CCT Volunteer Sam Walters Last Blog (Art Relief International)

It has been an amazing experience at ARI. It is now the end of my last day at ARI and I am filled with a lot of emotions. I'm sad to go but really excited to see my family. When I sent in my resume to be a part of ARI, I never thought what we would be doing would be so important. I said in my essays that I wanted to be part of the program because I wanted to see the world through other people's eyes and even though I don't think I could ever put myself into another person's shoes, I feel like I understand things a little more. I met a lot of people that are great people and I've learned a lot from them. I will miss the smiles that you get when you walk through the door. The way the students from Wat schools peak into the boxes when we arrive and they try to guess what we brought for them. I feel like in the past few weeks alone I have learned how much ARI is needed. Hallie keeps saying that we grew a lot while working for ARI and I hope I continue to grow even though my time with ARI is over. But I wont forget the people I met and I hope they wont forget me too. 

Sam

Farewell Post from Julia Taladay (Art Relief International)

I just finished my last day of work at Art Relief International! I can’t believe my time in Thailand is over, I enjoyed every minute that I spent here, but I know it’s time to go home. Luckily, I know I’m not really leaving anything behind. Every experience here has had a huge impact on me, to the point where I could almost feel myself changing with every day that passed. Hopefully my friends will still like me when I get back!

It’s hard to realize what kind of an impact you have on people’s lives until it’s time to say goodbye. Working at ARI, I’ve met and worked with so many different groups during my time here, and I’ve had to say goodbye to everyone with each workshop. I’ve been saying goodbye for a week and a half now. It’s been so eye opening to see just how much we mean to some of our workshop participants. In most cases, people who I feel like I haven’t had a huge connection with surprised me with a really emotional and elaborate goodbye. When I think about it, I only spent an hour or two with each group of participants a week. It doesn’t seem like that much to me, and the art activities that we did with them weren’t monumental, but the opportunity that we give to our participants to focus on art and creativity must have a positive impact on them, even if we can’t always see it. It’s good to know that the hard work and time that we put into are workshops are so greatly appreciated.

I truly loved Thailand, but I'm excited to see what life has in store for me once I go home, too. Perhaps I will be able to come back and see all the people who have helped make my summer an experience of a lifetime. If not, I'll always have them in my memory and close to my heart.

Homeward bound,

Julia

CCT Volunteer Mark Cotter 2nd Blog Post (Art Relief International)

These past 3 weeks have seen me explore more of Thailand! A small one-day trip took me to a small farm outside of Chiang Mai. There, we spent a whole day learning how to cook Thai food. The experience was lovely and the food, delicious.

In Phuket, I was Poseidon and conquered the sea, i.e. getting wiped out by a 10-foot wave. In Bangkok, the “Bangkok or Bust” group toured the city and saw the beautiful Grand Palace.

My mom and brother also came to visit for my birthday! It was wonderful to have a piece of home and my lovely family with me in Chiang Mai. They even came to one of ARI’s workshops! The workshops have been lovely, and we got to visit a school we have not been to in a while. There, I took the MOST epic selfie of all time

CCT Volunteer Mansur Alam 2nd Blog Post (BEAM Foundation)

It has already been a month since I landed here in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai, Thailand but it only feels like a week. I have no idea how the time has passed so quickly and I only have 3 more weeks to go.

So here is what I have been up to for last five weeks. When I came here, first I had my orientation with the executive director of Cultural Canvas Thailand. We went out to a coffee shop where we talked about my work and everything that I needed to know about Thailand, Thai culture and places I can visit here in Chiang Mai.  It was an amazing day and I was so excited and looking forward to next day.

On the first week I did very little, I went out to meet with the people at BEAM foundation (the place where I will be working for the 8 weeks I am here) and had orientation with the ART relief director. Later on we visited the Hope home. Hope home is a foster home for children with disabilities. The home is for seven children but it also serves as respite for families of children with disabilities and provides loving and caring environment. 

BEAM

Teaching is never something I thought I would do, in fact, if someone would have suggested a year ago that my next job would be teaching high school level science I might not have believed them. It was not until few weeks before I came here I read about the lives and circumstance of the kids I would be working with that I felt it was something I had to do. I think I was very affected by the stories of the kids and how they relate to my own story.

 At the beginning I was extremely nervous, and still sometimes I have to put in a lot of extra work to keep up but so far I have loved every moment of it. I am proud that I have managed to grow and pick up other skills I may have been worried would hold me back in this position.

 It turns out that having a lot in common with the students has really helped me to connect with them and build some meaningful relationships. I love that the students are engaged and interested in learning, they try their best in every moment and some of them seem to love science as much as I do. I also enjoy moments in the class where I can hear small pieces of their stories and share small pieces of mine. I love how unique they all are, and how they are able to laugh at themselves and feel comfortable enough to bring their sense of humour to the class and make it more fun for everyone including me. 

Aside from occasionally being showered with messages in the evening about homework confusion and wifi “not working,” I really have nothing negative to say about my experience with the students at BEAM. I am just over half way through my time with them and I am already starting to feel sad about leaving.

ART Relief

I have had the privilege of working with Art Relief International by participating in some of their workshops in my free time. I spend most of my time preparing for my class at BEAM as it is my first time teaching I am not yet very fast with creating my own lesson plans.

I have enjoyed every workshop I have participated in, they are all great and educational. There are  great lessons behind every workshop and I am very glad to be a part of it.

Here are a few of the workshops I have attended: 

Hope Home

I had five workshops with the kids at the Hope Home and they have been my favourite ones out of all the workshops with ARI. Our main goal here is to improve and practice sensory and motor skills including touch, sight, and sound. Therefore our workshops involve drawing, painting, folding etc. It is very important that every workshops we do include everyone in the house so that we don’t leave out anyone just because they can’t do it in certain way, therefore we help them to get involved in the activity with whatever way possible.

We go to hope home every Wednesday and do small workshop with the kids and it is really amazing, I absolutely love going there and doing different activities, playing and laughing with the kids, they make me smile so much and I really hope I can make a difference in their lives by just helping them in whatever way I can.

So far some of the things I have done with the kids at hope home are making Tambourines, Paper Plate Animals, sensory jet packs, kites, and textured painting. 

Wat Muen Ngen Kong

I have done two workshops with this school and both have been very fun and successful. I particularity  enjoyed one where we had the kids do portraits of their friends and were not allowed to look at their page. It was a fun way to get the kids to think differently and create something interesting they may not have made if they were allowed to look.

nd do small workshop with the kids and it is really amazing, I absolutely love going there and doing different activities, playing and laughing with the kids, they make me smile so much and I really hope I can make a difference in their lives by just helping them in whatever way I can.

So far some of the things I have done with the kids at hope home are making Tambourines, Paper Plate Animals, sensory jet packs, kites, and textured painting. 

Elderly Care

Going into the Elderly Care program, I was curious about how Art would be used or relevant as I am more familiar with working with kids using arts and crafts. I was pleasantly surprised by the ability that the simple art activities had to uplift the seniors and it made me happy to see them so happy. I was also quite entertained by the fact that many of them seemed to think I was Thai and made me feel quite welcomed (thanks to P’Noom translating everything they said.) So far I’ve only been able to attend one workshop with them where we did dot painting which they took to quite well. I would love to go back to Elderly Care before I leave.

CCT Volunteer Sam Walters 2nd Blog Post (Art Relief International)

     I feel like I have learned a lot in the time that I have been here, but I still feel as if I will not be here for as long as I would need to be to experience Art Relief International fully. I honestly can't wait to go home, to see all the people I've missed, but at the same time I don't feel like I have done enough for ARI or seen enough of Thailand. During my time at Art Relief International, I feel like I was taught so much about different people and different circumstances.

     Since coming to work for ARI, I have gone to places like Healing Family. Healing Family is a place with adults with mental illness. When we go their with a new project, they are always excited to participate and the atmosphere is like being around family. They are always welcoming, always happy to see you again, it truly feels like I walked into my aunts house or something of that effect. All the other places that we brought workshops to were great as well. There is nothing better than seeing everyone so happy to see everyone and how ready they are for whatever we prepared for them. Still, leading workshops are still the most nerve wrecking thing I've done in the past two and a half weeks, its usually worth it when everyone is happy and smiling at the end of our time together. 

CCT Volunteer Nora Demilta 2nd Blog Post (Art Relief International)

This past week with ARI has been a bit of a different experience. We had two new volunteers join the team, Danielle and Queenie. They’re both from Ireland and both are really kind and fun to work with. They let me tease them about their Irish colloquialisms and they do the same for my American slang. I’m thankful for their addition and they’ve already contributed to some stellar workshops. Danielle and I teamed up on a Hope Home workshop last week where we made jetpacks out of cardboard and plastic bottles. We collaborated on the idea and it went really well! The children at Hope Home had a blast with the jet packs they made. Whenever a kid would finish their project, one of the volunteers would lift them up and fly them around the room. This always elicited a few giggles from the students! This was my favorite workshop with Hope Home thus far and it would not of happened without Danielle’s help.

It was interesting when Danielle and Queenie first arrived at ARI. All of the TEAN volunteers tried so hard to help them and teach them the ways of ARI. We acted as if we had been here for years when in reality it had only been about 10 days. It’s funny how quickly we adapted to working and living here. I hate to think that I only have about three more weeks in Thailand. I’ve learned so much and had so much fun; I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to have to say goodbye to the students, my coworkers, or the other TEAN members. In my last days I’m trying live as fully as possible and enjoy every moment. I want to be rich in memories for when I go back to the states!

The Satellite Project 2015 - CCT / ARI Global Fundraiser... We Need Your Help!

Dear volunteers, friends and supporters of CCT and ARI,

For the first time in its nine year history Cultural Canvas Thailand and Art Relief International will coordinate a worldwide fundraising event campaign we are calling ‘The Satellite Project 2015’, which will take place from June 15 to August 15. The objective of the campaign is to raise funds for CCT and ARI via the coordination of various satellite fundraising parties hosted by previous volunteers, supporters, friends and family members at different locations across the world. 

Party hosts will assist party goers in making donations via the online donation feature on the CCT / ARI websites or via CCT’s PayPal, or the host will collect cash and then deposit it in to CCT’s bank account. This will enable CCT and ARI to achieve its ongoing goals through delivering further workshops, increasing volunteer programs, enhancing our marketing and communications, purchasing more art supplies and better managing ongoing costs. You will also be promoting our programs!

As you probably know, CCT / ARI is a very small, local non-profit and Non-Government Organisation, and therefore every dollar (or baht) we make goes straight back in to the organization, so we are able to continue to run art workshops and manage our volunteers whilst serving the most marginalised across Chiang Mai.

We are seeking individuals or groups who are willing to host a party or event any time between June 15 and August 15 to help us raise as much money as possible. Anyone is able to host a party – previous volunteers, family members, friends, organisations, artists, human rights advocates - as long as they’re passionate about our work, the people we work with and they are committed to creating a successful party. The party host who raises the most money will also win themselves an ARI Merchandise pack!

The party itself can be anything you want it to be, and we will try and support you as much as possible by providing you with event ideas and lots of information, by being available to answer any questions you might have, by sending you a party pack to assist with your organising and by facilitating a Party Host Facebook Group where ideas, hints and photos can be shared. It can be as big as a Thai banquet, a fancy dress party or a fashion parade, or as small as a morning tea. To keep the event on track we will also provide you with links to our various websites and social media platforms, numerous on-line videos and we would also love to host a live Skype session with you during your party.

So if you, or anybody you know, might be keen to host an event during the above mentioned dates and help us achieve our 2015 goals, then please contact Dan Hales at admin@culturalcanvas.com to register your interest and nominate a flexible party date. CCT / ARI will keep a log of all parties and check in before, during and after.

We are super excited to host The Satellite Project 2015, and perhaps even make this the cornerstone of our future fundraising efforts, and we would LOVE for you to join us in the fun!

We look forward to hearing from you, and we hope you are all keeping happy, healthy and arty.

In creativity and compassion,

The CCT / ARI Team