Applied Geography formerly Rural Training Center, Thailand

2006 Jun 17 Thailand Scout Trip for Winter 2007

Jun 17, 2006

This summer, Saifon and Gregory Lee will be in Thailand. In addition to inspecting the RTC-TH demonstration farm, they will review the Ban Na Fa Elementary school REEEPP progress, and scouting the Winter 2007 trip.

Since last summer, when the initial RTC-TH demonstration farm effort began, a number of key items were completed:
---Rainwater harvesting system installed on the farm house.
---A new cowshed was built
---2 new pig sheds were built
---2 fishponds were overhauled (cleaned, repaired)
---1 new fish pond was built
---4 new types of forage grass have planted for feeding the cows
---Duckweed was harvested as pig feed supplement
---Terracing of the upper portion of the farm began
---A new water catchment pond was planned
---A new driveway gate was installed

Depending on the workload and conditions (the rainy season began early this year), several new topics / ideas may be explored. Watch for newsletter updates and announcements of these new activities.

Saifon and Greg will be meeting with the Ban Na Fa Elementary faculty and staff to review the REEEPP progress. This will be the 2nd annual review of REEEPP. The feedback from the teachers and students are input to the planning of the Winter 2007 volunteer trip. The RTC-TH is to help local teachers solve their problems rather than to bring a solution looking for a problem to match it.

Scouting the ancient Thai capitals is all part of the summer 2006 trip. Since conditions change, the scout trip is essential to critically determine the location, scale, time variables. After doing the volunteer project in Nan Province, the group will make its way south to Bangkok. Along the way, are Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, two of the ancient Thai capitals. Thonburi, the third ancient capital city is across the river from Bangkok. Thailand developed from the north to the south. So this itinerary lets the volunteers visit these ancient capitals in the proper geographic sequence.

General geographic background information about Thailand is included in the ??œPreliminary Winter 2007 Trip Information Packet??? (in the PDF section of this website).

Prospective volunteers should contact the RTC-TH via e-mail (rtc2k5@gmail.com). Please be sure to provide your basic contact information (name, address, phone, e-mail). Please indicate your citizenship, if you have a passport (country and expiration date), your gender, if you have a roommate for the trip.