Thailand | May 9-18, 2009
Participants: Yara Saeed, Brian Manalastas, Samira Islam, Iyed Jouini, Rifki Pratomo Bahri, Tarkay Jamaan, Jummana Kahlout, Rami Al Rihawi, Mohammed Hussain, Mohamed Fahad Kamal, Ahmed Emam, Samee Amin, Mohammed Al-Haddad, Sara Abbas, Nasreen Zahan
Chaperones: Dave Stanfield, Melissa Deschampes, Rachelle Emard.
Students worked four hours outside of Chiang Mai in a small rural hill tribe village in the Pang Mapa district of Northern Thailand. To the backdrop of the beautiful jungles of Thailand, students were set on the ambitious task of constructing a four-walled kitchen and dining area for the village community. The project is now a new feature for the hill tribe people. It will be used for the entire village to cook and host meaningful events such as funerals and weddings.
Before the trip the student participants fundraised $2,000 in donations from the campus community in order to make their building project a reality. This money was used to directly pay for the tools and construction materials needed on-sight. They had money left over from their costs, which will be used to continue to buy materials to continue to improve on their building.
The service trip was facilitated through In To the Wild, who set up the dialogue and logistics with the people of the village to find a meaningful community need for Carnegie Mellon Qatar to take on. Throughout the week, students worked on every detail of the building alongside the Thai people and the staff. Students turned out buckets of manually mixed cement. They moved hundreds of cinderblocks to the construction site. They filtered sand and nailed together lattice work made of bamboo. They laid and set the tile for the flooring. From floor to ceiling they made the building their own.
“The whole team was so motivated and really had a lot of energy. We were determined to get the job done, and at the end of each day we had accomplished so much” Nasreen Zahan, Senior said. Nasreen recalls working against the clock as the team raced to get piles of sand and rock under shelter before the heavy rains came it. They formed an assembly lined; pushing each other to move the materials as fast as possible. “That was incredible!”
Aside from the intensive service work, students also got the opportunity to immerse themselves in Thai culture. Students explored the hills of the district and interacted with the people there. They enjoyed exploring the fascinating caves of the area and embarked on a 9-hour uphill trek through the Thailand jungle in the pouring rain. “The trek was physically very difficult for me. After I got through that, I felt like I could do anything, suddenly, all the building seemed easy.” Other highlights included kayaking, bamboo rafting down the Ping River, riding an caravan of elephants through a Karen Village, visiting the temple of Doi Suthep, and taking part in Chiang Mai’s Night Market. During their breaks the group could be found taking part in a village exercise class, playing a pick-up football match with the children on the district, or playing ping-pong with the natives.
