Xavier Carlile (pictured left), along with 11 other volunteers, took the incredible opportunity offered by the Cardoner Network to be part of the Cardoner Volunteer Corps (CVC), volunteering in Northern Thailand this year. The Cardoner Network, based in Australia, offers transformative volunteering opportunities for young adults to be formed in the Jesuit model of love for service and the poor. Xavier and his fellow CVC’s ventured out of their local, rural communities near Chiang Mai, in order to serve at Xavier Learning Community (XLC) in Chiang Rai. In the reflection that follows, Xavier shares his experience volunteering at the camp.
At its core, the volunteering opportunity is to teach English at schools in Karen and Mong ethnic districts, aiming to minimise the gap between English levels in the city and rural areas that we reside in. We recently had the opportunity to experience a new community at XLC, a tertiary educational institution that welcomes recent high school graduates from Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. We CVCs assisted XLC Director, Fr Vinai Boonlue SJ, with his mission to improve the quality of English learning and ability through running an English camp, with the majority of activities being in English, including classes, Masses, and conversations during mealtime. The overall objective of the camp is to enhance the careers and life prospects of the students at XLC by improving their knowledge of English.
The English camp was a very exciting opportunity for the CVCs, as it gave us the chance to travel to a different area of Thailand and meet new people of different backgrounds from what we’ve been accustomed to. We were able to teach in a different setting with different students through an interactive experience that was thoroughly enjoyed by all the volunteers. Fr Vinai welcomed in the campers, who were Year 12 students from all over Thailand, ranging from Bangkok to Chiang Rai, exposing them to XLC as a possible place for post-school education.
The camp was organised to create a community that comes together to learn English in an engaging way. This was reflected in all the campers and staff chanting the camp slogan, “Journey with friends, discover yourself”, to emphasise the importance of maintaining a strong community, encouraging further engagement, and an incentive to learn.
The camp was run through a mixture of collective and smaller-group activities. The collective activities included icebreakers that involved singing, dancing, and acting, all communicated in English. The smaller groups consisted of CVCs and XLC staff leading the students through different activities. For example, we had competitive tongue-twister competitions, scavenger hunts, and a blindfold track where groups had to communicate with each other blindfolded, directing each other from the start to the finish line.
During breaks throughout the camp, the CVCs would often gather with the other XLC staff and campers, chatting at meals or playing volleyball and soccer together. This time was just as valuable, building up connections as well as enhancing English conversational skills for the year 12 students.
The final night saw the highly anticipated talent show unfold, where all the campers in their groups, as well as the CVCs, would perform a 10-20 minute English performance, ranging from dances, singing, skits, and stand-up comedy. This night is fondly remembered by all the CVCs, as it was a beautiful way of celebrating the camp and our time together.
The following day was rather sombre as we all had to say our goodbyes to each other, which was incredibly tough knowing the likelihood that we wouldn’t see any of our new-found friends again. In retrospect, the camp slogan rings true, as we all went on a “journey with friends to discover ourselves”, with the majority of the campers now interested in studying at XLC after they graduate high school in March of next year.
This English camp, though only a week long, gave me a grander perspective on my year in Thailand as I enter my final chapter of my year as a CVC here. After saying goodbye to the amazing community at XLC that I will dearly miss, I must brace myself for saying goodbye to the most amazing communities that I now call home in Huay Tong. They have embraced me since January of this year, and it will be incredibly tough to leave. However, I take some comfort knowing that I gave my whole self to these communities and made the most of my time here.
Xavier Carlile, a graduate from St Aloysius College in Sydney, Australia, currently volunteers in Northern Thailand through The Cardoner Network, the Australian Province’s Young Adult Ministry.