I am a third-year student from Xavier Learning Community in Chiang Rai, Thailand. During the semester break, my friends and I wanted to gain more experience, so we volunteered to teach at different places. One of these places was Zibrae School, located in Chiang Mai province. Zibrae is a village about 20 kilometres from Mae Tuen district. The school provides education up to grade 9, and the villagers, who are mainly of Karen descent, plant beans and rice for their livelihood.

Upon arriving in the village, we learned that the community had no electricity and relied on solar cells for power. One of our biggest challenges was teaching all the classes instead of having separate teachers for each subject. We didn’t have much knowledge of the lessons, but every evening, from Monday to Friday, we gathered to discuss the day’s experiences and share the challenges we had overcome.

During the weekends, some students would guide us to a stream to catch fish. It was a long and tiring journey, but it was a fun experience. We also gathered food from the forest for dinner.

We stayed for three weeks, and on our last day, the students came to our accommodation to give us letters and souvenirs. Many of them had tears in their eyes as they said goodbye. It was a deeply emotional moment that revealed how much we had meant to the students. Their kindness and gratitude were truly inspiring, and it made us appreciate the importance of being teachers.

The most memorable part of our experience was their smiles, which we will carry with us forever. These three weeks gave us more than just a teaching experience. We learned to be independent while far from home, how to manage our emotions when things didn’t go as planned, and how to understand ourselves better.

We are extremely grateful for this opportunity. Although we arrived as teachers, we left having learned so much from our students and from experiencing a different culture. Every time we reflect on this experience, we are filled with warmth and gratitude.