'The town of Thai Muang has donated property to develop a nursery for 90 orphans, but we haven't a clue how to start - please help!' On receiving this urgent phone call from Thailand, the director of charity Compassion and Care International rang Community Playthings. Could we send someone to Thailand to help with this project? A fortnight later my husband Martin and I were speeding east on Thai Air.
Compassion and Care International has been involved in Thailand for 16 years, but more intensively since the tsunami in December 2004. Focusing efforts on one devastated village, Thai Mung, their original aim was to build homes in which to care for tsunami orphans. However, all orphans were absorbed into local families, so the mayor requested a day nursery for the children and he provided the building.
Before we even reached Thai Muang, we felt we had entered a kaleidoscope.
Our senses were whirling amid the heat, humidity, brilliant colours, exotic fruits, temples, mosques, motorbikes (some carrying entire families), birds warbling, the fragrance of incense and aromas of delicious cooking (alternating with smelly drains).
Despite fresh vines covering the debris, evidence of the tsunami's destruction was blatant as we travelled along the coast. It was shocking to see a large military vessel lodged against a mountainside two kilometres from the sea, or trees with green tops while the bottom 20 feet were dead and brown.
We visited Kamala Beach, a fishing town where Compassion and Care and West Sussex County Council are sponsoring construction of a school. While charity members inspected the building site, Martin and I waded in the bay, unexpectedly stumbling upon large chunks of concrete that used to be people's homes, broken dishes, flip-flops, even clothing.
Authoritarian education
Before undertaking the nursery layout, for 90 two- to five-year-olds, we needed to know something about Thai childcare. We learned that traditionally Thai education has been based on an empiricist view of children, utilising rote memorisation from a young age. In recent years there has been a shift toward a view of children as active learners. It was reassuring to discover the official Thai Education Department (ONEC) website, which quotes approaches like Reggio Emilia and High/Scope.
We also learned about Thai education 'on the ground' from friends that we stayed with in the Ban Nam Kem refugee camp. David and Tabea Johnson have been teaching English and art in the Ban Nam Kem school since the tsunami and their daughter Eliza teaches in the school's nursery.
The authoritarian model of education is still the norm in actual practice.
Classes consist of up to 49 students. Children do meticulous work but are fearful of making mistakes, as free expression in the school setting seems a new idea to them.
Even the nursery had been filled with desks and the 30 five-year-olds sat for most of the day. They were expected to copy the Thai alphabet minutely and exactly. However, after getting acquainted with staff, Eliza received permission to rearrange the room, pushing desks together to free most of the nursery for play.
In contrast, Thai children are unsupervised to an amazing degree during free time. In the refugee camp we watched imaginative role play with no materials and lengthy games using natural materials or discarded objects.
The camp consists of dozens of 'knockdowns,' so-called because the corrugated metal rooms supported by tall steel posts will eventually be knocked down. Beneath each room is an open area where families cook, eat, relax, wash and hang laundry, resulting in a remarkable sense of community.
The Johnsons' living area is often occupied by children, and children's artwork is hung on the ceiling since there are no walls.
Family memories
Of all our impressions of Thailand, these children made the deepest. The children in this refugee camp, some of whom have lost parents or their entire family, play with unrestrained energy. This is not to say that these children are not grieving. Each has a tragedy to carry. Sometimes Tabea will find a child crying, or one will say to her, 'You can be my mother'.
But their resilience is incredible.
On our first evening, two boys stopped by the Johnsons' knockdown to chat.
One was Ot, whose whole family - parents and three siblings - drowned in the tsunami. For art class the previous week Tabea had asked his class to draw their families. She had told Ot he could draw either his own family or hers. (She was unsure if it was right to do the project at all, but went ahead because the loss of his family is a fact Ot has to live with.) Ot decided to draw his own family, including his baby brother.
With Ot was Bens. Tabea and David had been worried because he'd been unable to sleep following a tsunami scare three weeks before. The tsunami scare was a nightmare for children who had survived the December tsunami, rousing dreadful memories - Bens and his mother had tried to flee the wave by car, but it caught them, swamping their vehicle. They managed to escape out of the car windows and scramble to a roof. To keep Bens company during his sleepless nights after the tsunami scare, his family got him a puppy called Nami.
Nami slept under a car while we watched Bens and others play a lively game in the dark, making huge leaps to catch each other.
Five-year-old Bam seemed to come and go at will, appearing out of the dark, climbing into David's lap, then slipping away again. Then there was Mong Dan, a chubby three-year-old. She did not talk much but made up for it with the most expressive hand motions. Mong Dan loved Martin's finger-puppet mouse ('Nu' in Thai) and would squeal and giggle every time he made it act up. She would follow him around: 'Nu? Nu?'. Mong Dan would appear out of the dark and play for long stretches of time. In the daytime we'd often see her chugging past on her little legs. Her grandmother loves her dearly but has a demanding task supervising Mong Dan and her teenage cousin, Sah, both of whom live with her.
Spirit of childhood
Our nursery planning session in Thai Muang went well. Since the town wants the nursery to be a model of good practice (and since ONEC represents an active learning philosophy), we used the same approach we have followed planning hundreds of nurseries in the UK.
Martin worked with the mayor's team to measure everything, then gave suggestions for the outdoor play areas. Meanwhile I laid out the nursery's interior on a large grid, using templates of storage shelves and panels to create activity areas that will support various areas of learning: role play, creative/art area, construction/small world, book corner, sensory play, tables for mark-making and malleables, plus a welcome area and space where children and carers can gather for singing, stories, or other group activities.
One thing we did not have to make space for was coat hooks. Instead, racks will be provided outside for children's shoes and flip-flops.
Compassion and Care International is looking for an organisation to fund purchase of the nursery furniture and equipment. Then they will hire a mix of Thai and British staff.
Before we left, Mong Dan scribbled a drawing for me to bring home. But for us, the main gift she and her playmates imparted was a renewed belief in the vibrant spirit of childhood, which is thriving despite all the odds in Thailand. NW
Helen Huleatt is a planning consultant with Community Playthings
Further information
* Compassion and Care International, Hook Place, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 8RF, tel: 01444 248383, info@ccint.org.uk.
* Community Playthings, www.communityplaythings.co.uk.