Steve Gomersall's latest blog:

Writing now, a little after my return to England, my enthusiasm and passion for the work in Thailand has not changed.

The last four weeks out there were just amazing. I tried dog meat and snake meat as well as returning to Nu Po for a weekend visit and being treated so well, the friends I have made there, they are not just students!, are unbelievable, their work ethos should mean that they are the most successful generation ever, but unfortunately the opportunities which they have don’t quite allow for this – that’s why they need people like you to go out and help.

After originally accepting the offer to stay in the dorm a few nights a week, I soon realised that living with the students was such an amazing offer that I didn’t want to leave; in fact I probably stayed there five or six nights every week! The other teachers were also really happy; anyone willing to help with homework on a night is a great advantage.

On the Thursday of my last week I was awoken late with a noise over the main speaker – it was Naw Paw Ray screaming at the students. Why? I slowly got up (having been finishing the report at about 2.30am and not liking the fact that my free morning was being ruined) to be greeted by the sight of water EVERYWHERE! A dam had bust and the school was flooding, the pathway was dangerously deep, walking down it later I had to take my cigarettes out of my pocket to avoid them getting wet, so for little children this was a very dangerous situation. The school vegetable gardens had been flooded out and many plants washed away and the water was threatening the main hall. The kids loved it, but the teachers didn’t. We realised later in the day that there was a blockage down stream, about 10m square bush weed was clogging up the run away channel – into the river we all jumped, machetes ready and started tugging away at the weeds. The communal spirit was amazing and it was actually quite fun (although another student was cooking a 1.5m water snake at that point, captured minutes before in the same spot, for lunch).

So I didn’t get to teach my last two days, however I did finish the second edition of the school newspaper and many other things. On my last night, before getting the night bus back to Bangkok, I was taken out for a meal by the school and a couple of students. I had to return once again to say goodbye, a very teary goodbye, it was heart breaking. I feel like I helped so much and made a difference to so many lives; to leave was the worst feeling that I have ever had. This was truly a life changing experience, which opened my eyes to both the fulfilment that can be found in making a difference, and the sheer magnitude of evil which exists in the world, which we don’t often get exposed to here in England. If anyone would like to know more, or even get involved in MOEI 2009 then please contact me at smg24@bath.ac.uk or find me on facebook.

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