Philanthropy

Teaching English in a School of a Remote Ethnic Village

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Covering 700 sq km, Mae Wang National Park is home to five Karen hill tribe villages. Originally from the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, or Tibet, the Karen crossed into Thailand in the 1700s. Thailand’s largest minority group often find themselves marginalised and largely trapped in a cycle of rural poverty with only one in four children completing secondary education.

Travel to the national park by 4WD vehicle to spend the day at a village elementary school, first stopping to pick up supplies for the school. After learning about the educational challenges facing the students, add a memorable philanthropic element to your travels by helping to teach a lesson in basic conversational English. Also visit a Karen house for a closer look at local life, including cooking over a traditional fire stove.

Duration: 9hrs

Learn Thai Cooking and Support Disadvantaged Children

Phuket, Thailand

Of more than 60 million Thai people, an estimated 450,000 live with HIV. While the epidemic is thankfully in decline, Thailand still has one of the highest HIV rates in Asia-Pacific. Due to its many internal migrants, Phuket is one of the hardest hit provinces. Sadly, stigma against those with HIV is rampant, with relatives often rejecting HIV-positive family members.

Spend the day learning new skills in the kitchen while helping those less fortunate by cooking a meal for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. After a market trip to pick up fresh ingredients, learn how to prepare a Thai meal at a cooking school right by the beach. Then take the meal to a nearby foster home and spend time with the young residents aged 1-17 years old where you will learn about the support given to families living with HIV.

Duration: 8hrs

Gain Insight to Monastic Life with a School Visit

Bagan, Myanmar

The Burmese word “kyaung” refers to both school and monastery, highlighting a nearly thousand-year tradition of monastic schools operating both educational and religious activities for the local community. Today, nearly 1,700 monastic schools provide education to over 300,000 children across Myanmar, helping to fill a gap in the public educational system. These schools use the same curriculum as government schools to teach students coming from remote or conflict areas, children with disabilities or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds.

Visit the Shwe Gu Monastic Education Centre where hundreds of novices from different ethnic groups across the country are taught by monks and volunteer teachers. Spend time learning about the monastic school system and getting to know the students with the opportunity to donate school bags, stationery, umbrellas, textbooks and school uniforms directly to the children.

Duration: 2-3hrs

Intha Homebuilding Project

Heho, Myanmar

Trails of Indochina is deeply committed to giving back to the local community and changing lives through philanthropic deeds. During your stay at Inle Lake, get involved with our homebuilding project that aims to achieve this, besides developing strong ties with the local Intha community. Adequate housing is a basic human right, but many impoverished families can’t afford their own home. Trails of Indochina’s ongoing project sets out to build a new home for Intha families, selected from villages around Inle Lake. Donations such as yours preceding your Myanmar trip helps us turn dreams into reality. Although the house construction timeframe is around six days, the entire project takes between four and six months. When the new house is finally ready for a family to move in, we will exclusively invite you to attend the opening ceremony. During this special event, which includes a communal lunch with Intha villagers, see for yourself the results of your donation and celebrate the family’s inaugural day in their new home!

Duration: 4hrs

Discovering the Monasteries of Dala

Yangon, Myanmar

Just 15 minutes from downtown Yangon, the rural township of Dala is truly a world away from the fast pace of the big city. Board the local ferry to cross the Yangon River over to Dala, gateway to the Ayeyarwady Delta. Take a trishaw ride along dusty lanes to observe life in the Delta where families in bamboo homes with tin roofs run small businesses like making candles for pagoda offerings and crafts from recycled materials.

Walk through a colourful local market to a monastery which also functions as a community centre. Monasteries are incredibly important in Myanmar, traditionally providing the community with moral guidance as well as basic education. Gain insight into what monastic life is like in a country with half a million monks.

Duration: 4hrs

Visiting a Village School with the Tuk-Tuk Library

Luang Prabang, Laos

The literacy rate of Laos falls short of most of its Southeast Asian neighbours at just over 70% and is often even lower in rural areas where children must walk long distances to reach the nearest school. Other factors that add to the problem include poor-quality classrooms, limited teacher training and a dearth of appropriate reading materials.

To help combat the issue, the Luang Prabang Public Library, in tandem with Cooperative Learning International, aims to bring books into the hands of children through its Lao Children’s Library Boats and Tuk-Tuk Library. Join the mobile library for an inspiring morning of visiting a village school with books, games and learning activities. See how hygiene is promoted through songs, stories and drama and help distribute a health bag containing soap, a toothbrush and other personal items or a learning bag with exercise books and pencils to the children.

Duration: 4-5hrs

A Well Donation for a Better Life

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Although Cambodia is home to the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, provinces like Battambang have limited access to safe water and sanitation. In the dry season when water is limited, villagers walk as far as two kilometres to reach streams to bathe or wash their clothes.

Trails of Indochina supports this need through our Well Donation Program. After identifying a village in need, our local staff organises the groundwork construction of a well. Guests are then invited to the village in time to join the community in witnessing the final pouring of cement to secure the well. Through this meaningful act, guests can see the far-reaching benefits of their generosity, particularly in impoverished areas.

Duration: 2hrs

Supporting Education for the Children of Anlong Pi

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Just 30km (19mi) from Siem Reap lies Anlong Pi, the province’s main dump site. The toxic landfill is also where hundreds of Cambodians, a third of whom are children, scavenge daily looking for recyclable materials to sell. While “tragedy tourism” has developed around Anlong Pi with some well-meaning visitors taking photos and giving gifts to the children, this only serves to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

Instead, responsible travellers look to support the Anlong Pi Free School. Relying completely on donations, the school teaches an estimated 250 children aged 6-16 years old literacy, vocational and life skills including basic hygiene and safety. Part of your tour cost goes directly towards the daily needs of this population and the mango tree you plant will grow to feed these villagers for years to come.

Duration: 3-4hrs

Experience Life In A Typical Cambodian Village

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Outside of Siem Reap’s magnificent temples and tourist-friendly town centre, there are more than 140,000 people who call the town home. Venture away from the usual attractions for a taste of what 80% of Cambodia looks like with a visit to the rural village of Peak Sneng.

Immerse yourself in village life as you visit the local school and observe how teachers make the most of a very basic learning environment. Travel around the village by traditional vehicle and learn how to weave palm leaves into simple decorations. Best of all, a portion of your tour costs will directly benefit the village, helping to meet pressing needs such as a computer for the school or to repair the roof of an elderly villager’s home.

Duration: 4hrs

Improve the Life of a Villager with a Cow Donation (Exclusive)

Hue, Vietnam

Buffalo and cattle play a tremendously important role in the lives of rural farmers. Because of their usefulness and high economic value, these animals are often treated as members of the family. In addition to providing milk and meat, cattle are essential for working the land in rural Vietnam. They are allowed to roam freely during the day and eat herbs and grasses found around the village, minimising the upkeep of these animals. Travel to the outskirts of Hue and participate in a ceremony where you will donate a cow to a family of farmers, with local authorities and villagers as witnesses. Spend some time with the recipients of your life-changing gift and learn about their daily life and future plans, all made brighter by your generous donation.

Duration: 2hrs

Sampan Boat Donation (Exclusive)

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Riverboats and sampans are the main means of transport in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s largest rice farming area. The traditional sampan is used for transporting goods to and from market (both floating and land-based), ferrying children to school, and even as floating shops. As a result, families who cannot afford a sampan can find themselves cut off from everyday life.

Trails of Indochina identifies a family in need then facilitates a face-to-face meeting with the traveller. The highlight is an intimate ceremony where the traveller personally delivers the sampan to the family, witnessed by villagers and local authorities. The event is emotional for everyone involved – the grateful family for a truly life-changing gift and the traveller rewarded with the knowledge that a single, meaningful gesture will provide an entire family with a sustainable livelihood for years to come.

Duration: 30min-1hr (exclusive of travel time)