Indigenous People and Hill Tribe Education Volunteer Project

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If lending a hand to hill tribe people in Chiang Mai interests you, Cultural Canvas Thailand places volunteers within a local organization called Freedom House. Thai Freedom House is a community learning center focused on teaching Thai and English languages and the arts to Burmese refugees, who fled Burma to escape severe human rights violations. They are currently based in a small, wooden house in the center of Chiang Mai, Thailand and have been in operation since 2006. Basic education is unavailable to most ordinary Burmese citizens, which makes our services extremely valuable to these people. TFH also has a vegetarian caf (Free Bird Caf) onsite with a small shop (Pre Loved Clothing Shop) to help generate income for the learning center. Every staff member of TFH is a volunteer, including our directors. Volunteers at Thai Freedom House gain a wide variety of experiences, from teaching ESL and helping with administrative work to helping in the caf project and recruiting new volunteers.

The students at Thai Freedom House are Burmese refugees from construction camps around Chiang Mai and are not able to go to school for lack of I.D. cards and unstable living conditions. Therefore, this project may be their only chance for an education, and their work is taken very seriously. That said, TFH also has a lot of fun with visiting artists, musicians, and fundraising events, not to mention being located in the historic city center of Chiang Mai.

An alternate location is Wat Pa Pao--a buddhist temple situated in the center of Chiang Mai, just outside the city wall and moat. It was founded over 400 years ago by a Shan, and today serves as the main community center for Shans in Chiang Mai.

In February 1997, the Abbott of the temple, with other community leaders, set up a foundation at the temple with the aim of promoting the education of Shan people and the preservation of their culture. The foundation, which is officially registered with the Thai government, is named the Wat Pa Pao Foundation to Support Education, Art, and Culture. With support from the Japanese Embassy, the foundation was able to start an adult education school at the temple. The Wat Pa Pao Adult Education School was officially opened on 11 October 1998, in conjunction with the Thai Non-Formal Education Department. When the school opened, there were 131 students. This has increased to over 137, with a waiting list of many more.

The school teaches a basic Thai curriculum and is intended to provide Shan youth in Chiang Mai with literacy skills that will enable them to improve their job opportunities and future in Thailand. While the classes are in Thai, the various extra-curricular activities are all aimed at promoting the Shan culture. The school has thus proved to be extremely popular among the Shan youth in Chiang Mai, who have flocked to the classes both to improve their education and to join in community activities aimed at preserving their own culture.

For more information about volunteering at Thai Freedom House, Wat Pa Pao, or any of our other volunteer opportunities, please visit our website at http://www.culturalcanvas.com/.

See our online application at http://www.culturalcanvas.com/app.php.