The
Regent’s students work hard at Koh Phi Phi.
Paul Crouch
On the 16th of March 2011, 7 Key Stage 3 students, Mr.
Crouch and Ms. Kati went on a project to Koh Phi Phi. We left really early,
at 5 a.m. It took us a bus ride, a flight and a boat ride to reach our
destination. Everyone was really tired, but after a nice meal at the Phi Phi
Natural Resort we were excited to see the community centre that we are
building and then go down to the Sea Gypsy village to get more familiar with
the project and the local people. We learnt what jobs the local people do
and that there are 23 households and 25 families in the village.
Whereas we got to relax on our first evening there the
next day started out by doing hard work. We got to cement the water tanks so
that they would hold water better. Although this was difficult at first,
after the first 3 water tanks we perfected our technique and managed to get
on much quicker and make them much smoother.
“It was a lot of fun to put cement on the tanks, it was
quite messy in the beginning and we got cement everywhere - on the floor and
on our clothes, so we realized it is actually a job that needs patience and
concentration,” Dominic Tipkrailas Witts said.
When the rest of the supplies arrived the next day we had
to transport the materials off the ship to the beach. “We made a long line
and passed the roof tiles from person to person to put them neatly in piles.
I did not realize how quickly we did it and how strong we were,” said Amy
Clarke.
It was very hot but we had fun at the same time.
Afterwards we painted some of the tiles so they would be water resistant and
reflect light. “It is much harder to make sure that the paint is applied
evenly than I realized. We wanted to do it quickly but that resulted in a
mess, so we had to learn to be patient,” said Cemlyn Waters. We also learnt
that little jobs like cleaning out the concrete ditches from soil is a lot
harder than it seems.
One morning we were invited to go along to the Sea
Gypsies’ cemetery where they held a ceremony to remember their ancestors.
There was a big party and the locals put on food, soft drinks and blessings
at each grave and shared a lot of food.
On Sunday we had a day of relaxing so after breakfast we
got on a long tail boat and went around the islands nearby. We visited Koh
Phi Phi Ley, Monkey Island and did a bit of snorkeling and swimming. We also
fed the fish and saw many colourful sea creatures. For lunch we went to
Tonsai Bay on the other side of Koh Phi Phi. First we visited the tsunami
memorial site and found out more about what effects the 2004 tsunami had on
this island. After that we also did a bit of shopping and got some presents
for our parents.
The students from United World College in Singapore
joined us to work at the centre on Monday, our last day there. “They were
15-17 year olds, but we wanted to show them we can work just as hard as them
even though we are younger,” said Carys Waters.
It was good they got there because the older students
could help out a lot by carrying some of the heavy sandbags and loaded the
tractor with the concrete tiles.
It was nice to learn about the people of the Sea Gypsy village and help
build the Centre. We did a lot of hard work but also had a very fun filled
week and we cannot wait to visit again.
