Volunteers who prefer to stay in a town with other volunteers can choose volunteer in Nongkhai and teach at one of the local village schools that we support.

You stay at our 3 volunteer compound and you are normally picked up by a school bus or teacher in the morning. This is where you will do your volunteer training too. Some volunteers also help to develop teaching material or eco projects material.

Volunteer accommodation is simple. The bedrooms are Thai village style but the volunteer living room has a TV, DVD player, computers and Internet , Skype, and wireless for laptops. All three houses have bathrooms, one with a hot shower. There’s a small kitchen.

You find several laundries, shops, and pharmacies in the neighborhood, along with restaurants, a hospital (Wattana), Internet shops, a 7/11 with an ATM outside and where you can make international calls and nearby a local open-air food market.

About Nongkhai
Nongkhai is a town in the heart of Indochina and on the shore of the legendary Mekong River, with the Friendship Bridge, built some years ago, linking Laos to Thailand and the rest of the world. Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is just a 30-minute drive from Nongkhai!

Nongkhai is located in the northeast of Thailand, Isan, only recently beginning to be discovered by travelers.  Here you find places and people where life really is like the romanticized images of Thailand.  

Walk along the streets of Nongkhai, along the river! Soak up the exotic Indochinese atmosphere. It could be anybody’s favorite pastime. Eat at one of the many Thai, Isan, Vietnamese, Chinese, even Western, ‘farang’, restaurants. Food is easy to find, delicious and cheap, from 20 Baht and up!
There are other attractions too such as the many temples. The royal Wat Poo Chai with its legendary Golden Buddha, stolen from the Lao, is a must, as is the Buddhist/Hindu inspired Sculpture Park, Sala Kaeow Khu, unique in Thailand!
You can do many sports, tennis, golf, swimming, tennis, gym, badminton, soccer, petanque or volleyball. Maybe you want to try the very local nightlife? Listen to Isan and Thai pop and rock performed by local artists!

Go on excursions along the Mekong River ! The valley drive east of Nong Khai is by many considered to be among the most scenic in Thailand. Go jungle trekking in the Phu Wua Mountains, swim in the waterfalls, stay overnight in simple but charming guesthouses.

About a  Day in a Nongkhai Village School
When we arrived at the school with the teacher that picks us up at the OMP volunteer houses evry morning, the English teacher greeted us with her  smiling ‘Sawas Dee khap’ and told us, in Thai English that ‘sorry but must to go to town, sorry but you have English class. Children like you play game and sing song.’ Not very surprised we realize that we probably should talk to her about the benefits of preparing and having classes together.
‘Well, bonne chance, our Thai trainnee is here now’ says Christine. She is our friend who acts as a perfect language and culture interpreter. Good thing, we prepared some lessons together back in Nongkhai at the OPM House.

The sun is shining and the clouds have disappeared. The heat is on by lunchtime. Classes went well, though the ‘good morning teacher’, the first greeting when we come to class, all kids standing up, still feels a bit strange. But is nice!

 ‘Even the most naughty, cheeky and restless boys enjoyed and participated in our games. So we did OK.

As we walk back on the muddy road after the afternoon classes, some boys and girls want us to come and say hello to their parents. ‘ Mai krai’, they say, not far, they smile and beg, so we agree, though by now we are totally exhausted. we have sweated through a hot afternoon with lots of demos of PowerPoint, some English spelling games and also a little PhotoShop. Some kids borrowed a digital camera and will try to make something nice with the help of PhotoShop and volunteers. I learnt PhotoShop, and some other programs and games at the OPM Volunteer House in Nongkhai so I feel more confident when I am with the kids. And it was really good to have Auee tell us about the village, school and teaching before going to the village too.

It turns out that maybe the children’s’  ‘mai krai’ did not mean not far but rather not near ( ‘krai’ can mean far or near in Thai depending on the tone!) since by now we have been walking for 20 minutes!

Some three hours later, it is dark, and we can already hear thunder in the distance, as we start back towards the OMP Houses in Nongkhai and to have dinner with some of the Thai OMP staff at the nearby noodle shop. Some volunteers have already gone to eat at the chicken and the sticky rice place  where they also serve the very hot and popular  ‘somtam’, papaya salad that everybody get addicted to.

After dinner we will discuss next day’s classes and also how to arrange for a new teachers’ meeting but after a while we change subject to the upcoming weekend. What to do? Stay in Nongkhai or go to the Phu Wua Mountains  with the wild elephants. In Nongkhai there are some lively pubs with local bands singing Isan, Thai and Western songs on request, a contrast to life in the village or maybe cross over the Mekong River into Laos and spend a day or two in Vientiane, the Lao capital? 

By now, it is ten o ‘clock and some volunteers lie on the floor watching television or rather one of the many DVDs in the volunteer TV/Internet room.

Time for ‘ab nam’, shower, I say to the others. And not until now do I realize how tired I am. The cocks will wake us up early next morning as usual.

About Teaching and Life at a Buddhist Temple School in Nongkhai.

You teach novices together with Buddhist monk teachers, learn about Buddhism and understand  the social function a temple, as well as a temple school, serves in a country with many poor!

Prathatvittaya, Secondary school (Mataiyum 1-6) is located in Nongkhai 4 kilometers from the town center. Many volunteers have taught English and computer skills there.
Volunteers stay at our Volunteer Houses in Nongkai and are picked up by the temple school mini bus.

There are more 200 students and 18 teachers. Of the teachers 80 % are monks and the rest 'normal' teachers. The director is a monk and also abbot and the new principal is Phra Tharabon, the computer teacher that many volunteers have enjoyed working with.
 
   Most of the boys come from poor circumstances, ‘broken’ families and poor, single parent families, or are orphans from the south of Thailand. Volunteers teach English and also do computer training with the novices.

Volunteering at a temple provides an amazing opportunity to learn more about Buddhism.

If you want to, you can contact Nick, from our Openmindprojects team, who used to teach at Wat Phrathatvittaya with volunteers and  who was a novice and monk for 11 years,

Monks and novices, get up around 5 or 5.30 am everyday. Then
they prepare themselves to collect alms (hold the black bowl in their
hands and walk into the village for food) at 6 am. It takes about 1 hour
for that activity. They eat breakfast at 7 am. After that they do
different duties, some, novices/students study the Bali (Buddhist language) and other work like cleaning the temple area, the temple and stupa and so on till 10 am. Then they go out for food again. At 11 am monks have lunch, the last meal of the day!

After lunch they take a break and prepare themselves to study during the afternoon, the ‘normal’ subjects like English, Math, social studies, Thai, computers/internet, science and so on like another school till 6 pm. Before they go to the classroom they do noon chanting (Buddhist singing in Bali) and listen to some speech from teachers.

At 6.30 pm, they start to do evening chanting. Then they start to review Bali and others read books that they like until 8.30 or 9 pm when they take break. Normally according to the temple rules, all monks and novices have to sleep at 10 or 11 pm, but sometimes they have to do they some work that might be late. This is the daily life on Monday to Friday. On weekends there are no afternoon studies.