Volunteer Stories  |  The Namsom Three

We would like to start by introducing ourselves. We are: Lotta , 23 from Sweden, Rowena (Ro), 42 from England and Rick, 37 from Holland.

Ro came to stay for three weeks and now, three months later she is still here, that's how much she is enjoying Namsom. Rick has been here for two months and does not know when he will return to Holland. Lotta has been here for two months and she has to return to Sweden to start working.

Namsom is a collection of small villages in a rural rice farming area. The dorm is a typical Thai house with basic toilet and washing facilities. As it is in the countryside naturally we do get insects and spiders in and around the house.

We teach in the local primary schools at Thasom, Nangua and also at the library in classes open for everyone. Most of the teachers speak very little English but are very welcoming and friendly. Most recently we attended a 2 day English Camp at Thasom primary school and also planned, organized and ran a week long English Camp at Nangua School. It was lots of work but a lot of fun.

We have had 4 volunteers come from Nongkhai to help us as we are normally only three or four volunteers here. It was nice to have a full house. The volunteers that were here always say they love it and want to come back. Even though it's not much of a westerns style night life. There are festivals regularly at one or another of the local Wats. Also the Namsom people are friendly and are always inviting the volunteers to have dinner or lunch in their houses.

As Namsom has not got a night life like Nongkhai we make our own entertainment at night. We all made many Thai friends so in the evenings we go to their homes to sit, talk, eat and drink.

We also have a lot of Thai friends coming to the dorm to teach us how to cook Thai food as Namsom is typical Thai there's no western food available. However we all have breakfast together before we go to our schools.

We all feel at home in Namsom, our experience here had been great and we feel that Namsom has a lot to offer anyone who wants to experience the real Thai life.