VSA THAILAND MID – LONG TERM VOLUNTEER PROJECT LIST 2019 VSA CONTACT Address: 1063/379 Palm Spring Airport Village, Kuanlang Sub-district, Hat Yai District, Songkhla, Thailand 90110 Tel. +66 (0) 8 2262 5577, +66 (0) 8 1959 2961 E-mail contact Mid-Long Term Volunteer (MLTV) [email protected] CONTENT About VSA Mid-Long Term Volunteer Description Qualification Volunteer life About visa to Thailand Project location MLTV table 2019 MLTV project detail 2019 ABOUT VSA Volunteer Spirit Association (VSA Thailand) is a non-profit (NPO)/non-government (NGO) / Peace organization collaborates international voluntary project for people of all ages, cultures, religious and economic backgrounds. Our work is based on the belief that learning, sharing, and understanding can reduce any conflicts. We hope it can lead to the last goal that is PEACE. Volunteer Spirit Association (VSA Thailand) started the activity in 2008 as SAWASDEE Thailand (ST) and organized first international workcamp in 2009. Now VSA is a full member of NVDA (Network Voluntary Development in Asia) and CCIVS (Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service), and still, keep promoting International Voluntary Service (IVS) in Thailand step by step. Mission Co-ordinate international voluntary projects for people of all ages, cultures, religious and economic backgrounds. Vision Gateway to the global citizen as an International Voluntary Service where you can share friendship and dream with people around the world MID-LONG TERM VOLUNTEER DESCRIPTION Volunteers would stay and work with VSA and local partners from 1 to 12 months with the following themes • Education (EDU) teaching, learning, exchanging, etc. • Environment (ENVI) plant the tree, take care of the planted tree, collect garbage, public water sources conservative, etc. • Agriculture (AGRI) learning the sufficiency economy theory, the new theory of agriculture, organic farm, non-chemical agriculture, etc. • Culture (CULT) local history recalling festival, museum. • Construction (CONS) school and temple renovation. • Social (SOCI) local community development, disable people. • Renovation (RENO) learning center, school, temple. QUALIFICATION • Age over 18 years • Ability to communicate in English or full intention to try. • Open up and love to learn new things, and respect in the different cultures. VOLUNTEER LIFE Volunteer Coordinator will be the one who can manage and answer your question, and also coordinate between international volunteers and local hosts at the beginning of the project, after a while, the international volunteers need to learn how to communicate by themselves with local hosts. even we speak the different language, it will be not more empowerment than intention. The volunteer coordinator will be your adviser during your voluntary staying. Working, the local organization will prepare the work for the volunteers. Your ideas or suggestions are always welcomed and needed. The volunteers are not the tourist, visitor or a guest. They are expected to work with the local people as a member of their team. Simple accommodation, volunteers will stay at the local house, temple, school, public center, forest camping, or hut. Accommodation and food, accommodation and food are included in the participation fee except for their own expenses such as souvenir, personal food, accommodation on free time, weekend, traveling day, or before starting of projects and after the end of the project. Volunteers have to keep clean their own accommodation and cooking their own food mostly together with the local people. PARTICIPATION FEE The participation fee is spent on a project running, food, accommodation during volunteer project period, administration and organization running. The volunteers have to pay their own expenses such as souvenir, personal food, and free time travel expense, and also expense before the project starts and after the project ends. Why will need to pay participation fee? VSA is not financially supported by government to host projects related to IVS. Hence all projects are self-funded with a participation fee. Giving the remote locations and various complexities, we have tried our best to make it as affordable as possible for volunteers. Being a non-profit organization, we emphasize transparency, below is how we spend collected participation fee. • Food, accommodation, and logistics of the volunteers during workcamp. • Project setup costs. (material and logistics cost) • Running the camp. (wage of professional like mason, carpenter, plumber, etc. Training local youth supported by us.) • Office running/admin expenses. (internet, photocopy, stationary, electricity, phone, salary, office equipment, tool and rental etc.) • Supporting a small community project. • International travel costs to global conferences and membership fee for networking. Dividing the participation fee The participation fee will be divided as 40% for Project running, preparing workcamp all workcamp and MLTV project cost 40% for Organization running, all administrative cost such as the internet, rental, salary, phone, equipment, etc. 10% Networking, training, and seminar, the cost of international travel costs to global conferences and membership fee for networking 10% Foundation, activity, and support to our local partners outside the project. HOW TO APPLY • Completely Volunteer Exchange Form • Completely motivation letter ABOUT VISA TO THAILAND Mid-Long Term Volunteer (MLTV) There are 2 ways for MLTV 1. Apply for a tourist visa, mostly the volunteers get a visa to stay in Thailand for 2 months. After that, if the volunteers want to extend the visa, they can extend it at Royal Thai Consulate-General Penang, Malaysia (the easiest way), and the volunteers will get more 30 days to include 1900 Baht for visa fee. Furthermore, if the volunteers want to extend the visa, but less than 30 days, they can apply for a tourist visa at the immigration office. 2. For MLTV who stay more than 2 months, apply for Non-Immigrant Visa “O-A” (Long Stay) REMARKS • Please contact us immediately if the volunteers need a confirmation letter after coordinate clearly with the sending organization. VSA Thailand can help the volunteers before they leave their country, but VSA Thailand cannot provide a visa upon arrival in Thailand. The volunteers need to make arrangement for a visa in their home country before departure date. The sending organization will usually help the volunteers along with the process. • If the volunteers have a tourist visa, do not go out of Thailand until your visa date expires because the tourist visa will finish automatically, and they have to ask for visa again at Thai Consulate abroad. KNOWLEDGE DIVIDE AND EDUCATION FAILURE IN THAILAND The pictures of Thailand Education failure on language skill and international knowledge some presented by less number of Thai who can communicate in English and less basic knowledge on an international level. English subject has been put in the Thai curriculum since primary school. In some private school started learning since kindergarten level but the wrong methodology of education learning has been put in Thai society which made graduated students could not communicate in English and/or interested in international basic knowledge. Measuring education quality and successfulness learning goals of learner showing 4 key points generated in following Education Quality The effective of Thailand education generate into Teacher passion and quality, in the last 20 years High school graduation who pure intend to continue study to be a teacher has less than 20%. Most of the high school graduates choose teacher faculty to spare from other faculties that they intend to study and or teaching faculty is the last choice to study after they could not enter in any faculty. The reason that to be a teacher is not to motivate people to study are less salary, hard-working (include teaching and school additional tasks). So to be the teacher in Thailand seem hard work with less compensation and low social value. Unqualify person studied to be the teacher, we found the result of English teacher could not communicate in English, teaching English by Thai and never practiced student in English for communication. Some people did not know their ability which is one of education failure. Learning without knowing what they really are. Some properly to be the teacher but found themselves in other work fields as the higher social value The wrong methodology of education, one of the goals of Thai education aims to pass the test than encouraging a love of wisdom. So the way of learning in classroom focus on the amount of knowledge than understanding in the subject nor understand the aims of learning. Students who passing test could not even understand what they have been passed to adapted in daily life. This kind of education created the dream of capitalism wealth than understand own traditional wisdom which is the real social situation and fundamental to developing. Education Department policy, teacher working task has been divided more than teaching but including school management tasks. The teacher needs to work on students quality and statistic report competition with the private school which created the aims of teaching to high core test than quantity learning. Nationalism idea and the language barrier, since 1939, Thailand on leading of Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister announced about Thai nationalism which is protection for colonization from western. The purpose is for nationalist and Thai solidarity.