I have been working in Thailand since 1999 and have been involved in education and leadership training for that entire time. After living in Thailand for so many years, I am fluent in the Thai language and very familiar with the culture. Along with a team of Thais, we have built a Community Development Center (CDC) that is located in the heart of Baan Namkem, a village in the district of Takuapa, province of Phang-nga (2 hours north of Phuket). This village was hardest hit by the tsunami in 2004. Our vision is to have a building that will be used by everyone in this village regardless of their race or religion.

The CDC is a project under the jurisdiction of “New Light Foundation” which is a non-profit, non-government, non-religious foundation recognized by the Thai government.

The CDC will be used for the overall development of the community. It has a kitchen and feeding center which provide free meals (Mon-Sat) for the children of poor families.

CDC currently provides the facility to allow the underprivileged children in the area an access to education. We also offer after-school education programs for the Thai children. There is a public school next door to Community Development Center. We have built strong relationships with this school and hope to supplement the education of the Thai students. We are providing after-school child care, English lessons, Basic Computer Knowledge, and other skill development related courses.

CDC has short-term volunteers lined up to help with teaching English. We hope to have a steady stream of native English speaking volunteers coming to the CDC to help teach all year round. Volunteers with vocational skills are also needed to help train the villagers. Interested parties are encouraged to contact us right away.

The CDC also has an activity hall that will be open to all of the people of Nam Kem. There is a game area and we often provide organized "camp style" games and activities.

This is a very small "taste" of the activities and services that the CDC is providing for the village of Baan Namkem. My team is constantly developing new programs in order to efficiently serve the community. It does not take much imagination to see the immense potential of this project. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be on the ground-floor and become a vital part of Baam Namkem as it rebuilds.