By Siriphen Ongkamongkol 

     BBA#17

As always, when rainy season says good bye, cold wind peaks in and starts to settle itself as a new guest. In the middle of valleys in Loei province, the news reported that this year would be colder than any other years. We could not know, with the best of our knowledge, whether the light from their little lamps or the warmth from their little pieces of blankets would be able help them fight the coldness this year, like they could in the previous years. However, perhaps, we hope, warmth and love from social sympathy would somehow alleviate their suffering from the cold. 

In the dawn of Sunday 4th December 2008, our volunteers from BBA family gathered and were ready to set off from Thammasat to Baan Tard Seaw, Loei province. Despite the fact that we have different backgrounds, one common thing we have in mind is the willingness to give love and warmth to the remote communities and to confirm Thai hospitality that Thais will never leave anyone behind, anywhere, anytime.

The trip took time more than we had planned, activities on the first day, thus, were all cancelled after we had introduced ourselves to Tard Seaw villagers. Our group of 65 people was assigned to 11 different houses, which resulted in 5-6 people per house. Then we separated into houses assigned and took a good night sleep to charge up battery for upcoming tasks.

Not long after the sun rose, we all had porridge for breakfast, the most wanted meal at the time, in the midst of the morning fog. Afterward, we separated to groups assigned to work on 5 different tasks ? construction, social relation, teaching, cooking, and research. This year we planned to build a new canteen for Tard Seaw School since their old one was already in a bad condition. Above all, however, the most accomplished task that we were proud of was the research task. It was a unit that gathered potentials and current problems of the village by breaking up our volunteers in groups to search information during the day. This information was then shared in the evening to be further studied and analyzed.