Step Ahead- Integrated Community Development

Kendra and I are three days into our first work week here at Step Ahead and I can't tell you how excited I am about being able to serve with this amazing organization. But I can blog about it.

English and German Language Instruction.

As the number of Speedo-clad tourists painfully demonstrates, the local economy of Khao Lak is heavily dependent. upon tourism. Having the ability to speak English conversationally or even fluently is a significant advantage. As advertised on the front of the center, Step Ahead offers English and German instruction to members of the community in order to assist them in greater utilizing the tourism segment of the local economy. Kendra and I will be serving as English teachers throughout the duration of our stay, operating as the instructors for month long English courses of various levels of proficiency.

We began this Monday with our first course. We will be teaching 2 two-hour courses each day, but with the tourism season in full swing, we're just at one course for the moment. Our students are adults and currently at level 2 of the program. Each lesson consists of grammar, pronunciation, reading comprehension, and conversation and is taught out of our Step Ahead course book.

Our favorite part of the course is how it incorporates the Christian faith. The reading selections that we have are excerpted sections of Scripture. Engaging parables from the Gospel are not only at the proper difficulty level for the students, but also expose them to the life and teachings of Christ.

The time passes quickly in the classroom and I'm glad to not only be able to assist community members in enhancing their skillset, but also share Christ with them.


Special Projects

Thai Totes

The Thai Thotes program, managed and supported by Step Ahead Khao Lak, allows women from a nearby village the opportunity to maintain a successful means of support in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami. The women handcraft tote bags of exceptional quality and sell them in the United States. On Tuesday, we were afforded the opportunity to visit each of the special projects and we stopped first at Thai Totes.

Sign above the door at the Thai Totes Project Building in a small village north of the center.

The sign adjacent to the street.

Pulling up to deliver some fabric and leather for the tote bags just arrived from Bangkok, we were greeted warmly by one of the women from the door into the building. Kendra and I had met her at church just a few days prior when we'd attended with a small congregation (15 or so people) in a chapel nearby. We walked into the single-room work area and were able to see the bags (in various states of completion), supplies, and equipment placed about. Beautiful red tile was framed by the brick wall and served as a cool respite from the 90 degree heat outside.

Maew and Jai from Step Ahead Khao Lak begin sorting and processing the new shipment of supplies.

A white board inside the room has 'Thai Totes' written along with a page sharing the following quote (in both English and Thai):

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."
-Mother Theresa

Finished totes adorn one of the walls.

The work continues. Some of the supplies are the wrong color and will have to be returned.

I'm happy to be surrounded by Totes. My shiny face may be the source of my new name. As 'Derek' is hard to pronounce for Thai speakers, I have been dubbed 'Dawan,' which means, 'Sun.'. And here I thought it was for my sunny disposition ...

Wrapping up processing the new order.

Anne Briggs, on the right of the image, is another volunteer at Step Ahead arriving just after Kendra and I. Arriving fresh from China, she'll be here for 8 weeks. Here's a fun fact if you don't believe in coincidences - Anne's a member of Kendra and my class from Whitworth. We both knew her at Whitworth and she arrived completely separately from us. She caught Kendra on Skype and mentioned that she was in Thailand and Kendra responded, "Really? Where are you staying?" To which Anne replied, "Downstairs."

I don't need to tell you that that's an insane coincidence. But we're glad to have her here to work alongside. She's awesome.


The Seeds Project.

An elderly man carries a satchel down a narrow sandy path that serves as one of the roads in this village of 600 people. Extremely close to a gorgeous beach with lazy palm trees overhanging the powder-soft, white sand, one wonders how life could not be perfect in this idyllic setting. But the answer to why it is lies in the roead itself. The sand, which makes frollicking on the beach so enjoyable, also makes the land inarable. Without sufficient nutritients or the ability to retain enough moisture for crops, the village is without a way to sustainably produce food.

Enter the Seeds Project.

Step Ahead Khao Lak provides the knowledge and support to assist members of the village in converting the land into one which can produce viable crops.

Take this picture, for example. Step Ahead has not only brought in the proper crops to grow in the area's idiosyncratic soil, but also devised the means by which renewable fertilizer can be produced and incorporated into the earth. Water laced with remnants of food (like the ground bones of fish-many of the villagers are fishermen), compost formed by compiling vegetation, and chopped up coconut husks (the 1 "- 2" husks are spongy and retain moisture while also fertilizing the soil), are all means by which Step Ahead has helped these villagers develop an agricultural system. I am extremely excited by this project and will be quite heavily involved in it throughout the next 6 months.

A new plot of fertilized land begins to sprout some crops.

These plants being grown are very similar to green onions and will be valuable at the local markets.

This plant may seem like a benign frond, but beneath its appearance lies a unique taste that's described as being like a spicy lemon - it's lemon grass, a very valuable plant in these parts.

While we were touring one of the plots, a whacking noise drew us to the other side of the house where two little girls were using long bamboo shoots to dislodge cashews from a cashew tree. The girls should be in school, but its too expensive for the parents to transport them. "Everything changed after the tsunami," Maew told me. It destroyed many elements of the local infrastructure and made a difficult life much harder. But projects like the Seeds project will not only provide food, but also financial support to allow for the education of the village's children.

The Home Stay Project

The Seeds Project is inextricably linked to this project. My photos hardly attest to the fact that the village is a virtual recreation of the Garden of Eden. The tropical vegetation, gorgeous weather, proximity to the beach, and beautifully built huts and houses make for a seemingly utopian environment. But the difficulty of life causes a reduced emphasis on the aesthetics of one's property, and garbage and 'scrub brush' regions are scattered throughout the otherwise gorgeous area.

The Home Stay Project is an effort by Step Ahead to have the community develop a service wherein tourists visiting Khao Lak can elect to live the life of an authentic Thai. They will reside in a beautiful little huts, lifted off the ground on stilts, with a straw-thatched roof and intricately woven walls. They'll accompany the fishermen as they work at sea and take a nap in a hammock slung in the cool shade beneath their hut above the sandy floor.

To make this a viable project, however, the aforementioned aread need to be cleaned up. The arable plots produced by the Seeds Project will turn areas that were previously unsightly grassy areas into neatly arranged rows of vibrant crops.

I'm excited to say that I'll be able to take on the Home Stay Project firsthand as I live the life of a Thai, if only for a day or two, and photodocument my experiences. I'll then be able to use the material that I generate to help develop a website for the program.

One of the huts for the Home Stay Project where visitors will sleep.

Kendra walks through the village.

While we were touring the Home Stay site, we came across a villager using his three trained monkeys to retrieve coconuts from the tops of the tall palm trees. You can see one of the little monkeys backlit by the sun partially up the trunk of the tree near the center of the image (on the right side of the trunk).

Kendra and I are extremely excited to begin and continue our work here with Step Ahead Khao Lak. We don't know what the next few months unfold, but we are honored and thrilled to be able to have this experience and serve God in Thailand. Thank you to everyone for supporting us-we couldn't do it without you.