4eme trip to Chiangmai told by 4 students
In Sophie and Mia's words
In February, all the 4ème students traveled to Chiang Mai for an extraordinary six-day adventure from the 17th to the 22nd. We stayed at the residences in Traidhos, near a primary school. During the day, we cared for elephants, contributed to forest restoration with the FORRU foundation, learned Thai, mixed cement to construct a floor for kindergarteners, and visited the Pand Dang Nok tribe. In the evenings, we explored the night market, employing our newfound Thai vocabulary to haggle, enjoyed barbecued delicacies, and participated in Thai dancing and a fire-eater performance. The trip aimed to bring together students from TKO and BPR, despite some initial apprehensions. The whole 4ème was divided into four groups with unfamiliar classmates, which created many chances to make new friends. Initially skeptical about the trip, everyone ultimately found it to be fantastic!
Chiang Mai is a trip that made us all reflect on ourselves. Seeing different living experiences was shocking. We always knew some people lived in harsher conditions than we live in, that some kids do not have access to a very good education, but none of us had ever actually seen how these kids live and learn. Whilst visiting a defavorised primary school in Chiang Mai, we saw the struggles these kids had to go through just to have access to a poor education. We also saw how people live without identification papers while visiting an ethnic minority tribe. They showed us how hard they had to work just to be able to keep up on rent. These people made us realise how economically fortunate we are in life, and now, we are grateful for how lucky we are. Overall, this trip was a wonderful one that shaped us into new people and made us all thankful for the opportunities we have.
