Hi I’m Martha and I am volunteering with CCT for four weeks.
I am 19 years old and study law with social justice at home in Ireland. I decided to get involved in overseas
volunteering because I have always wanted to travel and experience a new
culture. I have also always been interested in global relations and creating a
more equal world. Therefore I really wanted an opportunity to learn about what
inequality looks like in practice. I spend a great deal of time writing about
how the Global North is damaging the Global South through over consumption and
how this must end. However I always felt that my opinions were invalid if I
made no effort to actually se the consequences of this global inequality.
Furthermore women’s rights is a matter I feel strongly about and so when I
heard about the opportunity to work in The Wildflower Home for single mothers I
really wanted to get involved. My friend Cara and I decided to travel here to
Chiang Mai together. So far I have had an amazing experience in the home. There
are currently five mothers in the home. There is a great sense of community
among the mothers, the Sisters and the children. They have made us feel
really welcome in the home and the experience has been so enjoyable. The work
we do is very varied, from minding the children to gardening to making a cement
path.
It can be challenging at times to see the stark contrast between how
these children grow up and how I, or many people in the West, grew up. It makes
little difference to them, as the kids are all happy, healthy and adorable.
There is always something to do in the home and the biggest challenge is having
a noticeable impact. The staff, mothers and other volunteers already do a
fantastic job of running the home. Many of these volunteers have been coming
for years and have a settled role in the home. A challenge for the rest of my
time will be figuring out the best way I can use my own personal skills to be
helpful in the home.
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