TKU's Overseas Study Service Team Heads To Hui Nam Sai Thailand

2014/02/21

One of the most beautiful views in the world can be seen in northern Thailand’s Hui Nam Sai. Hui Nam Sai is a small village that is about 3,000 kilometers from Taiwan. After Tamkang University’s Service and Study Team volunteered their services in Hui Nam Sai, the townspeople showed their appreciation by offering baskets of fresh home-grown rice and vegetables.

The service team was lead by professor of the Extracurricular Activities Guidance Section, Mei-lan Lee, who stated, “When the Service Team arrived in Hui Nam Sai, we found it was a much different experience than our Cambodia Service Team. Because of their location in the high rigid mountains, they have been very secluded from society. In many areas they have been left behind by the outside world and are in need of support in various areas. Due to the war and political problems their status doesn’t qualify them for government support. They are in desperate need of resources from the outside world.”

The Cambodia Service Team has been established for 7 years, but this is the first time sending a trip to Hui Nam Sai. Mei-lan Lee continued, “In every expedition you have to first prepare for a few possible cultural or environmental conflicts while trying to learn the ways of the land. So our service team had to first undergo a challenging evaluation before we were granted a chance to offer the people of Hui Nam Sai our educational services. We also had to make sure we headed to the area when the climate would be the most mild and the farmers would be between seasons. After we received our training, we stayed in Hui Nam Sai for 10 days. It was a long trip, taking 3 hours on the plane followed by a 7 hour drive into the mountains.

Professor of the Extracurricular Activities Guidance Section, Yen-Ming Chen, stated, “It was a completely new experience for the villagers to have outsiders in their town so when we met with the parents of the students, there were many other curious individuals in attendance. In addition to teaching international Chinese language, we also gave them an education regarding selling their own crafts and products. We even taught them a cultural class that showed them calligraphy and gave them the history and background Taiwanese people. For us on the service team, the most exciting thing in the world is being able to spread education. Whether we are showing them how to speak Chinese, write or sell, it’s an amazing feeling to see people learning and developing.”

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