Thailand Water Project 2007

by Project Leader, Mr Nick Fair

For the past ten years or so the Gordonstoun Thailand Water Project has succeeded and prospered under the leadership of Mr John Hamilton. After his retirement at Christmas I felt slightly apprehensive and nervous, if very pleased, to take on the responsibility for running this celebrated part of the School’s curriculum.

Having led a service project for Gordonstoun in the Sinai Desert last year I thought that I was ready for all the heat that Thailand could throw at me. However, I was unpleasantly surprised at how hot and sticky South-East Asia can be during July: the wet season. It impressed me greatly that the students who accompnied me on this trip did not allow this to distract them from their onerous and very physical work.

Many other aspects of the students’ behavior intrigued and inspired me during the project. Firstly, all twenty of them worked tirelessly and constantly during our time in the Village; they all chose to committ themselves fully to the construction project, rather than just ‘make up numbers’. Secondly, despite being in a very remote area of Northern Thailand and having to live in very primative conditions, among glaring poverty, the students’ morale was always very high; laughter and fun were never far away. I think that these two features of the project alone will give those of us involved in it the confidence to overcome many different types of difficulty and challenge in the future.

How else can this project be said to be a worthwhile educational venture? I believe that Schools and Teachers should not just leave their students with skills, knowledge and abilities. The world urgently needs people who are knowledgeable and skillful but who can also empathise and act in respose to some of the most pressing global problems. Alongside the important aspects of traditional education, Schools should allow their students to directly experience some of our world's problems so that they may actually leave School feeling inclined or disposed towards acting wisely, rather than merely having the ability or potential to do so.

Furthermore, there is an increasing amount of scientific evidence that helping others or being of service promotes one’s own physical and emotional health. Recent studies at the University of Michigan and Harvard concluded that doing regular volunteer work and interacting with others in a compassionate way dramartically increases life expectancy and promotes a feeling of happiness, a calmer mind and less depression*.

Therefore, I cannot think of any other experience that has more efficacy in helping young people to become wise, informed and happy than the Gordonstoun Thailand Water Project.

It is no wonder then that I am already looking forward to the 2008 project.

  * See The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by  Howard C. Cutler p 102-103.