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Transforming lives through service experiences

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Service Year

Service year in Thailand by Pat Doyle

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My year has been so varied that starting this reflection had to be one of the hardest things I had done all year. It has been like some of the things I thought it would be, but it has also been a lot of things I would never have imagined it being. The beauty of this year has been the spontaneity of it, the moments when something pops up and the idea of what it could be is too tantalising to refuse. If this year has taught me something that I would have not expected, it is this; take every opportunity you can because even the things that seem mundane or repetitive can open you up to things you would never have imagined. Now I am not saying that everyday you will wake up and there will be someone telling you they are going to the shops when instead they end up going to skydiving, it is simply never that outrageous. On the other hand I have found that you will find things as simple as getting a lift in a car, for example, can be an opportunity to make a new friend using a language you just learnt. I’m still marvelled by the generosity of this friend now, his willingness to first give us a lift from the side of a dirt road, to then sharing some beers with us and then finally introducing us to his family and children. Every minute of that afternoon turned out to be so much more than I imagined when I woke up that morning to teach.

Teaching is also something I’ve learnt so much more about, that is not surprising but it has been one of the more enjoyable parts of the year. As my confidence and my knowledge of the students’ ability grew I was able to plan and construct my lessons so much better. Teaching is so much more enjoyable when you make the effort to do it well; by planning and pre-empting the class I was able to be more relaxed with the students, something I noticed the students definitely appreciated. The students had to be engaged and inspired to really want to learn, when they saw their language skills developing or at least becoming useful, it contextualised everything that had previously seemed useless or unnecessary.

An interesting parallel to be a part of has been between my own language skills and those of the students I teach. Already most of them are bilingual and learning their third and fourth languages so the comparison is somewhat different. However, it is wonderful to see some of my students’ English ability develop so much whilst my own Thai ability develops similarly. As we are forced to speak Thai everyday through necessity, the students become more confident in speaking English in everyday encounters. This has been wonderful to watch as previously many students were fearful of foreigners or simply embarrassing themselves. Similarly, I have thoroughly enjoyed expanding my Thai from the most basic of responses to conversational levels. It’s constantly engaging to navigate through different situations using both Thai and English, a never-ending opportunity for learning.

It’s worth noting the difference between Thai and Australian attitudes towards learning foreign languages. In Australia it seems as though having the command of multiple languages is a handy skill or hobby that is useful but not essential. While Thailand appears to have a completely different attitude where foreign languages are seen as not just a skill but also a necessary part of both the education system and life in general. Foreign writing is littered throughout the country and it is expected that you speak a major language such as English or Chinese if you are to succeed professionally. Yet rarely would you ever see large amounts of foreign scripts outside of local immigrant communities. The Thai and Karen attitude towards being multi-lingual is an example that is humbling and inspiring, one that I hope will motivate my friends and myself in the future.

One of the biggest motivators of this drive to educate is the tight-knit families and communities that I have been surrounded by throughout my time here. It’s awe-inspiring seeing a mother or father’s face light up upon realising that their child can properly communicate in an entirely new language with a person from a far-away country. This universal familial love which I’ve been fortunate to witness at countless weddings and family gatherings has been a touching reminder of what I actually valued so much when back at home.

It might seem strange but what I’ve missed the most while here has been the people from home. Occasionally I may miss certain foods or things from Australia but seldom does it last. In reality I haven’t been homesick frequently since initially leaving Australia but I have become more appreciative of the things which I may have once overlooked or undervalued such as the most simple of family occurrences. In saying this, never have I missed home enough for it to overshadow the wonderful things that I am able to experience daily here.

Before leaving Australia I thought that my faith would develop and I credit this to the nature of the Service Year being similar to things I had done in school and the fact that I had been sent by a Jesuit organisation. In truth, my faith has developed, but not through the things that I thought would once promote such a change. The weekly masses that we are able to experience in Huay Tong village are occasions that seem both uncomfortable and amazing at the same time. Week upon week the whole village turns out in traditional Karen clothing, everybody from the smallest of babies to old men and women who need help just to sit down. The masses are spoken entirely in Karen, a language none of us can understand, and they last much longer than the average mass in Australia. Yet the sheer spectacle and the community’s love that so obviously emanates from the building encourages a wider understanding of the beauty of faith and the Church, in inspiring a loving and caring culture whilst also promoting the traditional Karen traditions. This sense of community I believe has been somewhat lost in Australia, but is definitely something that I will miss the most once returned.

The pace of life, especially in contrast to my previous HSC year, is a welcome change. Without the pressures of school and a much simpler routine it has been easier to slow down and appreciate the things that would normally fly by. I don’t think I will have a year like this for quite a while and so it has been a wonderful opportunity that will never fade in its value or memory. The places, faces and occasions that so defined every amazing moment will be etched in me for many years to come.

Pat Doyle

Service year in Micronesia

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Experiences like these defy simple explanations, people so often ask me “So how’s Micronesia?” A question I still haven’t found an adequate response to. It eclipses most adjectives our language posses and even with a novels worth of prose I would struggle to do it justice.

Teaching, the primary focus of this experience, has been an adventure that has created several of my life’s most awkward moments, it has terrified me and it has almost broken me. Twice. But it has also given me a sense of purpose that I can never imagine will be overshadowed, it has spawned moments of fairytale joy and Olympian triumph

I have loved few things more than I do my little students. Arriving every day to a seething mass of children ecstatically screaming “good morning teacher Josh!” is a magical thing that unfailingly plasters a smile on my face for hours. Days spent working towards the breakthrough ‘ah hah’ moment with a struggling student, playing games that have every student laughing and smiling, or the unique moments like having to collect machetes and knives from sheepish students as they walk in. My best days and my worst are memories that time could never steal. Moments more powerful than any in my living memory, just for those this whole thing has been worth it.

But then I’ve also met people here from every continent, I’ve met American teachers seeking a change of scenery, I’ve met college graduates fleeing adulthood at all costs, I’ve met Asian Jesuit Scholastics with two months training in English giving everything to a class they know very little about, and I’ve met people who seemingly exist on a different plane of existence to the rest of humanity. They are almost to a man the best people I have ever met. Something about being as close to marooned as you can get in modern times forms friendships and bonds stronger than I’ve found before.

This community has gotten me through the toughest of days – the days where you fall on the walk to work and wear a mud stain for the day, then the lessons fall flat and you’re scrambling for an activity that’ll work, then it’s fish heads for dinner, and you go back to your room and find ants have colonised your bed. Those are the days everyone has here, and they’re the days where someone would run you down a new shirt, or slide you a piece of paper with a lesson idea, or make you some ramen noodles their parents just sent in a package, or lend you their spare sheet. Everyone’s problems become yours here, selfishness is rare and stunning acts of kindness are standard practice. You become a better human just by existing in their company. Leaving them all will be one of the hardest things I might ever have to do.

And never forget the Chuukese people, this mind boggling society who’s identity is evolving so quickly that it changes completely if you walk 5 k’s down the road. Their culture is a root cause of my frustrations and their behaviour does little to engender comfort. Their many imperfections are laid out for the world to see. But you would have to search for an awful long time to find a more generous, kind and enthusiastic people. I have been embraced by their hospitality even though they have nothing, I have been welcomed into homes, feasted for and been profoundly thanked for doing them the honour of letting them do it. I adore this little community, faults be damned.

Halfway through I might have professed to having not changed markedly, I still felt much the same, I thought for sure any change would be like some grand epiphany. But Chuuk, true to its nature, changes those who serve here gradually. And the fallacy of that previous mindset is becoming ever apparent to me. My transformation has been profound. A month back home in Australia served to highlight just how profound a change it had already been, and that was four months ago…

I will leave this island a very different man than I was when I arrived. I see the world differently, I act differently and I think differently. From an entirely different perspective. Small changes like a totally new definition of a pothole(just look at a photo and you’ll understand), or a new, far more flexible definition of the word late where it couldn’t even be used till you’ve been waiting at least 40min. But there have been big shifts too; Learning the value of the simplicities of life, changing how I measure and evaluate a person, learning how to live life in the moment, and the amazing benefit of doing so, and even as much as re-evaluating my idea of the path to happiness.

In short, this has been the most unexpectedly beneficial experience of my life, it has transcended any possible expectation or imagining I held prior to leaving. The feeling of genuine value and appreciation in the community you feel from everyone here is a rarity scarcely found in today’s self-absorbed world, and you in turn begin to measure your worth by your students success and your students attitude. The personal fulfilment and personal transformation that are also assured make it an experience who’s likeness couldn’t exist almost anywhere else.

For me I turn to one far more eloquent than myself to summate my feelings on Chuuk and my year here; Twain says; “the events of life can be split into two simple categories, the ones that matter and ones that don’t.”

This feels like it matters, this matters an awful lot.

Josh Conlon – Micronesia 2016

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.