Starfish Ventures recruits and supervises volunteers to teach English to Thai children and assist in the conservation of sea turtles
In the aftermath of the tsunami that devastated Thailand's Andaman coast, one heartening aspect of the subsequent recovery operation was the number of foreigners who volunteered to help in any way they could. Many were tourists already in Thailand; others came from overseas as concerned individuals wanting to contribute.
However, this generous spirit of international cooperation doesn't just come to the forefront during times of crisis. The British company Starfish Ventures Ltd has been bringing numerous volunteers to Thailand throughout the year to teach English, help with conservation efforts and assist in development programmes for schools.
"We work with our Thai partners to make sure we're providing the assistance they require to achieve their goals," says Starfish Ventures director Dan Moore. "We have a long-term commitment to our ventures - we want to see each one grow and thrive."
The idea for the company came to Moore when he spent nine months teaching English in and around Surin. Previously a high-flying advertising sales executive in London, Moore's time in Thailand made him reassess his priorities about what he wanted to do with his life.
"I could see that through my English teaching, I was doing something of real benefit for the teachers and the children," he says. "I wanted to bring more native English speakers to Surin to provide help to the schools on an ongoing basis, rather than just going home and leaving it there."
Encouraged by his Thai friends and work colleagues in Surin, Moore launched Starfish Ventures from London, and now divides his time between Britain and the venture's base in Rayong. Working with his Thai partner who calls herself June, a former Surin tour guide, Moore oversees the volunteers while June provides their orientation and day-to-day help. With this personal, hands-on approach, volunteers feel immediately at ease and quickly adapt to their new Thai home so that they can pay full attention on their volunteer work.
"Most of my friends thought I was mad going to a country where I didn't know anyone, but June is worth double her weight in gold," says Jo Schofield, a teaching volunteer. "She is great at organising and a brilliant liaison between the volunteers and the school they're working at."
The Starfish website (www.starfishventures.co.uk) is the main way people discover Moore's company.
"After hearing Dan's enthusiasm for Starfish's projects, and also the constant support I would be given throughout my placement, I was sold," says Fiona McColl, who recently completed her venture. She's not the only one. Last year, Starfish Ventures brought a steady stream of volunteers to Surin and also to the turtle sanctuary on Koh Man Nai island near Rayong, which is under royal patronage.
The volunteers spend four to six hours a day teaching five days a week, visiting a variety of schools in the city and the countryside. The turtle conservation workers also learn about sea turtles and why they have become an endangered species in Thailand from Somchai, the island's resident marine biologist. Then they take part in the turtles' sanitation and health checks and explain the work of the sanctuary to other visitors.
In both cases, the volunteers work with the Thai staff and help out with their day-to-day duties. This includes some of the tougher jobs - like keeping schoolchildren amused while trying to explain the duller parts of English grammar or scrubbing holding tanks for the turtles in the blazing sun. In both cases, the volunteers have helped make a palpable, lasting change to their destinations and paved the way for future volunteers to continue improving their work.
It can be quite daunting at first for volunteers and Thai staff to work with each other, not least because of the language barrier.
"When I started work on the island I found communication hard, as I didn't speak Thai and the workers didn't speak English," says turtle volunteer Fiona McColl. "However as time went on my sign language, and theirs, became near enough perfect!"
This sort of contact between Westerners and Thai people is invaluable - it lets them build up trust between one another and they learn enough of each other's language to communicate. This is particularly important with children.
"Starfish's volunteers have helped our teachers and students to get acquainted with European people who speak English," says Chatchai Chumnun, educational supervisor for Surin province.
"The more the teachers and the students have a chance to teach and learn with the native speakers, the more they feel comfortable and develop a positive attitude. We don't want our teachers and students to feel scared whenever they meet foreigners. Thai smiles are not sufficient on their own if we want to have more tourists visit Thailand."
For Moore, simply placing volunteers in Thailand is not sufficient either. Starfish is also generating funds for investment in specific projects. Building salas to provide shade from the sun in Surin schools, along with landscaped gardens to give the children a better play area, is the first of the company's investment plans, which should see fruition later this year.
"Where we can see a clearly defined project that's going to have an obvious benefit, like the salas, we want to be able to raise cash to make it happen. It might take us a while," Moore says with a smile. "But we'll get there eventually."
With the success of Starfish's current Ventures, the company plans to launch two more in February.
One will bring much-needed volunteers to Hua Hin's Dog Rescue Centre, which is run by two Englishwomen, Dawn Poole and Maureen McColloch Taylor. The volunteers will help with the running of the centre as well as initiating fund-raising efforts and helping out in the centre's shop.
The other venture will bring qualified English nurses and nursing students to Aranyaprathet to help provide healthcare for the region's children's homes. This project will be supervised by Dan Bressington and his wife Pim. Bressington is a highly qualified senior nurse who lives near Aranyaprathet, while Pim is a member of the Red Cross. Together they will provide the support and supervision Starfish volunteers require.
By gradually growing the company from a small concern to a medium-sized business, Moore reckons Starfish's volunteer ethos will remain at the fore.
"I'm always going to be involved on a personal level with each volunteer's venture. I want to make sure that every volunteer knows we're with them every step of the way.
"Coming to live in a foreign country can seem quite challenging, but if you know you've got backup, you're more self-confident and ready to try new things. If ever they've got a problem, our volunteers can call me immediately. At the same time, because we have June and Pim working directly for the company, our Thai partners know they can always talk to us about what they want to do next so we can all push things forward together."
Starfish Ventures' website is at www.starfishventures.co.uk. Dan Moore can be reached at dan.moore@starfishventures.co.uk
[This article previously appeared in The Nation]
{ 0 comments… add one now }