Students raise the roof in Thailand

Nine students from Bermuda High School for Girls will help to build a roof for a community education centre in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand.

The project involves long hours of labour in a hot and humid climate, but they say it will make them “more appreciative” of their life in Bermuda.

The trip, from February 5-18, will be the third time in four years the students have helped to build the Laem Tong International Community Resource Centre Project.

Rewarding

Work on the two-storey building is being carried out by the Round Square organisation.

The BHS students taking part are Georgia Rego, 13, Sophia Collis, 13, Ashlee Lambe, 13, Sophie Fraser-Smith, 14, Janyia Heaven, 13, Nicole Amaral, 13, Rhiannon Fletcher, 13, Kira Doran, 13, and Lynnique Castle, 12.

Rhiannon said: “It’s going to be great fun and very rewarding.

“It will be eye-opening to see how other people live and will make us even more appreciative of what we have here.”

Kira said: “It’s going to be a real learning curve for us all.”

The students will staying in the Phi Phi Natural Resort on the island, 50km south-east of Phuket.

They will join students from The Regent’s School in Pattaya for the project, which is expected to last five days.

In Ko Phi Phi, education ends after primary school so the centre aims to promote the message that “everyone benefits through better education”.

Boys usually end up in the fishing industry while girls head to the mainland in search of work.

The school will be open to teenagers and adults, with a focus on sewing, cooking and the English language, to increase women’s chances of getting jobs in tourism.

The BHS girls have been trying to learn the local language. Sophia said it was important to “respect their culture”.

Foundations

While on Koh Phi Phi the girls will get the chance to go on a longtail boat trip, nature walk and to visit a local village.

BHS students helped to break ground on the community project in 2008.

They levelled the ground and laid the foundations, which involved removing 70 tons of soil by hand.

In 2010 BHS students then helped with steel reinforcements to the building’s second floor.

The Centre should be completed by April 2011.

The students will be accompanied on the trip by four members of staff.

Howard Walter, head of mathematics, said: “It’s not going to be easy work. We will work in shifts as the materials will need to be brought up from the beach.

“It’s only 500m but the problem is the heat. The last time we were there it was 40 degrees.”