Garden IS students learn an unexpected skill
“I have never made cement before.”
“How can I make cement?”
These are some questions that came up when Garden International School’s students arrived to the local kindergarten school in the north of Chiang Mai and knew what their job was. Mae O Nai kindergarten is located approximately one hour away from our campus. There are nineteen students at the school aged between two and five years old; however, there is only one teacher to take care of them. Between the two groups, Garden students completed three days of community service at Mae O Nai.
Day 1 & 2: water draining and playing with the children
The main job to be done on these days was to make a concrete drain. The students had to mix the cement themselves – a first for most of them. Given that it was quite hard work, they had to cooperate with each other to get the job done. Mixing, learning and laughing all at the same time, everyone assisted each other and their friendships grew.
Some of students also took turns to take care of children in the school, playing with toys and singing songs.
Day 3: painting school walls
Both groups of Garden students joined forces on the final day. This day was dedicated to painting the school walls. Garden have become known at VSP for their creative ability and they were given the freedom to design the picture by themselves.
The students later reflected on their selfless acts and hopefully felt good about themselves and the project they had completed.