My mother was
skeptical when I said I was leaving for Thailand in a month to work as a
full-time volunteer for an NGO for half a year. She was reassured when she saw
that the organization had a website, was on Google maps, replied to my emails, and
generally seemed legitimate. Still, I had student loans and the more
responsible choice at the time seemed to be staying in the US, getting a paid
job, and maybe taking a holiday to Thailand someday. But I decided it was the
opportunity I was looking for and, bank-account-be-damned, I was off.
Luckily, it
turned out moving to Phuket and volunteering for Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation
(PHBGTU) was a great decision. Volunteering for the Foundation doesn’t just
mean making coffee (although we do enjoy our morning cup of Joe); I became the
primary marketing and communication fellow or the “Marketing Department”. This role
meant liaising with media sponsors, updating our social media, creating our
quarterly newsletter, marketing and helping to plan our major fundraising
events, and more! In short it was amazing career experience, working with great
people, on a beautiful tropical island! #Winning.
Even the fact
that I happened to arrive on the island during an El Nino year –which meant the
rainiest high-season most people seemed to be able to remember – hasn’t put a
damper on my time as a full-time volunteer. One of the best parts of the job is
helping out at Coconut Club, the after-school programme for residential
students at Kamala school. For an hour each day we play games or create arts
and crafts with students who live full time at the school because they are
orphans or their parents are unable to take care of them. Spending time with
the children we work to benefit through quality English language programmes is
the best reminder that a day full of monotonous emailing was worth the effort.
Fortunately,
working in the office was usually very dynamic and meant taking responsibility
for a variety of projects. I stayed with the Foundation for 9 months and was
able to take part in all three of our major fundraising events over the course
of the year: A Night at the Opera; Black Tie, Muay Thai; and Pop Up 3. While I
was primarily working on marketing our small team shared responsibility for
tasks and everyone was involved in our fundraising events. Even our seven-member
teaching team would help out before and on event day.
