Volunteer Stories  |  Leonie

Teaching in a town like Mae Hong Son is very special. You teach mostly Shan children who are originally Burmese but their ancestors crossed the border years ago. The municipal school where we teach is full of traditions. On Wednesday there's "Boy Scouts Day", every child and even the teachers are dressed in Boy Scout uniforms. We sometimes have to laugh about it because some teachers really look like young boys again with their uniforms on.

On Thursday there's “Sports Day”. All the children and teachers are dressed in sports clothes. The children wear green and yellow sports uniforms and the teachers just wear whatever sports clothes they want. You must think that they are paying more attention to sports on that day, but in the 3 weeks that I’ve been here I haven’t noticed that. But it is nice to see the unity in the school.

Friday is the day that everybody wears traditional Shan clothes. The first Friday we’ve complimented everybody with their beautiful clothes, not knowing that next Friday we had to wear those clothes too! The head of the English department brought some clothes for us and so we ended up teaching in traditional Shan clothes. The kids were very surprised to see us in those clothes and kept on saying: Suay! (that means: beautiful)

It’s nice to teach in a town like Mae Hong Son. I’ve got the feeling that I became very close with the children and teachers from the school, especially because you meet them everywhere in town. Mae Hong Son gave me the full Thailand experience!