Children's Day at Ko Klang!

A handful of GVI's volunteers attended Children's Day at Ko Klang. The event was hosted by Su, who runs the home stay utilized by GVI's Teaching Children volunteers who pick the home stay option as well as some 6-9 month teaching internship placements. Here's Teaching Children volunteer, Jules Burwood's description of the fabulous event:

One of my highlights of the 2 weeks living in Ao Luk was having the
opportunity to go to the island of Koh Klang for a "Children's Day"
celebration. It was run by a lady named Su who is one of the kindest and
most genuine people I've been lucky enough to meet. Myself and my friend
Shae, along with GVI staff member Emily and 3 volunteers from the construction
project; Duncan, Hannah and Al, headed out bright and early on January 16th to
Su's house ready for a jam packed day! On arrival, after a bus trip and a
long tailed boat ride, we were greeted by tonnes of kids running down the drive
way to guide us to the huge yard set up for the day's activities.

We got straight into a giant round of tug-of-war! It was
manic! It was great to see over 150 smiling kids either playing or
cheering us on. During the day we played heaps of games with the
children including water balloon relays and musical chairs (which we discovered
Thais are pros at). Eating competitions and getting fed a banana by a
blindfolded team mate. We also hung out
with them to just chat and
muck around. Shae taught them "scissors, paper, rock" and "thumb
wars". I spent a good 45 minutes counting to 100 in Thai several
times and Duncan showed
them some of his circus flips and tricks.
Despite some language barriers it was so amazing to just get to the kids
all playing together so friendly and peacefully.

As a small
break from the day, in the early afternoon Su and her husband took us on a
tour of the island! We 5 volunteers squashed into a really cool side cart
attached to their scooter
to see the island. It was amazing, so
naturally beautiful and mostly untouched. Something that the
majority of Krabi tourists wouldn't generally get to see so it made the day
that bit more special.

Back at Su's, we handed lunch and
doughnuts out to all the children who were so gracious when receiving
it. It was a beautiful. We were provided a yummy Thai
lunch at Su's house. It was fantastic! The day was great and for
anyone who gets the chance to experience it in the future, it's definitely worth
your time. The people, community and island itself are all awe
inspiring.

- Jules

Children's Day at Ko Klang!