Final week in Thailand for Ambulance Volunteers

COUNTRY: Thailand
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: St John's Ambulance Volunteers

We have now reached our last week of our four week placement. It's unbelievable how fast time goes by when you're learning, travelling, experiencing new things and bonding with residents, NGO's, and all different, unique people from all over the world, brought together in a small town at the Thai-Burma border.

All 11 of us, have faced challenges and fears. We have achieved personal goals and have challenged ourselves to do things we have not been exposed to before. We've made new friends as well as strengthened friendships.

Throughout our time in Mae Sot, we have been exposed to a whole new world. What we've experienced is nothing like what we're all used to in Australia. We've had to adjust to the food, environment, health system, and culture to name a few.

Here are a few things we've done in the past few weeks! We've shadowed medics at Mae Tao Clinic, which is set up primarily for the Burmese refugees who sneak over to attend to their health problems. We've been rotating in different sections of the clinic - Administration, Pharmacy, Child OPD, Acupuncture, Dental, Child Recreation Centre, Surgical and Reproductive. We have all learnt or discovered something in each department. Whether it be discovering a love for kids, or uncovering a strong point in admin. We have all seen something new - a hernia operation!


We have also taught at several migrant schools, topics such as general sanitation, basic first aid, and sport & recreation. Interns have assisted us by translating and providing a different point of view.

Every Sunday, we would assist SAW's Mobile Medical Team and administer Vitamin A & de-worming tablets to children in migrant communities. These migrant communities are in the Phop Phra region, approximately 45 kilometres south of Mae Sot. Each community is named after how far away they are from Mae Sot. For example 'the 37km'. Each time we visited a community, we are reminded of how lucky we are to live in a country with the freedom of speech. Sometimes we grow accustomed to what we have and begin to take things for granted. Sometimes we complain about first world problems, when really in reality, they aren't problem.

During our time in Mae Sot, we have also visit numerous organisations such as Curriculum Project, AAPPB, Backpack Health, Karen Department of Health, & Shoklo Malaria Research Unit just to name a few. All of the organisations have one thing in common. They are all established for the benefit of the Burmese Community in Thailand.

We also had the opportunity of a lifetime to visit Umpiem Refugee Camp. Home to approximately 16,000 refugees from Burma. It is located approximately 2 hours south of Mae Sot, and is surrounded by beautiful scenery. We had the opportunity to get to know interns and organisations within the camp. One of the organisations train and teach a group of refugees basic health care, who then go door to door to spread the information. It was really interesting hearing stories from the refugees. Each had their own unique story.

In our down time, we enjoyed climbing up waterfalls, bargaining at several markets and we especially loved blowing up fireworks. How often do you get to blow up your own fireworks in Australia? Yea, never.

We'd really like to thank Antipodeans Abroad for making our experience possible.

Adilah & Jess

First official shifts at Mae Tao Medical Clinic for volutneers in Thailand

COUNTRY: Thailand
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: St John's Ambulance Volunteers

This week we had the rare opportunity of visiting the Umplem Burmese Refugee Camp, the largest Burmese refugee camp in Mae Sot. Although the two hour ride up the mountain was twisty and made a lot of us very nauseous, it was worth it! Upon arrival we were greeted by members of the American Refugee Committee (ARC). Following a delicious traditional

Burmese lunch we heard presentations by the different branches of the ARC including Water and Sanitation, reproductive health, gender violence and the Public Health institution.

This was a real eye opener and we all admired the way that the committee worked to empower Burmese communities through education and community health training. In the afternoon we walked through the camp with the ARC committee to the ARC office- which was on top of the hill we were on! We had to make a few stops to catch our breath, but the people that we met, the experiences shared and the environment that we were able to experience were truly memorable.
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We had our first official shift in the Mae Tao clinic on Friday. Some of us were even lucky enough to watch a hernia operation and the treatment of a large scale foot infection caused by a dog bite. The shifts varied from administrative, childcare and Traditional Chinese Medicine jobs to pharmaceuticals, reproductive health, paediatrics, dentistry and surgery. In Traditional Chinese Medicine I learned a lot about the different nerve tracts and points around the body and the theory of chi and body balance.

On Monday was our second shift. I was in pediatrics where they treated children between 2 months and 12 years. One of the main messages that I took from this experience was the importance of educating young mothers about disease prevention and management for infants. Dixie, one of the Child Health OPD staff, told me about the common misconceptions people have about disease and how this often leads to poor management. Many of the infants were given Oral Rehydration Solutions to replenish the salts and water that they have lost from their body.

On Sunday, we assisted the Mobile Medical Team with distributing de-worming and vitamin A tablets to the children of two more villages near the Thailand-Burma boarder. We also helped the doctor record symptoms and history of patients before diagnosis.

This week was also Catherine and Jess’ Birthday! Cho Cho organised party food and we celebrated (with what has quickly become our celebratory tradition) by letting off some fireworks!

Last night we went to a unique Buffet restaurant where you pick and cook your own food. This was really fun and we enjoyed cooking our dinners and stuffing our faces with ice cream. I think this was a bit of a wake-up call for me because the seafood soup I made just tasted like chilli!

St John volunteers visit Mae Tao Clinic

COUNTRY: Thailand
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Community Healthcare
WRITTEN BY: St John's Ambulance Volunteers

What an amazing week it’s been! It’s so hard to believe we have only been in Thailand for just over a week! The last few weeks have been jam packed with eye-opening experiences and adventures. Here are a few things the international volunteers group have seen and participated in.
The volunteers were all very anxious about visiting Mae Tao Clinic. We will be visiting the clinic several times throughout the month, observing medics and helping out where possible.

The clinic was a lot bigger than the volunteering group thought it would be. It had different wards and departments such as mental health, maternal, surgical, acupuncture, and paediatrics. We had the opportunity to have a look and learn about prosthetics too. The patients are Burmese refugees and the clinic is mainly run by volunteers and NGOs. In Australia, we’re all used to beds, slide sheets, oxygen readily available by each bed etc. At Mae Sot Clinics, their beds are wooden tables which are less than a metre apart from each other. Such an eye opening experience! We are all very excited to start getting to know the clinic and system a bit more.

The volunteer groups have also visited three migrant communities approximately 45 kilometres south of Mae Sot. The living conditions here were very different to what you would ever see in Australia. The floor was a mixture of red rock and clay (the type of clay you would play with in art class). I cannot imagine what it would be like if it rained. The huts are made out of bamboo. They have been stuck into the ground with minimal tools.

We had the opportunity to provide and administer vitamin supplements and de-worming tablets to the children in each community. They were very happy to see that we had koala, kangaroo, and wombat stamps! They wanted us to stamp them everywhere – from their forehead to their toes! Dr Htin Zaw from Social Action of Women (SAW) provided a GP type consultation to the migrants who needed their health attended to. He saw approximately 30 migrants in an hour. That’s roughly 2 minutes each!!

St John's Ambulance Volunteers land in Thailand

COUNTRY: Thailand
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: St John's Ambulance Volunteers

We are a group of 11 St John Ambulance Volunteers from Australia and to be honest, most of us have never even left the country. You can imagine the mixed feelings of excitement and nerves the volunteers felt as we stepped onto the Thai Airways plane. After our long flights from Australia, we finally arrived in Bangkok! The hot, humid weather we experienced in the middle of the night was a real change from what we are used to in Australia. We waited anxiously for the bus to take us to our hostel for the night – Suk 11, which had a traditional village look to it.

Before our 8 hour bus ride to Mae Sot, the volunteer group explored the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, one of the world’s busiest cities. Cho Cho introduced us to the street market experience, temples and a prestigious palace. The group of international volunteers found ourselves travelling through the city on the Sky Train, travelling down the river in wooden boats and exploring the streets in Tuk Tuk vehicles.

Mae Sot was a completely different to Bangkok, but we quickly grew to love it! Our first day on placement was long and tiring, but the excitement managed to keep us going. We began our orientation about Burmese culture, traditions and their struggles as refugees in Thailand.

After a traditional Burmese Lunch, the volunteer group were off to meet with the Social Action for Women who actively work to support Burmese women and orphaned children. A lot of their work is towards the prevention and treatment of HIV. We also met with a group of local Burmese interns, who we will be actively collaborating and volunteering with in order to create health based presentations for local migrant schools. This was a real eye opener for us and we were even given the opportunity to visit one of the shelters for orphaned children.
After dinner were lucky enough to experience the Dansaune Tai festival!

We were surrounded by fireworks- from every direction in the crowded streets and even had the opportunity to cast floating lanterns into the sky, float flower boats in the river and light our own fireworks!

We started structuring out health projects on day two. We were divided into five groups with the topics: disease prevention, general sanitation, physical exercise, first aid and sexual health. This took up a majority of the day and we managed to learn more about our new Burmese friends.