratitude to the ancestors of the time feeling. Church also followed the Custom, but in different ways. Before the Mass, priest read the list of ancestors which given by the faithful. The priest emphasized that this is the day of "Peace of Gathering", each family brought food to the church, dedicated to the altar, and we also offer some cake. After Mass, families are gathered and share they food to all.

In order to attend Mass at 6:15 am , we bought three second-hand bicycles, it cost of 37 U.S. dollars.each. The city does not have traffic lights, zebra crossing, yellow lines or red lines. Ride is free but you must look around. In the beginning we took the Translator machine with Cambodian and the English to go shopping. For understanding this environment, we walk to the temple and the park to see the people here.

We study the Khmer languages; I really admire the Cambodian people to retain the culture for two thousand years. The teacher said Khmer is similar to Thai so Jantana is expected a month to learn. Some Khmer letters sound very special, whether the Roman alphabet, Traditional Mandarin phonetic, Taiwanese phonetic pronunciation all cannot find the note. The culture of the world is really rich.

When someone asks where we live, we do not know about, then we asked our Khmer teacher. This city have not the name of the street here, saying only that region, such as what is near the school and so on. The results also the teacher cannot tell where we live. The city only three blocks downtown named "First Street", "half a street “of second Street and Third Street. Although road without street names, no numbers. Seem to have no problem.

We visited Chinese School, which is only one Chinese school in this province; President Chen Xiuhua devoted her life to education. Since the Taiwan NGO quit, there is no foreign aid, tuition fees of students owed more. There is an international school here, specifically to teach English. Some students go to Khmer school at 7:00pm to 11:00pm then go to Chinese school until 4pm after Chinese school; they go to English school to study English. .The Government welcomes the private sector up schools. University is very popular here. The school have only on the four-hours class a day, parents on their concerns of their young people about the use of free time, so if someone can do the school day will be popular.

Visit the Apostolic of Battambang

2010-10-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Providence Sister Cecile takes care of 70 students, these students come from the countryside, if you do not give them the opportunity to study in the city, and they may be tricked into other countries. Sr. Cecile use to go to the countryside for two days a week.

Arrupe Centre: providing training for jobs and livelihoods. The handicrafts centre is a shop where people with a disability receive training and employment. Women who may not have been able to earn a living due to the stigma of having a physical disability are given the chance to use their own handicraft skills to earn a living wage. There is a group of 3 people to the country to find such a child every day from Monday to Friday.

Ta Hen, the parish community of Ta Hen is extremely active in its pastoral activities. The youth are organized into 10 ecclesial groups, with the members of each group journeying together to deepen their faith, learning catechism, serving the poor in their community, animating the liturgy and leading the daily prayers.

Once a year, the parish of Ta Hen holds a summer camp for the youth. Volunteers from different countries spend one month assisting the older students of the community organize activities and games.

Promoting Cambodian art and culture: Traditional dance helps the youth reconnect with their cultural past, and strengthens the mutual trust and communication between the traditional community and the new generations. Dancing has also helped to enrich the experience of liturgy in Ta Hen.

Ta Hen operates a sewing, weaving and embroidery program, teaching people how to produce the native Kroma and other handicrafts.

The land and the community laboring together ensure food for everybody. The rice harvests of the Church fulfill the community’s needs and are shared as well with the poor and most needy.

Tep Im Student Centre: Tep Im hosts, educates and supports young people (boys and girls). In their studies of secondary education and university. The Centre gives priority to those who belong to families in greatest need and those who come from places where there is still no access to secondary education. It is an appropriate way to help the Cambodian families in need is to offer the possibilities to their sons and daughters to have an education and this way find a profession, be a economic support to the family and contribute to the development of the country.

Reprinted from ”Apostolic Prefect of Battmbang” July 2010
http://www.battambang.net/

VISIT IN CAMBODIA

2009-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

From Bangkok, Thailand, I took the bus for about four hours to the north-west border of Thailand/Cambodia where Poipet is. It is possible to apply for the entry visa right there but one has to remember to apply for the reentry visa to Thailand at the same time, otherwise the traveler has to stay longer in Cambodia to get one.

The first stop was to visit Yamei in Poipet. She has been working for one of Taiwan’s Field Relief Agencies. She is responsible for the vocational center and the children’s home and orphanage. All the courses are free of charge and include sewing, weaving, making bags and straw mats and learning computer skills. Yamei thinks there is more need for professional training and education at this time.

The second stop was traveling about two hours in a taxi to Battambang. It is the second biggest city in Cambodia and the area around it is also Cambodia’s biggest rice producer. The whole area shows Cambodia’s aptitude for simplicity of life and therefore lack of excess manifested in the deep happiness and joy of many of the people. There are certainly not enough native priests so Cambodia needs other countries to send them. As a result, everywhere is very international. In Cambodia, priests, Sisters and lay people all together participate in the apostolic work in the Church . The object of service is according to individuals’ needs . Nowadays, mutual help and cooperation are the sign of hope.

July 16th to 21st, 2009

Joy in the Simple Life

2009-08-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

This summer vacation saw the third time I have taken the Wenzao International Service Learning Association (WISLA) group to Northern Thailand, for a month’s culture and education program.

This time the seven volunteers were not afraid of the A(H1N1) flu and just went for service and experience. They returned to the village where they had already served for the past two years. When we arrived at the school, it was different from the past because our names were called in the welcome ceremony. The students asked why such and such a teacher hadn’t come this time. The new volunteers had the pleasant feeling of being remembered. We also cried out with joy the names of the Principal, the Dean and the teachers. Even some of the Trustees were there. All the same, no matter how familiar we thought we were with the situation we still had to discuss with them what they wanted. After a whole morning’s discussion, it was clear that teachers’ training was what they needed. We understood each other and had an agreement with each other from the beginning about teaching pronunciation. Now they wanted some poetry and verse although they were very much aware of the deficiencies in their pronunciation and comprehension and felt their Yunnan accent was too strong. What surprised me about their request for books was that the teachers hope we can send them books about personal formation. Again and again they want us to teach them how to behave and be polite. Politeness in Thailand is a very important part of education. Respect for elders is essential, bowing, kneeling and so on. I don’t what we can give to them in this regard.

As in previous years, the volunteers have reflection and sharing which makes them grow. They have the habit of noting whatever they see and hear and reflecting on it. They examine to see what they can do better. Each day they are grateful for what that day brought them. In the sharing group, they appreciate what the others have reflected on and it develops their own experience. Of course, observing and listening ability need training and the level they achieve will be just about equal to how much effort they put in. With the sharing, they are open to each other’s appreciation and accept guidance and gratitude. My main work in coming to Northern Thailand is to help the volunteers in this work of reflection and appreciation. I believe that to leave the familiar surroundings and serve the poor is a situation where the students can learn and grow. The training and formation before they leave is even more important. They must learn not to use their own country’s standard in serving, teaching, dress, speech or lifestyle. They must respect those whom they meet; otherwise they will bring unnecessary trouble and harm. The volunteers feel, after a month without watching TV, using the Internet or their cell phone that the greatest change is in their mindset. They can better use these things and not be used by them.

In the morning, from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon in the Chinese Yu Ying Junior School, the student volunteers help teachers by instructing them in Chinese, English, Mathematics and Computer. In the evenings, they go to the classrooms with the teachers from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. We have also helped to establish the library and the computer room here. I had a different experience this third time. One aspect was the power of relationships and another was the joy in the simple life. Coming again to this village called Chang Liang I see the whole village still has only one made-up road. All along the way there are no advertising billboards or forced violence to the eyes from bright lights. If the village people want to do business then they just open a grocery store. The whole village, in principle, is agricultural for water supply is sufficient and there is plenty of land. The children are already accustomed to work in the fields to earn some money. For example, picking one kilo of peppers can earn five Thai dollars, equal to NT$4.8. If the whole family works hard it can earn about $200 in a day to pay the monthly school fee for elementary classes (about 160 Thai dollars).or buy a kilo of pork at $100 to eat for three days. One of the second year Chinese students has 6 brothers and sisters. He renounced the opportunity to study in a Thai elementary school using the daytime to work in the fields. Now he is 14 years old and already rents a piece of land. On the way, you often see him carrying his tools, telling with much satisfaction that what he farms is his own land. Another eleven year old 4th grade girl left her parents in Myanmar and ran away to Chang Liang. She knows she lives in dependence on others so works hard, rises at 4:00 a.m. to prepare breakfasts, washes clothes, prepares lunch for the whole family. She earns $5 spending money a day. She feels that the school education she receives is not serious and some of students do not much respect the teachers. I cannot forget the conversation I had with her.

Every morning at 6:00 a.m. I walked around the village; the paths are made of red stones, and I see what is planted. I can greet the village people. They always invited me inside their home to sit and talk. They are very simple: they tell how they have given up everything in Myanmar to come to Northern Thailand. During those times I learned precious stories about how much they have given up, how they built their house in a few days, how the husband died and left the widow and orphans. Although they have no rich life, they are together and help each other without any old folks’ homes or orphanages but everyone gets fed and cared for. I mentioned that in Taiwan there are lonely people who commit suicide because they could no longer pay for water and electricity or their credit card. They had lost their job and had no one to care for them and help them. They heard this and smiled because in Chang Liang village they don’t have to pay for water; electricity is cheap; there is no situation for losing a job. The difference between rich and poor is minimal. No one will say anything about your educational level, or point out that you are a laborer. There is no showing off of family glory. You leave the doors open with no fear of thieves. All the same, the people here hope to get an ID card and go to Taiwan to study or work. They know that they could go under the title of Thai laborers but they would be despised.

Our students go to Chang Liang to give service, it is true, but what they receive is of even greater benefit to them. They see the beauty and power of relationships to create peace and harmony. They see how simplicity and frugality in lifestyle brings joy and contentment. They see the power of sharing to achieve peace and justice in the village community. All is shared: fruit, vegetables, land. There is hardly any difference in the social scale. In the First World, the difference between rich and poor is immense and yet there is so much that could be shared: education, medical help, and spirituality as well as material wealth. In September of the year 2000, 191 member countries of the United Nations Organization passed a resolution to diminish the number of the poor and hungry worldwide. By 2015 they hoped to decrease the number of the poor by half and passed a resolution to that effect. It is likely that the goal can only be achieved by ever more effective sharing of resources now held by a few countries in the First World. We can only hope and pray that governments will understand the need to share and that more and more people, like our student volunteers, will see for themselves the inestimable power of sharing in order to bring pressure on government and public opinion to bring about change in our world.
July 2nd to 16th, 2009

2008 Culture and Education Program in Northern Thailand

2009-06-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

Again we are on the road to Chang-Liang village located in Northern Thailand, Qing-Mai Province. It is a small place with a population of about 4,500 where four hundred families of Yunnan Chinese, Lahu and Hakka people live. The village is located high in the mountains. Nearly the whole area is agricultural except for the seven grocery stores scattered through the village. Sometimes trucks come from neighboring villages taking more than one and a half hours to drive up the valley to sell meat and fish in this small village as well as bringing those in need the newspaper of that day.

The payment for work there is not high. Whether for a worker or a teacher, approximately NT$100 is paid for eight hours’ work a day. This amount of money can support only one child to go to school. Through the arrangement of Ming-Ai Catholic Educational Foundation, Wenzao International Service Learning Association (WISLA) with their last year’s one-month teaching experience in Yu-Ying Junior School and Xian-Hua primary school visited again these two familiar schools, and brought educational services to sixteen teachers and more than four hundred students

Yu-Ying Junior School is a Chinese school established by local Chinese in order to maintain and pass down Chinese culture. There are totally nine classes. Chinese is used to teach the primary program from first year to third year. The class hours run from six o’clock to half-past eight in the evening.

In the mornings, most students go to school on foot not long after six o,clock. Some primary school students have to walk for thirty to forty minutes in order to receive the free education offered by the Royal Thai Language School. Some of the third year primary students have to cut the shafts of sugar cane, slice cabbage, stir-fry it and feed the pigs before six o’clock every morning. Around half past four, they will walk another hour to the Chinese school for Chinese education. After the classes, when they get home and have their dinner, it is already nine o’clock in the evening. Student refugees from Myanmar have no money. All they can do is to rely on relief payments to complete education in junior high school. Otherwise, they have go into debt or receive no education at all.

It is difficult to employ teaches there because of the position of the place. The teachers they have are mostly graduated from Chinese primary school in Myanmar except for one who has a senior high school diploma. Among them, four are sixty years old already. Thus, local teachers are very eager to learn teaching methods. Due to the insufficiency of classrooms, Xian-Hua primary school located in Meng-Na village, can take only seventy students and, unsurprisingly, the situation of one room being shared by two classes of students is not uncommon.

This year, the principal again invited Wenzao International Volunteers to serve there and to offer local teachers the service of teaching methodology, teaching content and strategies that inspire the learning motivation of students. The principal has discovered that the way volunteers teach encourages students to be active in presenting themselves on stage, something which is most needed in the school.

Volunteers retaining their original enthusiasm and recognizing the importance of their mission underwent two hours training every week after they registered in October 2007. As well as receiving training in English, Math, pronunciation correction and Chinese speaking teaching methods, they were particularly formed in the service spirit of Wenzao needed by international volunteers. For this, I would like very much to thank members of Wenzao faculty and those from the Religion/ Counseling Center for they have shared rich experience with those being trained. There were totally eleven trained members. Because of the inter-college cooperation appeal promoted by the Ministry of Education, one of the members was a student from the Sports Medicine department, Kaohsiung Medical University. This student’s participation enriched our teaching service in Yu-Ying Junior School and also gave great help in the teaching of health care.

With last year’s experience, this year’s teaching courses were better-planned.., The preparation of teaching materials and printed texts beforehand made our teaching methods more efficient. Thus, the volunteers also realized the importance of pre-preparation. Every morning, from nine to twelve was the teaching period for teachers and those students who had a junior high school degree but no possibility to receive senior high school education in other provinces or countries. In the afternoon, the volunteers prepared for the evening classes. The evening classes, when the the volunteers acted as teaching assistants of the main teachers, began at six and ended at half-past eight.

Students in these classes were used to learning by following every word with their fingers. . Hence, they were excited and interested when learning through the games and songs brought by these Taiwanese teachers (as they call our volunteers). This year we had something special—the weekend living camp. The theme of the camp was “My Dream,” and intended to inspire students’ hope for the future. All the teachers and students experienced a day of interaction and brainstorming among groups. The volunteers were the teaching assistants in the groups. Another thing worth mentioning is the establishment of a computer classroom last year. This year, we had another room for a library. All the books stored there are Chinese books, gathered and sent there gradually by the volunteers. The volunteers worked hard together and also taught the local teachers how to catalogue the books. Besides, we had three volunteers who helped the school build up its history. They went to the elders for information, collected and organized the scattered memories of the school history. This enterprise also realized the principal’s longed for dream. Even though Chang-Liang village does not itself have access to the Internet system at present, the Internet work can be done in Taiwan and put onto the Iinternet with the help of the volunteers.

The group sharing time, from nine o’clock to eleven o’clock in the evening, is a very important task for the volunteers. Everyday, they share with each other records of personal experience and reflection. They go through what they have seen and heard during the daytime and examine what they have learned and what needs further improvement. This personal sharing practiced under the instructor’s guidance enhances the volunteers’ ability of self-reflection and sensitivity of observation and judgment. Several conclusions from what they have learned may be listed here:

1. They have learned to live a simple life. They have no Internet, no television, and no make up. They accept local ways of living. Sometimes, the electricity goes out when they are taking a shower. Everyday, they wash their clothes by hand. They hear the noises of mice and insects when they are in bed. Living under these conditions, the volunteers do not complain but feel the happiness of a simple life. This satisfaction is further proved when they see the happiness and satisfaction shown on the faces of the refugee children. Usually they are cheered and satisfied simply because of the few educational resources they have received.

2. They show humble learning attitudes—the humble learning attitude of the older local teachers has impressed the volunteers so deeply that they keep reminding themselves to study harder in order to offer further and better help in the future.

3. Being considerate for others—living abroad, if they don’t think of others and take care of themselves, they might become a burden to others.

4. To encourage and praise others—they learned this point through teaching. Encouragement and praise inspire student’s learning attitudes.

5. To think before acting and to carry out one’s promises. This comes from a story that last year, one Taiwanese volunteer promised to mail pictures to the local students, yet failed to do so. They learned from the students’ disappointment about this failed promise and realized both the importance of relationships and how easy it is to hurt others through language.

6. A smile is universal language. Sometimes they encountered different races when visiting villages. Whenever they failed to communicate over something a smile was always the starting point of further communication because it shows mutual respect and acceptance.

7. To give and to receive. Sometimes there is confusion during matters of service. However the volunteers still feel the happiness of working with each other, particularly when they see how difficult it is for the students to get education. This service experience teaches them that every lesson has a price.

8. To have always a grateful heart—when encountering students who are in heavy debt for education’s sake or who have no money at all to get education, the reflection of these volunteers usually is “you can have whatever you want in Taiwan.”

9. To act honestly and to love with courage—regarding the attitudes these students have toward their teachers and the embrace shared in the activities held in the orphanage, our volunteers feel the touching power of sincerity.

10. To be responsible—It takes a lot of caring, sincerity and sensibility to organize this service. It needs particularly the cooperation between the members to accomplish this one-month’s service abroad. At the end, all the volunteers agrees that even one million dollars could not buy what they have learned.

At the beginning, volunteers also encountered frustration during the service process. Sometimes, they felt confused. The local teachers gave up their morning work to participate in the training program. The volunteers were not sure whether their teaching was helpful. They were not confident because they thought they were not professional. Besides, they were afraid of interrupting and delaying the progress of the scheduled teaching syllabus. This also helped the volunteers to realize that teaching is not mainly to give. It needs understanding and assessment. After they had negotiated with the teachers and principal and received confirmation, they carried out their plan. Three among the volunteers also realized that last year’s experience brought them confidence in this year’s service and performance.

Due to the rise of consumer prices, more and more students cannot afford educational tuition. Facing this world’s unfair distribution of educational resources, the volunteers thought earnestly, as world citizens, what role they could play on this unjust world stage These volunteers, instead of choosing to have a part-time job, travel around or become an exchange student, accomplished the training program, reflected on whether their past learning experiences or living attitudes suited the role of local teacher trainers, and came to this most neglected village, where the living environment is at such a huge distance from that of Taiwan. As long as there was a need, they stood up to fulfill the need. One month after the service, maybe everything will fall back to normal. The volunteers have to face reality again, competition, fear of failure, and face the confusion of the future. Nevertheless, what creates hope for the world is change in the human heart. Change from personal saving to sharing, from indifference to concern, and from competition to cooperation, all those things lie behind the priceless service that they went through during their summer vacation.

The character of Thai Lue race 傣族

2007-09-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

Cultural day in Northern Thailand

2007-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

Cultural day in Thailand

2007-09-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Learning and Serve

2007-09-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

你記得的就是你學到的

你學到的常是你服務的more

WISLA in Thailand

2007-09-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

Report from Wenzao International Service Learning Association（WISLA）

2007-09-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

05-08-2007

How large the poverty gap in the world is! Not only the material life standard but also the educational resources are unequal to each other, in reality, it is doubtful that the poverty gap can ever really be equal. However, with the phenomenon that the rich become more rich, and the poor become poorer it means the rich can never find the feeling of satisfaction, while the poor can only find the hollow in their heart, because they can’t find even a flash of hope. Modern people like us are eager to search for an answer inside our heart.

Globalization takes the whole world as one and respects multi-culture all around the world. This concept, which can also be understood as “unity in diversity” is referred to constantly, during the course of human development which I am teaching under the heading of “Characteristics of A Global Citizen” but this remains only theory, just like talking nonsense, unless something concrete is done about it.. In my heart, I desire that all Wenzaorians can have deep feeling inside their heart as well, and if this is going to be workable, there’s only one way – practice - just do it!

On 6th March, 2007, the Wenzao International Service Learning Association （WISLA）was established. Eventually, seven students have participated in a Culture and Education Program in northern Thailand this year. Training two hours a week for four months, included communication skills, mandarin, computer practice, group activity, story telling, fundamental English, international ceremony, and so on. Finally on 5th July, WISLA took over the responsibility for a program, teaching culture and education for a month both in the Chinese district of northern Thailand at Yu-Ying Junior School located in Chang-Liang village and Xian-Hua primary school located in Meng-Na village under the auspices of Caritas-Taiwan. There are 356 students and twelve teachers at Yu-Ying, 52 students and four teachers at Xian-Hua. Because they are so short of educational resources, it is not easy to hire teachers for these schools. Most of the teachers only graduated from junior high or even elementary school, while only a few of them graduated from senior high school. Some of the teachers do not have national identification which means they cannot go outside the country for further training. Under this kind of situation, they really need somebody who has a teaching certification from overseas to open a teacher qualification program at their school, but due to the shortage of certificated staff and long distances, they cannot reach the standard to open the program in these two schools. Because of this, Wenzao had the opportunity to take over the work of teaching them in culture and education. Although our abilities were not very professional, these two schools, no matter whether teachers or students, were all happy with our services, and our volunteer students did learn a lot too.

Training courses for the Teacher Qualified Course went from 9：00 to 12：00 in the morning for three periods, and from 18：30 to 20：30 for students in the evenings. During the evening periods the volunteers went to every class teaching students mandarin, math, English, computer, and so on. In the afternoons, as well as preparing their lessons, sometimes they went to students’ houses to understand their living situation. Volunteers were short of everything in school. There is no library in the schools our volunteers went to. Teachers and students only had twenty different Chinese dictionaries for reference, and students only had Taiwan edition textbooks which have to be reused every year. Their way of studying Chinese is simply reading the textbook word by word. They do not have English lessons for lack of English teachers. Facilities are quite simple in the schools; they only have three single-tube fluorescent lights with 20 watts in every classroom. Furthermore, because Chinese classes are taught at night time, the teachers and students are already accustomed to walk around the school in the dark. For volunteer students, this was really a different and special experience for them. We were all touched by seeing them in this kind of unhelpful situation but still trying their best to keep on learning seriously and respecting their teachers and honoring their teaching.

A most important aspect of the month-long culture and education service in northern Thailand is the self-training for the volunteer students themselves, so one and half hour’s daily reflection was considered an essential task. Volunteer students needed to make self-reflection to see what they had learned and what needed to be improved. Group reflection was made after that, to see what was the life significance in the experience and how our self-behavior changed as a result of the daily events. Sharing among the volunteer students helped them to learn how important it is to listen to the different voices of others. They learned how to become concerned about others and make dynamic self-reflection. They learned how to be humble and respect others in different cultures and life styles. The biggest harvest for them this time was how to present themselves professionally in public. To live with people in the village for one month, experiencing a life of no TV, no cell phone, no internet even no soft drinks was pleasant in some way. Of course, they also learned such a spirit and attitude needed to be maintained.

We were able to work the program of culture and education service in northern Thailand this year because of financial help from the Excellence Project in Wenzao Ursuline College as well as from the National Youth commission of the Executive Yuan and generous gifts from Sisters and others. This support from school and the contributions from society enabled us to set up a simple computer room （but no Internet） and small library with more than 1,000 books. Along with this activity, volunteer students could learn how to lead a simple life, to respect the differences between cultures, to cultivate a dedicated mind-set and to enrich their global vision. The most important thing was that this activity inspired their vocation and responsibility to international society, and made them awaken to the reality that they are a part of global culture and civilization.

It is impossible to solve the disparity in distribution of resources at world level, certainly in the short term. However, making a start with understanding and respect between person and person at the most ordinary level will help to eliminate differences in advantages and race. Authentic sharing in a different country, race, culture and lifestyle witnesses to selfless love from the depths of the human heart. Such was the experience of the members of Wenzao International Service Learning Association from day to day in Northern Thailand.