Amy Roskilly
Sawatdee!
Ever since I heard that I was off to Thailand I’ve been trying to get to grips with the basics of the language (not totally successfully) and reading guide books about the area. This of course could seriously backfire, as in the six days we’ll have to ourselves I don’t think I’ll get time to see half of the pages I’ve earmarked!
But that’s not important when you think that we’ve got our entire life to take holidays. It’s not all that often that we get the opportunity to really make a difference in peoples’ lives while having a great time and being in an exotic country.
I can’t wait to meet the children and the families we’ll be working with out there and having the priceless opportunity to get a taste of real Thai culture, the one behind the holiday brochures that the travel companies don’t want you to see.
I know it’s not going to be a walk in the park (excuse the cliché) and that even with the language barriers aside, we’ll be facing challenges we’ve never thought of before and working with people who barely have a penny to their name – to the extent that sometimes leaving their children is the only option open to them. Yet, being able to make even the slightest difference to their lives will be extremely rewarding and will (I hope) have a positive impact not just on the community of Surin but on my own life as well.
I’ve been at Informa for two and a half years – working as a reporter and more recently in a production role on The Public Ledger – and the trip will be a great opportunity to get to know some of the people I work with from different divisions.
Thank you to Informa for setting up the project and chok dee (good luck) to everyone going!
End Goal
There are a million things that I hope I’ll achieve and gain from this trip. But the biggest ones will be to develop my self confidence, to work well with the team and also to learn as much as I can from the local people and their way of life. I want to make the most of every minute out there.
What can I do to achieve this goal?
I’m having a stab at learning some of the real basics of the language so that I can interact a little better with the local people and the children we’ll be working with.