News from Thailand

On Thursday 29th October, ten students and two members of staff from Cobham Hall arrived back in the UK to conclude what had been a nine month project to challenge and extend students and to promote a greater sense of service, leadership and adventure.
It all began back in February when the students from Cobham Hall were challenged to respond to the plight of a Mokan gypsy community on Phi Phi Island who lost much of their land to hotel developers after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. The project had been started by the Regent’s School but was still in need of financial support and manual labour. So the challenge was two-fold: firstly, raise money for the project via a sponsored cycle ride and other fund-raising events and secondly to go as part of a team to Phi Phi Island to help with the building of the community centre and school.
 
During the following months, staff and girls organised a range of fundraising events.  Some of the girls were raising money to enable them to go to Thailand while others were raising money to contribute directly to the trust fund for the building of the community centre. The final event was a cycle ride from Westfield School in Newcastle back to Cobham Hall via all the other English Round Square schools – a total distance of 450 miles (about 720km) - in a series of relays. As well as raising money, through sponsorship and promotions on local radio and in local newspapers we were also able to raise the profile of Round Square.  Although the ride ultimately had to be abandoned due to an unfortunate road accident involving the Headmaster of Cobham Hall being knocked off his bicycle, the girls still rallied round to participate in 2 more days of cycling from Cobham Hall to Greenwich Park in London and back again. This was a good lesson in not letting a setback prevent the achievement of a goal.
 
Other events to raise funds for the Phi Phi project included a fashion show, selling Christmas and birthday cards, selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a teacher Spelling Bee. These brought in more money and also allowed a wider range of students to contribute towards the project.
 
All the girls arrived home with lots of stories to tell and some have already described it as an amazing and life-changing experience. We all fell in love with Thailand and their gentle people. All of the girls have said that they want to go back for the 2010 Conference and to see the completion of the Community Centre Project.
 
So many people have helped with making this project a success. As well as raising money to allow the students to participate in the project we have been able to donate about £3500 towards the future of the community centre. Support has not only been financial but the giving up of hours of free-time. It would be impossible to thank everyone and some would still be missed but a special thank you should go to Paul Crouch and the staff of Regent’s School for their help and for providing the inspiration for such a project in the first place. We wish them every success in the future and hope to celebrate with them and the Mokan community when the centre is complete.

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