Issue 2 Feature brought to you by Jungle Aid
How Expats Can Give Back to Their New Home
Living as an expat in Thailand certainly has its benefits. The generally favorable exchange rate makes living in bigger and better homes more affordable. The convenient location allows for holidays to beautiful beaches, mountains and cities every weekend of the year. Culturally, the relaxed lifestyle and largely accepted use of the English language make Thailand a very agreeable place that many visit, and choose to never leave.
While it’s easy to remember these carefree reasons why one might settle down in the Land of Smiles, it can be even easier to block out the fact that others, those who do not have the luxury of choosing a different life, are not in so fortunate of a position.
To the west of Hua Hin, from Bon Luk to Bang Saphan are several extremely remote villages; some of them only accessible in the dry season. These villages are home to hundreds of undocumented people living with little or no access to healthcare or essential supplies. While the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” generally applies to society’s attitude toward these peoples and their kin, a not-for-profit organization called Jungle Aid is committed to assessing the needs of each village with the local leader and working together to improve standards of living. This includes providing medical assistance, food, supplies and education, as well as the materials and skills necessary for them to become sustainable communities. Behind the scenes, volunteers are continually working on the website while others are raising money and organizing events.
Run by Emma Neve, a British expatriate, nurse and managing director of an international school in Hua Hin, Jungle Aid is a charitable organization that spends the last Saturday of each month visiting one of the villages and working collaboratively to “make a positive impact on those that are disadvantaged, regardless of their religion, race or gender.” This generally requires a long drive to the village at dawn, a full day of delivering general and specialized assistance, and a drive back home at dusk.
Neve says that she established the Jungle Aid organization two years ago, shortly after she moved to Hua Hin and realized that there were a number of remote villages that she could help.
“It is not often that people have the chance to combine their passions and their professional background to positively impact the lives of thousands of people in their local area.” Neve said. “But [Jungle Aid] gives me the opportunity to utilise my skills in nursing, family health and tropical medicine with my main drive to help disadvantaged families.”
To date, Jungle Aid has helped 1,500 vulnerable individuals.
While Neve’s background certainly is advantageous to the efforts of the organization, especially when it comes to providing emergency medical care, setting up remote clinics and determining long-term care plans, she says that anyone who is interested in volunteering is encouraged to join. It’s not just direct medical care that makes people and their communities healthy. Jungle Aid holds teaching sessions for many diverse subjects, from teaching parents about healthy cooking, showing children how to brush their teeth, or to help the village learn languages and other life skills. Each month when trucks are loaded up with clothing, food and other donations, hands are needed to carry the supplies from the truck (which, depending on conditions, may not be able to cross the surrounding terrain) to the villages.
One volunteer, Jane Kisnica has been on six Jungle Aid trips and said that one of her trips required the group to carry supplies, including bags of rice and even live chickens across a waist-deep river. “It was intense, and of course it wasn’t comfortable. But after crossing the river and seeing the kids get the biggest enjoyment from little gifts, or even just taking a picture of them, it was completely worth it.”
Volunteering in any form is almost always a rewarding and worthwhile experience, however most programs that involve trips to remote destinations require hefty fees and long term commitments, reserving this kind of destination volunteerism strictly for people with lots of disposable income or time. This is an unfortunate stigma that tends to defer many people who would otherwise volunteer, but believe they can’t afford it.
Volunteering with Jungle Aid though is about as minimal of a commitment as someone who truly wants to give back to the local population can make. An exception to that rule, volunteers return to their homes the same day they depart from Hua Hin and are required to donate just 500THB, which really is just enough to cover the cost of fuel and the T-shirt he or she will wear that day, proving that for this charity to run, time and dedication are the most precious contributions one can make. Even the work done behind the scenes is accomplished by volunteerism, including the 800+ hours that have already gone into managing the website.
Supporting the local population could mean a number of things in Thailand, from buying strings of flowers from small children on Khao San Road, to handing over loose change to someone sitting on the pavement with an empty cup. However, providing genuinely helpful resources and skills, both tangible and abstract, in a method that not only allows the benefactor to see an immediate benefit, but also to witness the joy that comes from the receiver will genuinely reward both parties.