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Transforming lives through service experiences

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Experience in Vietnam

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16684259_10211463722804437_6436465878046264947_nI just wanted to share a glimpse of my experience on immersion and what a difference you’re all helping to create within the developed countries of which we support:

In Vietnam, The Sisters of the Lovers of the Holy Cross run an ice factory that the Cardoner Project donated and installed to assist with the business. (Some of the machinery is shown in the photo below)

Recently, a steel company has been located nearby and their chemical pollution in the river continues to create serious damage on the production of the factory, however, the sisters endure with great perseverance in their ability to run the business.

Subsequently, the Cardoner Project continues to strive to improve the machinery’s functionality and support these dependent communities. Thanks to your help at The 2 Wolves, you have helped create the building blocks in allowing the Project to do so.

Arriving at St. Vincent Diem Orphanage, we didn’t know any of the children and none of us spoke the local language. But despite our differences, the children and the sisters welcomed us with big smiles and open arms.

Within the short week of our stay we helped look after the children, most of whom were severely disabled- including those suffering from Ancient Orange. But yet they remained so joyful, which enabled us to come together in unity of love.

It was a difficult but deeply moving experience and I hope that some of you get to meet these little soldiers.

Thanks to the Two Wolves Community Cantina and the Cardoner Project, we have the ability to come together, work towards our vision, and continue to serve the poorest of the poor to make great changes in our world.

Gemma O’Shea

Memories from Thailand and Micronesia

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Around a year ago, myself and seven other 2014 HSC graduates were just returning from a year spent abroad in Huay Tong, Thailand and Chuuk, Micronesia. For me, staying in the Karen village of Huay Tong with our host mother Maliwan, provided us with many unforgettable memories and experiences still with us after our first year studying at university.

Not having access to the luxuries and indeed basics such as a running shower, flushing toilets and clean water was initially very hard to get used to but something that has taught me to take less for granted, especially during the height of the dry season, where driving 30 minutes to the jungle waterfall became the best option for a proper shower. For a lot of families, food mostly was what they could find or what they had grown or cultivated themselves such as rice and eggs and whilst they had little, they were always extremely keen to have you over for dinner and make sure you left the house as well fed as humanely possible. For everyone, teaching in the schools left them with both positive and negative experiences but what was unquestionable was how much the students valued our presence as teachers and companions. However it’s also to important not to over romanticise the situation and acknowledge the unquestionably significant problems within Karen society in regards to alcohol and drug abuse and violence, which has left its scars on families in the village but which mustn’t be avoided but instead needs to be addressed and amended for healing to take place

In one village we visited, around four hours away allowed us to see exquisite mountain and jungle landscapes intertwined with beautifully carved rice terraces all the while being jolted by awfully bumpy dirt roads. In this incredibly isolated village, the vast majority of houses were without electricity, children have to find other ways to amuse themselves such as skipping stones down by the river, before heading off to help their parents work in the rice fields. I think one main lesson we drew from the year, was a greater appreciation of the simple things in life, to take pleasure in things we did such as rice farming, picking peach fruit in an orchard as the sun went down or just simply the cool mountain air whistling past whilst riding your motorbike. For me it’s something that I tend to forget, and I always have to remind myself to be more content with what I have, rather to become fixated and obsessed with what I don’t.

Finally I’d just like the highly recommend this journey for anyone who would like to delve a little deeper, and experience things that you would otherwise never be able to see as the Two Wolves programmes are certainly an unique and once in a lifetime opportunity which will provide you with unforgettable memories and lessons.

Hugo Vlachos (Service Year in Huay Tong 2015)

Thailand – Halfway Through the Year

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As Harry Ryan reaches the halfway point in his service year, he looks back at the first six months fondly…

harryryan

Looking back and realising that I have almost completed 6 of my 12 months in Thailand is very hard to believe. As many boys have said previously time is moves incredibly fast over here. I am extremely pleased that I embarked on this incredible journey for 12 months, as I would be thoroughly disappointed if my time in Thailand was to come to an end now.

I consider myself extremely lucky to be one of the three Riverview boys that have committed a year of service in Thailand, and to have the help from boys over here now, and previous service year boys, which has been incredibly beneficial.

There are currently 13 of us here in Thailand at the moment located in villages called Huay Tong, Bangkad, and Mae Pon. We regularly get together in Huay Tong and occasionally in Chiang Mai city to meet up and exchange stories and ideas on our service in our schools and communities, and to help each other learn the Thai language.

As cliché as it sounds, every day in Thailand presents something different however one thing that never changes is a constant generosity and good nature the people we work with. The teachers, and even students, at the school are more than willing to give up their time to help you either learn the language, or get to know the rich culture of Thailand.

One of the countless stories that show their endless generosity happened to me during the first month. The boys at Huay Tong were looking for one of the many waterfalls that surround us when my motorbike broke down.

After encouraging the boys to leave me behind to look for a mechanic I found myself at the bottom of hill and, after attempting to push to bike up the hill, a local boy, who knew very little English and I knew very little Thai at the time, arrived on the scene.  Half an hour later he managed to somehow fix the bike and, before he sent me on my way, he told me that he went to school at Huay Tong and knew that we were the new boys working for the project, and was incredibly happy that he could help. This is but one of a many stories I could tell of problems we have had and the local people cheerfully helping us.

To finish this very brief reflection, I can’t begin to tell you how great it is to finish a day with a kindy student cheerfully yelling out “good morning teacher” at 3:30 pm while riding your bike home from school.

James Travels in Cambodia

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For the past 2 weeks James Mukheibir has been exploring Cambodia during his service year.

James experiencing his year abroad. James in the boat.James experiencing his year abroad. Photo of a man in a boat.

For the past two weeks, Mitch and I have been travelling throughout Cambodia, exploring its diverse landscapes and incredible things this unique country has to offer, during the school holidays for Khmer New Year. We started our trip less than ideally as I had my phone stolen within the first 10 minutes of our trip on the night bus from Sisophon to Phnom Penh. This also led us to have our first encounter with the incredibly efficient bureaucratic powers of this country as the police point blank refused to submit a report, even for insurance purposes. But nevertheless we continued on, suitably more cautious with our possessions. I don’t think I have ever had two weeks of more varied experiences and as I sit on the bus back to Sisophon, I feel refreshed and ready to through myself back into the thick of things at the school. From days of blissful nothing on a tropical island to the unapologetically touristy and party central that is Sihanoukville to the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh; where we gained some insight into the depth and extent of the scars left on this country through our visits to the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek and the S-21 prison. However, no matter where we were, our small grasp of Khmer language and culture always guaranteed a smile, as they were clearly very happy to engage with someone who respects them enough to learn their language and even though they found our mangled pronunciations hilarious, you could see they really appreciated the effort.