Learning Together at Nam Pong

Our two day camp at the Nam Pong river began in silence. A slow meditative walk led us through bright green fields of recently planted rice shoots, the mud a carpet of earth pressing through our toes. Our walk wound us along the Nam Pong river, an important part of the watershed that feeds the city of Khon Kaen, including our class.
Our goal coming here was twofold; to create more comprehensive knowledge of our watershed by learning about villagers and learning and experiencing their way of life . Our second goal was for students to develop relationships with their peers. Two classes participated in the camp, M1 (14 year olds) and the Chinchara classroom (made up of high school level students struggling in a traditional classroom, including students with learning disabilities and autism). Happily we can say that we met these goals:


Students were formed into small groups for their homestays with villagers. By working together with new friends they had just met each group, used a map they were handed to find their homestay's location.


Meditation. Developing a tool to learn about ourselves, and to learn focus.

Planting trees in the community forest with our homestay families. Learning local wisdom and developing relationships.

Living together. Deconstructing a "stranger" and learning to love a stranger.