Roll with It

Yesterday we went on another outreach day to an all girls catholic school. Our team leader had received no information as to what kind of work we would be doing at the school. Weloaded up the van with some educational children's books with the hopes that we could set up a mini book fair. There must have been miscommunication with our ship's coordinator because when we arrived at the school the director asked us what program we were to present to the students. Our reaction was, "uhhhhh........"

But as I'm learning on the ship, very rarely does outreach go according to plan and you just have to be flexible. Fortunately we brought some international flags and maps of the world so we set up a table with all the books with our props as decorations. Initially we set up in a hallway that had little foot traffic. It was quiet and no one would come up to our table. The school was having a mothers day celebration where the students would play games and sell or buy sweets, food and invite their moms to come visit the school. It was on the eve of the Queen's birthday (which is a huge day in Thailand.) We moved the table around the corner to an open courtyard area. Immediately we were swarmed with students. It was fun to practice my Thai with them and some of the older students volunteered to help out.


In addition, they took us around their school to show us the facilities and share about their curriculum. The school's speciality is languages. So in addition to having impeccable English all the students took French, Chinese or Italian. It was quite impressive and motivated me more to learn their language.


We sold a lot of books and had fun working with the student volunteers. Though we didn't come with a set program or plan, the director and students were so appreciative that we came. Everyone just rolled with it and I was really taken aback by their warmth and hospitality. In a way they had reached out to us more than the other way around. Sometime those you serve end up serving you.