Trip to Thailand

          

I take this opportunity to thank each one of you immensely for making it possible for us to take the 8 young people, who were refused visas for UK to participate in the Youth Exchange, to Thailand. We had promised to take them to UK but since they could not get the visas for UK, as an alternative we decided to take them abroad to a nearby country where getting visas would not be a problem. With the total amount contributed by the Grey Lodge Settlement of Scotland, the Friends of Deep Griha UK and from a special friend of DGS we were able to take the group of 8 youth, one male leader ( Team Leader at DGS – Avinash Chakranarayan) and myself as the leader for the girls group to Thailand for 5 nights.

We were fortunate to get a package deal within the total amount received for this trip, which covered air travel, internal transport in Thailand from airport to all the tourist places and back to the airport, stay in 3 star hotels for 5 nights, all three meals and entry tickets for all the tourist places. I even managed to give small amount as pocket money to the 8 youth.

All the participants came to Deep Griha’s Cultural Centre on the evening of 19th Sept. 2009. We left for Mumbai airport at 5:30 AM on 20th of Sept.2009. For all the youth in the group this travel to Mumbai was also the first time! I was touched to notice their excitement when our minibus was going through tunnels on the way to Mumbai. After the ordeal of the security check at the airport, checking the baggage and go through the immigration check we took our seats in the airplane. Except myself, for everyone this was the first air travel. They all were excited & scared. Four hours after the take off, we reached the Bangkok Airport at 7 PM, local time. We were met at the Swarnabhumi Airport by the travel agent and were driven to Pattaya . This is a town by the beach. We were booked at the Golden Beach Hotel. Dinner was waiting for us when we arrived and we went to bed soon after the dinner.

Next morning, i.e. on the 21st Sept. at 7 o’clock we were driven to the beach, where a motor boat was waiting for us. We had a boat ride to a nearby island where there were arrangements for each one of us to have a para-sailing experience! The place was buzzing with other tourists. Para-sailing was quite an experience! I too had my first and last experience of para-sailing….. little scary to begin with but once you are up in the air, it was fun. After each one had finished para-sailing we had another motor boat ride to the Coral island. On the way to the island, through the glass bottom of the boat we could clearly see a wide range of corals and fishes. It was brilliant. Then we spent few hours at the beach and the youth enjoyed playing in the water. Needless to say this was their first time playing in sea water. After lunch we all went back to the hotel. In the evening we went to see a cultural programme at Alcazar. There was dancing, singing, small plays. The stage backdrops, the music, lights etc was very entertaining. All the beautiful girls on the stage were supposed to be “Lady boys” as our guide informed us! After the show we went to a mall just to have a look at it. Youth were thrilled to see variety of things available in the mall, the interiors, the decorations and prices of things. They were mentally prepared before we went in, that we were just going in to see the mall and not to purchase anything. Then we went back to the hotel. Everyone had had a lovely time.

On 22nd morning at 8 AM we left for Bangkok. After three hours of drive in an air-conditioned van, we checked into the Howard Square Hotel in Bangkok. On this first day in Bangkok, we visited different Buddha Temples and the factory of precious stones and watched jewellery making.
On 23rd morning we were taken for a safari. We watched many wild animals and had fun time at the dolphin show, the sea lions’ show, the music band played by monkeys etc. etc. There was a boat ride through a make believe forest, with artificial animals around with sound effects. This was another enjoyable visit. After lunch we went to shopping malls. Some of it was in small road side stalls where things were cheap and one had to bargain. The young people enjoyed this part and were happy to purchase some souvenirs or gifts for dear ones back home or for themselves.
On 24th morning we went to the amusement park called the Dream Land which was fun. The landscaping on this Dream land is beautiful and colourful with flowers, fountains & plants. There were various roller coaster rides, water rides, imaginary travel through space in a speedy open train through pitch dark space with very effective sounds and one could see stars, there was a ghost house, a giant house, a fairyland, toy cars and boat for individual rides and there was a snow mountain too where we had to enter with boots and jackets supplied at the entrance and there were snow games one could enjoy. We spent almost the whole day in this Dreamland. On the way back to the hotel, again we stopped at some reasonably priced shopping places.

On 25th morning we checked out of the hotel but left our luggage at the hotel and we were driven to the Floating market. This is set in a river and you actually sit in a boat and shop around for articles either on other boats or on the bank of the river. Various shops are lined on the banks and after bargaining we could purchase some souvenirs and gift articles to bring home. It was a unique way of shopping which everyone enjoyed. On the way back to the hotel we visited the Government Art and Craft Centre where we could see some artisans at work. After lunch we had to leave for the airport to leave for Mumbai.
The whole trip was very enjoyable and was certainly a once in a life time of experience for each one, even myself. Everyone kept good health, there were no accidents of any kind, the travel agents had planned everything accurately and timely. Everyone came back home with great satisfaction.

On behalf of these youngsters, I would like to thank all of you who made this trip possible.



Dr. Neela Onawale, Director, Deep Griha Society

DISHA Community Awareness Session, a volunteers perspective

Today I was lucky enough to accompany some of the DISHA ladies into the community to conduct an awareness session about HIV in a client’s home. The client, a woman named Maharinda, is HIV+, along with her husband and two children. It was explained to me that she was first diagnosed she was very unhappy, in denial about her condition and unwilling to speak to anybody from DISHA who tried to reach out to her. I found this description difficult to connect to the smiling woman who I met today, who was so enthusiastic about the work that DISHA do that she had invited her female friends and neighbours into her home to participate in the awareness session. We all squeezed into Maharinda’s house, some of us sat on the bed and some on the floor, and listened intently as the DISHA ladies explained the causes of HIV and how you can protect yourself from the disease. It was easy to see how interested everybody was; their attention remained focused on the speakers until the end.

For me, the afternoon highlighted what makes DISHA so effective. They are proactive about awareness, not inviting people to come to them but going out into the community, into people’s homes, to spread their message. As members of the community themselves, the DISHA staff are in a perfect position to build relationships of trust – something that was evident today when they were invited into somebody’s home to talk about what is still a very taboo subject.

Kate Evans, volunteer, Deep Griha Society