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Tunghai University-News-News-Hear the Voice, Make the Change – 2019 THU Summer Service at Chiang Mai
Hear the Voice, Make the Change – 2019 THU Summer Service at Chiang Mai
- Department : THUPR
- Category : News
- View : 161
- Date : 2019-09-19
Under the financial support of Asian Christian Universities and Colleges Association (ACUCA) and the Higher Education Sprout Project of the Ministry of Education, 10 Tunghai students led by Director L.S. Lin of the Service Learning Division carried out a 12-day community service at Chiang Mai, Thailand in July 2019. The service was provided to disadvantaged children in the area, in cooperation with local Monna Student Center(蒙納學生中心) and Xintian Student Center(新天學生中心). The cooperation was a continuation from that of last year and was made to better fit to the needs of the children under guardiancies of the two centers.
There are many NGOs taking care of thousands of disadvantaged children in the Chiang Mai area, providing services such as temporary shelters, day-care centers, after-school activities, and education support. Majority of the children are minorities from Cambodia with poor or dysfunctional families. These children do not own national identification cards, are not offered basic citizen rights from the Thai government, and are in lack of any social supporting system.
The Tunghai students designed a diverse program based on their own expertise and the needs of the children, including establishing a bathroom for the children in Monna Student Center. The team leader, Director Lin, also conducted a training course for the staff to help explore future directions and development of the Monna Student Center. In order for the students to better understand the backgrounds, cultural traits and difficulties of these children, institutional and family visits were arranged. Reflection activities were conducted every evening to address the topics such as self-awareness, teamwork, and social issues. Program students learned a lot as they served the community.
The program has provided the participating students with an opportunity to gain a hands-on experience in the bottom society of Thailand as a global citizen. Through the process of planning through execution, students have learned to develop cultural sensitivity, to respect value diversity, and to work as a team member. On the other hand, Tunghai University is working on building up the mechanism and the student team to establish a continuous and long-term service through cooperation with local NGOs in Thailand.