Moin Moin !

Hi everyone, or as we say in Hamburg "Moin Moin". My name is Miriam, I am 19 years old and from Hamburg in Germany. I just graduated High School and I am very excited to be volunteering here in Chiang Mai for 6 months. It has always been a dream of mine to come to Thailand and I am so glad that I have the chance to be here until February!

I am a very active person and enjoy sports, cooking and spending time with my family and friends.

During my time here I will be volunteering at Wildflower Home, which is a shelter for young mothers and their children that come from crisis situations. As a volunteer there I will be helping with the kids in the daycare, gardening, farming, organizing or where ever a helping hand is needed. During my first week, the other volunteers and I inventoried all the items that are handmade by the mothers and sold on our website. I was really surprised of how many beautiful bags, jewelry and other things we had in the storage room.

So far, my highlight was cooking pasta with tomato sauce from a huge donation of tomatoes for all the mothers and kids last Wednesday! It was so much fun to cook with the other volunteers and the mothers!

Wildflower Home is such a beautiful place and everyone there is super nice and welcoming. Every morning I am excited what the day will bring. What I like best about my work is that there is always something to do and that it is something different every day!

I am so excited for the time ahead and I am sure I will learn and grow so much from the experiences I make here.

Sawasdee Ka

Hello everyone, my name is Carla, I’m from Munich, Germany and I have just finished high school so I’d say my stay here is part of my gap year. I will be staying in Chiang Mai with CCT for 6 months and my placement is at Wildflower Home, which is a shelter for single mothers. In Thailand women who become pregnant out of wedlock or women who have to live without a husband because of different reasons are often discriminated. Therefore, they often struggle to build up a sustainable future for themselves and their children. I have always been very much interested in womens’ rights and human right, which is why the aims of this project -to provide education, shelter and hope- are very important to me.

During our first week we already got to do a lot at Wildflower Home. We were taking care of the children and we even got to look after our youngest baby, who is only 6 weeks old. Besides that we helped in the garden, for example planted a few trees or helped pulling wheats and also made an inventory list for the products the women have produced in the past. Wildflower Home sells the products as a part of their income-generating program. Even in these first few days we really got an insight in the diverse tasks at Wildflower Home. We realized that there will hardly be a time where there is nothing to do for us.

Although I’m more than excited for my placement, I am also looking forward to learning a lot about Thai culture. When I first arrived here I didn’t know much about it or at least not more than what I’ve learned from the CCT-handbook, which - of course, I’ve read thoroughly. But even on our way from the airport to the volunteer house and in the last two weeks I’ve realized how much there is to learn and see for me. Now I’m more than excited what the upcoming months will bring and what lessons I will learn. I hope I will be able to bring home a lot of stories and memories.”

Carla Lohner

Cara Mooney Blog Post (Wildflower Home)

Hi, I’m Cara! I’m 19 years old, heading into my second year of law with Politics in University College Dublin. I’m here in Chiang Mai volunteering for four weeks with Cultural Canvas Thailand.

My placement for CCT is in the Wildflower home just outside of Chiang Mai that accommodates single mothers who are victims of domestic violence. It is an amazing organisation run by the Sisters of the Good Shepard with the aim of teaching the mothers life skills so that they will be able to sustain themselves when they leave the home. I’m a strong believer in equality for women so when I heard about the programme in Wildflower and all that they do to empower the mothers, I knew it was for me!

Working in Wildflower the past two weeks has been one of the most incredible and inspiring experiences of my life. The treatment of single mothers in Thai culture is extremely different to what I am used to back home. In Ireland it is neither strange nor shameful to raise children as a single parent. Thai culture is very different in that the women are shunned from family and friends regardless of whether or not they suffered from abuse. This stigma surrounding single mothers makes Wildflower home all the more inspiring as it creates a warm, friendly and comforting environment. I get a very strong sense of community here as everyone is always willing to help out without a word of complaint. It is almost as though the mothers past experiences have created an unbreakable bond between them making Wildflower a very special place for anyone lucky enough to experience it.

Everyday at Wildflower is different from the rest, no two jobs are ever the same! Myself and my friend Martha who I came here with have done jobs from clearing out a mushroom shed, teaching english, minding the kids, we have even poured cement! Not something either of us ever thought we would do.. Although I have loved everyday here so far, there is one in particular that stands out for me; this week one of the volunteers from New York decided to make vision boards with the mothers and present them to the group. This was one of the most eye opening and emotional moments so far in Wildflower home as all each of them wanted in life was a family, a home, money, the opportunity to travel and proper education for their children all of which many of us take for granted back home. This experience wasn't emotional in the sense that it upset me but more so uplifting as the willingness to hope and dream was still alive in all of the mothers regardless of the difficult past they suffered.

After everything we've seen and done so far I cannot wait to see what the next two weeks have in store for us! :) Thank you!!

Martha Mc Garry Blog Post (Wildflower Home)

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.

You Are Never Too Old... Or Young!

Hi there, my name is Silvana, an Italian / Swiss woman, living in Switzerland, and only 63 years young! 

When I applied for a volunteership I had the feeling people were smiling at me. And when I went for the introduction evening before I left Switzerland I was absolutely the "old lady" amongst teenies. I thought "Oh dear......"

Meanwhile I have started my voluntary services at the Wildflower Home. The home provides safe shelter, education, health and other services to young single mothers who are either pregnant or have young children. WFH offers emotional and educational support to help them move from crisis and poverty to steady jobs or continous education after leaving the home.

I immediately noticed that the children (up to four) were quite agressive to each other. They tore away each other's toys. Young volunteers seemed to always try to be nice to them. I learned that they needed firmness and limits to their behaviour. You would not believe it, but after three weeks everybody noticed! The children became calmer, they now play together, they share, and they politely ask if they want something! I am amazed how quick they learn. 

I just love them. Everyone wants to be hugged in a different way....... their background has certainly not been easy.

In the next edition I will talk about the young mothers!

As you can read, I am still eager to achieve a lot, step by step, whilst just being a little bit over 30!

Winter at Wildflower Home

Last blog was about the Christmas celebration at Wildflower Home and this time I will tell you a bit about winter here. In Europe, Christmas and winter are almost synonyms, it has to be cold outside, nice and cozy at the fireplace inside. It is the time of hot chocolate, candles, early sunset, needle trees, salty roads, gloves, bonnet, icicle and -if you are luck-, of snow. Winter in Thailand is slightly different, less cold in the first place. Surprisingly, it can still be very freezing. The women at Wildflower Home are often wearing gloves and coats in the mornings and my skiing socks have become my new best friends. There is now infrastructure for cold nights, no insulated walls, no double glazing, often not even closing windows. Maybe worse is, that you are not prepared for the cold, too. Even with two blankets and a warm pyjama's is a temperature drop from 32 °C to 8 °C degrees nothing your body likes. As a result, all of our infants have running noses, colds and look rather unhappy. Nothing too serious, thank god.

The days are still as hot as always and it feels wrong having a cold while the sun burns on your face, but that might be stupid European problems. But the heat is different than in August, not as standing as it has been. The shadow is therefore often very chilled and it might be the only time in the year,  everyone at Wildflower Home sits after lunch in the sun to get warm again.

Nicola,

Christmas at Wildflower Home

Christmas is a really big deal here for that it is a Christian organization. Weeks before the big celebration day the dining area was decorated with reindeers and small Christmas tree images and small snow globes hang from the roof. Three “real” trees completed the scenery and making small tags for them was a lot of fun for both, mothers and children. From time to time you could hear someone singing “We wish you a merry Christmas” the women were practicing the song for our Christmas party and within the weeks, Christmas was all over the place. A nativity scene, a lot of big stars and glitter were added around the pond and it took us a long time to make all our handmade Christmas cards for donators and friends abroad ready. – Yes, Christmas is big at Wildflower Home!

The menu for the party was planed long before and it took us all day before to prepare the food, we even killed one of our pigs. The party was great and –of course- the food was very delicious. It was so good to see the women getting out of their daily routine, wearing their best dresses and just enjoying their self’s talking, laughing, making fun with their kids. It was a truly a great day for everyone at Wildflower Home and we hope, for our guest too.

A day at Wildflower Home

Last time I wrote about Chiang Mai, this time, I´ll write about Wildflower Home, the place I work in. You may have read a bit about my tasks there already, but the organisation itself might not be familiar to you.

Wildflower Home is a non-profit organisation that provides shelter for single mothers and pregnant women. It is located a little outside of Chiang Mai in a rural context, surrounded by fields. The foundation itself contains beside the main building and the mother´s homes a day care for the older children and a small farm. The whole complex is designed with passion and love, the columns of the main building for example, are trees and all walls are painted with floral motives.

A lot of small channels and lakes help to water the plants in the farm during the dry season and give the whole area an idyllic outlook. It is truly a place to rest and recover, a place of peace – at least for me. That doesn´t mean that things are always sunny at Wildflower Home. It is like everywhere, you deal with the everyday life issues as well as the sometimes hidden personal problems. And I have suffered enough hours under the inclement sun fastening the soil around one of the ponds or shipping rice husk for the stables to know that the so called “simple life” is in the first place hard work and not simple at all. That it has nothing in common with the romantic idea of being consistent with nature and yourself you can find in many western societies. Still, I can imagine places to work in, which are worse. Every time I take a break from work, sitting in the shadow with my water bottle, with the beautiful view over the farm, the ponds and banana trees, the stables and the vegetable garden, I do feel very privileged. Privileged, because I am able to experiences this all, to see what we have done and what is left to do, because I have the opportunity be a small part of this organisation, joke with the other farm workers and just be thankful for a moment of rest.

Now I am writing again about my experiences here and you still don´t know more about Wildflower home. The whole point of the organisation is to encourage the mothers and give shelter for them and their kids as long as they need it. It is hard to write about “the mothers”, each of their stories is different and not all of them shall be shared in public. Their age varieties over almost twenty years, some have only one child, some a lot, some only stay for a couple of days and some for years. The only thing, that unifies them, is that they and their children are in needs. Wildflower Home tries to find a solution of each and every one of them, encourage them. For me as a volunteer this variety of needs means in the first place to be very flexible and creative. I try everything what needs to be done – you never know, you might be able to solve a problem if you just try. But it means also, to except, that from time to time an expert is needed or just someone, who is fluent in Thai.

2nd week at Wifdflower Home.

Hello again!

My first full week in Wildflower Home is over and I want to tell you

something about my work there.

First, Wildflower is an organization for pregnant women and single

mothers, which offers them not only a safe place to stay, but also the

opportunity to educate themselves.

My current job is basically running the day-care for the older children (1

to 2 ½ years). Of course I haven´t done it on my own. Anyone who has ever

dealt with children of that age knows, you need at least six pairs of eyes

and ten hands to look after them. Right now, there are five toddlers in

the daycare, that´s 2 to 3 children per adult. Sounds like an easy job?

Actually it is challenging, running after them, playing, smiling if

they´re crying, being creative when they´re bored, making sure that no one

climbs over the fence or gets lost. I have never worked with children that

age before and to be honest, it´s still hard to figure out what they need,

when they start crying. – Hungry? Hurt? New pampers? Miss mum? Need

attention? My respect for nursery nurse rises with every minute, they must

be somewhere in between Superman and Mother Teresa.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to work there! The kids are adorable and it´s

amazing to see how fast they learn. The feeling is indescribable, when

they get used to you, start to trust you. And a bright smile in a child´s

faces excuses for everything.

If I need a break from playing with the kids, there is plenty other work

to do. Today I washed all dishes for the monks in the temple nearby, I

moved a mountain of mud into a hole and pulled a pick- up out of the mud –

well, I helped a little bit. In fact, my hands told me after ten minutes

of mud shipping, that their tool is a pen and not a shovel. But it´s good

to see the result of your work and it´s a lot of fun, too. Joking with the

mothers and the other volunteers about how useless and weak the foreigners

are. To be honest, it will take at least two more months to catch up with

the mothers, they´re so much stronger and faster in everything they do.

Not that I´ve expected anything else, but I can´t wait for the day, I´m

not only the nice German girl playing with the shovel, but a real help.

Meet Nicola!

Hello, my name is Nicola, I´m 21 years old and I come from Germany. Four

days after finishing my B.Sc. in physic at TU Dortmund University, I

caught a the plane to Thailand. That is already fourteen days ago and

right now I´m sitting in the living room of your volunteer house and life

in Germany seems to be very far away. The most important thing you need to

know about me is, that through Cultural Canvas Program, I am the new volunteer at Wildflower Home, an

organization for Single Mothers in Chiang Mai.

Here I am, Thailand, Chiang Mai, 32°C and 49 % humidity according to

google. Maybe not the best circumstances for a body used to 18°C and light

rain. So what brought me here? It is the idea of learning from a different

culture and maintaining an intercultural dialogue on eye-level. I see the

six month in Thailand as a great chance to understand at least a bit of

its rich culture. And I hope to contribute with my ideas and talents, or

just a helping hand, my fair share to Wildflower Home.

Although I am a scientist and my heart beats for expressing nature in

handy equations, I always believed that there is nothing more enriching

than learning from different people. That’s why social work is an

important part of my life. It gives me the opportunity to help people and,

at the same time, to learn from their stories.

Furthermore I love to travel, whenever university allows it and my

voluntary service seems to be a good opportunity to see more of this

beautiful part of the world.

What have I done so far in Chiang Mai? The first week was basically a

short orientation in Thai culture and language and detailed overview over

my tasks at Wildflower Home. Of course we did a lot of sightseeing, too.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep was only one of the impressing temples, we

visited. I cannot remember that I have ever seen so much gold. But my

highlight was definitely the walk through the evergreen forest. The

biodiversity this forest has is inconceivable and fascinated me very much.

Call me a fool, but did you know that the nice rattan chairs in the café

around the corner used to have spikes?

For some unlikely circumstances I worked at Wildflower Home only for two

and a half days so far. That´s why I won’t write about the work there, it

is simply not enough time to get into it, but maybe next time, so stay tune to my next blog!

So six month of learning ahead and I can´t wait to try out more delicious

food, explore the city and, most important start (again) with my work at

Wildflower Home.